In Turner’s essay it is especially interesting to read how he refers to the land, and how that compares to Cather. Overall Turner refers to the land of the frontier as an intense force, which is at first “too strong for the man” (2). The pioneer must adapt to the environment by adopting techniques of the Natives, and only then will they be able to transform the wilderness. However, because of this, and perhaps more importantly, Turner states that the resulting society (and indeed people) that survive and perform this process are very much different from the way they were (… but the outcome is not the Old Europe… [but is] a new product that is American” (3)). In this way the frontier environment is a formidable opponent to pioneers, but at the same time an agent of great change and the means by which the American identity was formed.

How does this view compare with Cather and O Pioneers! ?

Just as an aside, I find it also interesting how through page 2 Turner made many references to Indian things such as trails, birch canoes, moccasins and scalping but at no point mentions any actual Native Americans.