O Pioneers!

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Part 1

Reading Check

1. What is Alexandra wearing when the reader first meets her?

2. What is John Bergson’s “Old-World belief”?

3. Whose departure especially saddens Alexandra?

4. How does Alexandra plan to pay for the Linstrums’ land?

5. Why is Oscar worried about Alexandra’s plan to expand the Bergson farm?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Carl embittered by life in Nebraska?

2. What roles do Alexandra and her mother play in the Bergson family?

3. Why do the Bergson family members disagree about moving away from Nebraska?

4. Why is Alexandra excited about her plan to expand the family farm? What does this reveal about her character?

Paired Resource

“Pioneers! O Pioneers!” by Walt Whitman

• This poem, first published as part of Whitman’s much longer Leaves of Grass (1855), provided Cather with the title for her novel.
• Connects to the themes of Respect the Power of the Land and Sacrifice of Self for the Good of the Community
• How does Whitman’s depiction of pioneers compare to Cather’s, either in the pioneers’ relationships to one another or to the land itself?