Journal on Willa Cather

Camille Franchine
March 2, 2009
English 3
Mr. Fiorini
Journal on Willa Cather

1. These stories differ from stories of American romantics stories. American Romantic stories are about the achievements of misunderstood heroic people. Romanticism is the opposite of Realism. These Realism stories are about misfortune. “A Wagner Matinee” is about a woman who spent her whole life working and when she finally gets enjoy something; it has to end so quickly. “Consequences” is about a man who has a friend that no one else sees who makes his past seem so dark until he commits suicide. These stories aren’t happy or sweet or about the hero saving the day. The progression that has come from Romanticism to Realism is that writers became more realistic and started to write stories that people can relate to when they read them.

2. A social topic that was taken up in “A Wagner Matinee” is about how the aunt spent her whole life working and never got to experience life. She was so happy just to see the show because she spent way too much of her time working on her farm, which I don’t think is healthy for any person. This is maybe telling us that Cather didn’t get out much and enjoyed the simple things in life instead. “Consequences” is about a man who got out very often. However, although he had a wide range of a social life, he was still unhappy and psychologically unstable. This is maybe showing Cather’s opinion on people. She might feel that No matter how happy a person’s life may seem, everyone may be battling some kind of internal and personal conflict.

3. I feel like in both of Willa Cather’s pieces that I have read, she is writing to anyone who is interested. She is writing for herself and for anyone who feels the same way that she does. She is trying to voice her opinion and show people how people from different walks of life are all still people. Everyone has their own problems and has their own way of dealing with them. She is trying to show society this through her writing. She does this for everyone who feels the same way, and for everyone who is dealing with an inner problem and needs to know that there are a number of people who can relate.

4. “A Wagner Matinee” is relevant to me because I can relate to Aunt Georgina. I would like to have a life with routine and order, but then I would also want to travel the world and experience new things. She was so caught up in her work that forgot about the things in life that she enjoyed. This story is a reminder to me to not let that happen. Life will pass a person by without the person realizing it. This story helped me to remember to live life first, before settling down and working all the time.
“Consequences” wasn’t really relevant to me, although I enjoyed the story. I don’t have a carefree life or imaginary friends. I can’t personally relate to it, however it did put things into perspective. It showed me that although some people seem to have the perfect life without a care in the world, they might have bigger problems than I could imagine. They might not always be internal, they could be family related or love related, etc. This story just showed me that although some people seem to be happy, they could always be hiding something drastic. In a way, then, I guess I could relate to this story because I hardly show my emotions and a lot of times no one can tell when something is wrong, however, I never have something that is extremely troublesome.

5. “Eastman went into Cavenaugh’s sleeping-room. When he came back to the sitting-room, he looked over the writing table; railway folders, time-tables, receipted bills, nothing else. He looked up for the photograph of Cavenaugh’s twin brother. There it was, turned to the wall. Eastman took it down and looked at it; a boy in track clothes, half lying in the air, going over the string shoulders first, above the heads of a crowd of lads who were running and cheering. The face was somewhat blurred by the motion and the bright sunlight. Eastman put the picture back as he found it. Had Cavenaugh entertained his visitor last night, and had the old man been more convincing than usual? ‘Well, at any rate, he’s seen to it that the old man can’t establish identity. What a soft lot they are, fellows like poor Cavenaugh!’ Eastman though of his office as a delightful place.”

This is the last paragraph of “Consequences”. I felt like this ending was very confusing. Eastman is in a room where Cavenaugh has shot himself and is looking at the picture of his twin brother who died at the age of sixteen, yet he find his work to be a delightful place. The type of language that is used throughout the story is very different than the modern day English that I’m used to. However, this story was very entertaining and was very descriptive as well as “A Wagner Matinee”.

What drew me to this author were the plot summaries that were given before we got a chance to pick our author. These stories both sounded very interesting. Also, when I was reading through them, I liked the descriptive language, which gave me a good image of what was going on and made me want to read more of it.