In the short story, Neighbor Rosicky, Willa Sibert Cather portrays the pioneer experience in Nebraska. Neighbor Rosicky is a short story with ethnic elements, a slice of “Americana.” Cather tells the story of an ethnic group that came from Europe, the Bohemians, and also the Germans, the Scandinavians, the Danish. Their culture and their values are disseminated throughout the story. The agrarianism Anton Rosicky possesses is dear to the immigrants and native Nebraskans, even though they experienced hard times. He reflects on his life as a Bohemian boy in pursuit of contentment.
The kind, gentle, Czeck farmer, Anton Rosicky is a man who is tied to the land. He is an immigrant from Europe who possesses the determination to make a go of it in a new land comprised of challenges with his fellow man and nature, “a very simple man. He was like a tree that has not many roots, but one tap-root that goes down deep.” This deep root is his ethnic identity, a strong sense of “family,” that takes precedence over economic conditions.
Remembrance of a happy experience living in the country when he was younger, prompted Rosicky to try to get land of his own. He wanted that sense of security and a place to call his own. Metaphors emphasize the love Rosicky has for the country and the disdain he has for the city, “Those blank buildings, without the stream of life pouring throughthem, were like empty jails. It struck young Rosicky that this was the trouble with big sities; they build you in from the earth itself, cemeted you away from any contact with the ground.” His roots were in rural Czechoslovakia, although he had temporarily resided in London and New York. He as other immigrants posseses a “rooted homelessness.” He has a desire to have permanence.
The story has a friendly, down to earth tone, a communality that typifies the simple life of the immigrants in the Great Divide. This culture of self-help, family-commitment, honesty, hard work is part of the identity that distinguishes the European immigrant. Cather gives us affirmation of these values, “The only things in his experience he had found terrifying and horrible; the look in the eyes of a dishonest and craftyman, of a scheming and rapacious woman.” Those old-world values remained intact although old world experiences were intermingled with those of new world.
Willa Cather’s own background as a Nebraskan is reflected in the story. The setting – the vast openness, the agriculture community, is tied to the protagonist, he is one with the earth. He is in harmony with nature, he does not resist its whims. This steadfastness in spite of hardships is typical of the culture of the immigrants. They are willing to endure the trials and tribulations to have the important things in life-family, home, spiritual contentment,
“Hardships, certainly; it was a hardship to have the wheat freeze in the ground when seed was so high; and to have to sell your stock because you had no feed. But there would be other years when everything came along right, and you caught up. And what you had was your own.”
Rosicky struggles to save Rudolph’s marriage, an important thing to do, to preserve the family-your identity, your ethnic heritage. Generally speaking, marrying an American girl was certainly a risk. A Czech should marry a Czech.” This is part of his culture, it is in fact, self-preservation. This ethnic pride is paramount, legacy is important. The relationship between Anton Rosicky and his city-bred daughter-in-law is symbolic of the contrast between the unpredictability of the city and the security of the country. She eventually comes over to his side, so to speak. This winning-over of her by Rosicky lends credence to the oft-repeated axiom that the dominant culture will prevail. In this close-knit family, their values, their lifestyle, indeed, their culture is so entrenched that it is embraced by Polly.
“Polly remembered that hour long afterwards; it had been like an awakening to her. It seemed to her that she had never learned so much about life from anything as from old Rosicky’s hand. It brought her to herself; it communicated some direct and untranslatable message.”
His desire to speak proper English is strong. Cather has him speaking phonetically to emphasize the fact that he is still, indeed, very much a Czech, “You see, my wife is always makin’ goose-fedder pillows, an’ de thin stuff don’t hold in dem little down-fedders.” Although Rosicky tried to become Americanized by making an effort to speak properly, he was still identifiably “a foreigner,” possessing the obvious signs in speech, “Run n’ dress yourself up.”
Rosicky was an American by choice, but he never forgot his roots, “He subscribed for a Bohemian paper printed in Chicago, then for one printed in Omaha.” It was through this connection with others of his background that he realized his dream and tried “his fortune in another part of the world.”
Rosicky is a symbol of the Bohemian, German, Scandinavian, and Danish immigrants in the Nebraskan region; his story is their story. Cather is using him to tell the story of a people-a European immigrant-a Czeck who strives to maintain his identity. He lives the history of his people in this story. His past is consciously in his present. Rosicky’s true nature is revealed in his thoughts, “He was a gentle man, and though he had married a rough farm girl, he had never touched her without gentleness. He is reflective, “while he sewed, he let his mind run back over his life.
Rosicky wanted his sons to appreciate their heritage and to understand his life. He knew they had an easier life than he, “You boys don’t know what hard times is.” The fact that they did not have it as hard as Rosicky is a testament to his achievements. Many ethnic groups who have experienced hard times, want better for their offspring. Rosicky was working hard to support his family-old-world tradition-and wanted a better life for them. This is a part of his ethnic heritage, passing that on to his descendants. Why did he, and others like him, immigrant to America? The answer of course, to have a opportunities for upliftment. Rosicky’s telling of his experiences is his life is his way of imparting a part of their culture to them, in a manner aptly coined “oral history.” He is saying, this is who I am, this is your identity, this is your heritage, this is who you are. He told the story in Czech, their language, “It was bothersome to tell a long story in English (he nearly always talked to the boys in Czech).”
Rosicky is not afraid of dying, he faces it with courage, a trademark of the immigrants of this region, facing the challenges, not complaining. His visit to the graveyard is presented in a peaceful, resigning way,
“It was a nice graveyard, Rosicky reflected, sort of snug and homelikfe, not cramped or mournful, – a big sweep all round it. A man could lie down in the long grass and see the complete arch of the sky over him…”.
He is at peace with his life, from dust to dust-he was a part of the land.
He worked the land-he lived for the land-he will return to the land. This is the way of the world for the immigrants at that time, this is representative of their culture. Cather has given us a glimpse of their life and we see them as we see those in our real lives, “Rosicky’s life seemed to him complete and beautiful.”
WORK CITED
Cather, Willa. Neighbor Rosicky.” In Major American Short Stories. A. Walton Litz, ed. Third edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
