In the first two pages of her 1913 novel O Pioneers!, Willa Cather utilizes a compositional risk that parallels her own style, an initial and deliberate loss of readership, with the antithetical nature of main characters Emil and heroine Alexandra Bergson. To begin, Cather introduces the small Nebraskan town of Hanover with “haphazard” descriptions and negative superlatives, suggesting an unsystematic setting, and imposing an immediate loss of readership (Cather 1). A statement that “none of the dwelling-houses had any appearance of permanence” features both a negative and passive introductory clause and the awkward phrase of “dwelling-houses,” which both purposefully and riskily establish the “two uneven rows” of Hanover, Nebraska, as a shabby scene worth un-reading (1). This description, however awkward and cringe-worthy it may seem, appropriately premises the dreary description of the town, and continues during the introduction of Emil Bergson: the “clumsy, crying Swede boy” (1). Visual imagery complements a tattered image of the Bergson brother with details about his “cap pulled over his ears; his nose and his chubby cheeks chapped with cold” (1). This segue to Emil is quick and clean, and thus Cather’s initial loss of readership is not crude and embarrassing, but rather strategic in its parallel to its character introduction.

Out of nowhere, and perhaps even more strategically, Cather invokes another character: Emil’s sister Alexandra Bergson, and with the aptness of this unexpected introduction, Cather regains her readership. Resolute diction begins to introduce Alexandra as a “tall, strong girl;” all while structurally, Cather’s sentences become more active with verbs that “walk intently” across the page (2). In an interactive scene in which Alexandra “stop[s] short” and “stoop[s] down” to “wipe” her brother’s “wet face,” Cather amalgamates these two images—one haphazard and unkempt and one strong and resolute—in order to ferment an antithetical brother-sister relationship. In a novel that traces the dual nature of familial relationships of Swedish-American immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, perhaps it is this inverted and parallel designation to a relationship that foreshadows the family’s strife with death, inheritance, and social norms. Only time will tell. As for now, it is safe to say that Cather’s forthright invocation of Emil, Alexandra, and what seems to be a deliberate loss of author-credibility, proves to strategically and more meaningfully distinguish her setting and characters.