Opposing American Dream in Willa Cathers Neighbour Rosicky and Pauls Case - Essay Example

?Opposing American Dream in Willa Cather’s “Neighbour Rosicky” and “Paul’s Case” Introduction “Neighbour Rosicky”, as a short story, was first published in the year 1930 when it made its first appearance in Woman’s Home Companion. Later in the year 1932, it was published in the collection bearing the title, “Obscure Destinies”. Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” was published in the year 1905 and it appeared along with other seven stories in her debut anthology bearing the title “The Troll Garden”. These two stories captivate the myriad perspectives and essences of the American Dream. The first time the concept was unveiled before its citizens was when James Truslow Adams first pronounced the words in the year 1931. It states a freedom encapsulated with a promise and possibility of success and prosperity. The concept of American Dream envisages a better life which is complete and rich and aims to provide the opportunity for each citizen according to their ability or achievement irrespective of their classes in society and birth circumstances. With this vision, Willa Cather presents the stories, “Neighbour Rosicky” and “Paul’s Case” that provide a scale of perception associated with the concept of American Dream and its derogatory cone with the growing time (Library of Congress, “By Topic”). Thesis Statement The essay intends to provide a comparative study of the representation of the conflicting concepts of American Dreams in the stories, “Neighbour Rosicky” and “Paul’s Case” from the same writer, Willa Cather. The essay is a detailed exploration of the success and failure involved with the conflicting dreams and intends to make a note on the precise lifestyle the American Dream has evolved for the protagonists in the stories. General Information “Neighbour Rosicky” is a story that centres round the life of a sixty-five year old chez farmer named Anton Rosicky. Rosicky dwells with his wife and six children in Nebraska and the tragedy of their life is perceived and reflected through the love, generosity and hospitality that they show towards Dr. Ed Burleigh, who first detects and announces that Rosicky has a bad heart and cannot work in the farm anymore and understands that despite of the compassion and bonding within the family, these people would never be able to rise higher than their expectations. Whereas the story, “Paul’s Case” revolves round the trajectory of a high-school suspended youth in Pittsburgh who is depressed and frustrated from his middle-class life around and wants to break it free along with the people and company around him but fails to comprehend his appreciation for the beautiful things and for refuge, he runs away to the New York city. This story explores the threat encountered by art and the struggle that artists had to undergo along with the conflict of a young artist between his art and the commercial world. Conflict and Opposing American Dreams prevailing in the Short Stories, “Neighbour Rosicky” and “Paul’s Case” As the pieces from the same author, it becomes quite intrinsic and interesting to compare the protagonists of both the stories and their contrasting means to achieve their ideas of perfect life which gets manifested through opposing ideas of American Dream operating within the respective life of the protagonists and stories as well. Anton Rosicky is a symbol of the immigration process which the writer also experienced first-hand when her family first shifted and settled in the Nebraska Valley. Anton could have lived a better life when he first immigrated to New York and started his tailoring work but he felt an earnest need to be in touch with the soil which compelled him to come and settle in a farm and live a happy life of unity, compassion and freedom other than extracting more and more profit from the creamery. He pursues his dream through love and compassion which are his poignant means of pursuing his American Dream. The tragedy with which Paul meets as a young aspirant of American Dream echoes Arthur Miller’s famous play, “Death of a Salesman”. Paul is driven away by the glitches of the city life and he chases the night life of the New York City like anything. To pursue his dream, he undertakes the means of theft and never understands that his smart and short route to success is always short-lived. Unable to accept and succumb back to the mundane middle-class life, Paul kills himself. The trajectory of Paul once again shows the weak and the hollow aspects of the American Dream and the easy means of achievement leading to futile consequence. The pursuit of happy life for Paul and Anton Rosicky is contrastingly different. Anton comes back from city to a small farm at Nebraska and through hardship, love and compassion and unity strive to lead a happy life based on the ideals of Czech lifestyle. He is contended with his limited wealth and does not aspire to achieve excess at the cost of happiness for himself and his family whereas Paul in “Paul’s Case” escapes from suburbs to the city of New York to taste the true life and colour of America. But Paul does not show any kind of hardship to achieve his dreams, instead he takes the refuge of an easy money making procedure and fails to accept the fact that he would be stripped off his short and easy success soon, only to perish. Both the protagonists, Anton and Paul had to move away from their homelands in pursuit of their happy and perfect life styles. This is a deliberate attempt by the author to project that life is a trajectory and a means of escape where man moves from one destination to other to get peace and prosperity but very unfortunately human forgets that the true liberation of human soul lies with the manifestation of their work. Paradigms of Fulfilment and Failure in the Short Stories “Neighbour Rosicky” and “Paul’s Case” Both the protagonists of the stories, “Neighbour Rosicky” and “Paul’s Case” partly achieve their dreams. Anton for his greater part of life but not fully and Paul for a very short span and failing to revert back from it, surrender themselves to the cruel clutches of death. Both the protagonists of the story are found to be very sympathetic people and there is no mark where these men are found to be directly in conflict with any person around them and their family. Anton’s sympathetic nature is also very pertinent as he feels very much for his daughter-in-law, Polly who has come from the city and Anton is worried that she won’t be able to adjust to a life at the farm. Conclusion The stories, “Neighbour Rosicky” and “Paul’s Case” are stories that speak about the pursuit of the American Dream that evolves from people of different age-group, and background narrating the chase, agony and desperation behind every eye to achieve it. The conflict or the true essence of it, captivated within the pages of the short stories by Willa Cather undoubtedly imparts a dramatic quality to the stories. But along with it, the stories also successfully present the opposing face of the dream. The conflict inherent and incorporated in the concept which gained with the growing period of depression gets a pertinent expression in these stories where there is complete transition from rural to urban lifestyle and vice versa. Bibliography Library Congress, “By Topic”. May 11, 2011. Teachers. No Date. Stout, J. P. Willa Cather and Material Culture: Real-World Writing, Writing The Real World. University of Alabama Press, 2005. Read More