The Professor's House: the Life of Willa Cather as Compared to the Lif

Write what you know. These are words that Willa Cather lived by. In the novel, The Professors House, Cathers biography is directly parallel to the life of the main character, Professor Godfrey St. Peter. by St. Peter, the reader is able to observe the struggles as well as triumphs that occurred at that point in Willa Cathers life. Her struggle with materialism versus noble-mindedness, break finished of religion, and her own mid-life crisis are all shown through the character of Godfrey St. Peter. In 1922, Cather became increasingly distressed with the growing mechanization and mass-produced feeling of American society (Norton). This was the time her writing took a youthful direction and became more concerned with finding alternative set to the materialistic life she increasingly felt around her. This is shown through St. Peters character in many instances. St. Peter was highly idealistic and generally avoided anything that even remotely seemed materialistic. In script 3 of The Professors House, St. Peter reflects on Tom Outlands haywire death. He describes how the only way to remain idealistic in todays society is to die.

A hand like that, had he lived, must have been put to other uses, His fellow scientists, his wife, the town and State, would have required many duties of it?.he had escaped all that. He had made something new in the world-and the rewards, the meaningless conventional gestures, he had left to others (237). St. Peter believes that Tom was only able to conduct his idealism through his death, leaving all the materialistic matters foot for others to handle. One of the more subtle ways that St. Peter demonstrates his idealism is through his new dramatic art. He couldnt make himself believe that he was ever going to live in the new house again. He didnt belong there (247). St. Peter did not demand to succumb to the materialism that he was increasingly seeing in his family. He seemed to be unsure as to which... If you want to get at a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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