Willa Cather a Lost Lady Essays

Willa Cather a Lost Lady Essays Willa Cather a Lost Lady Paper Willa Cather a Lost Lady Paper In Willa Cathers A Lost Lady, we are confronted with many examples of love and personal growth, two themes that Cather seamlessly intertwines by utilizing her technique of elucidation of complex emotion through use of nature and landscape throughout the novel. In this essay, I argue that Cather defines love and personal growth of Marian Forrester through three distinct scenes: the drunken long distance call between Mrs. Forrester and Ellinger after she learns of his elopement, the story of how Mr. nd Mrs. Forrester met and fell in love (told at the boys dinner party after the death of Captain Forrester), and the scene where Neil discovers that Mrs. Forrester found a happily ever after, after all. I chose these specific scenes because they explicate Mrs. Forresters romantic ideals of love and her personal growth as she struggles in vain to find the life shes looking for, that is, a life of both wealth and true love. Though some may view Marian Forresters long-standing affair with the masculine Frank Ellinger as a fatal character flaw, I contend that its existence and its abrupt demise via long distance telephone call illustrate a vital stepping stone along her journey of personal growth, and give us an important piece of the puzzle that is her evolving ideal of love. As soon as Marian Forrester storms into Neils house in the middle of the night, we learn that she has braved the rain, mud, and (especially), the ford crossing that was â€Å"up to a horses belly† with flood water (Cather 123). In her drunken state, nothing will distract her from her present mission, which is, to give Frank Ellinger the telling off hell never forget for betraying her trust. Presumably, she had meant to marry Ellinger herself, after the death of Captain Forrester, but Ellinger had been forced to choose otherwise when a mysterious feminine illness – that is, pregnancy – happened to befall the very lady whom Mrs. Forrester had been the source of introduction. We learn of this only through Mrs. Forresters end of the conversation, where she remarks, â€Å"Where shall you go on your honeymoon? Oh, Im very sorry! So soon you must take good care of her† (Cather 127). Of course, Ellinger may also be referring to an illness, as some excuse not to come see Mrs. Forrester. Either way, it becomes clear that Ellinger is forgetting the promises he made to Mrs. Forrester, and making his final attempts to be rid of her forever. It is the beginning of night at this part of the story, and ne may also conclude that this is the beginning of a sort of â€Å"night† in Marian Forresters life as well. It is following this point that Mrs. Forrester begins to sink into a deep depression, and allows herself to fall from the high esteem in which everyone in the community has held her. But there is also a glimpse into the personal growth that will occur from that point on, for this was not the first time that Marian Forresters ideal of love had gone terribly awry. Following the death of Captain Forrester, Marian slowly gains back a bit of her determination; indeed, she is determined to no longer let love stand in the way of the life she seeks – that is, a life of wealth and consequence. Twice before, her ideals of love had not turned out the way shed hoped. After her husbands death, we finally catch a glimpse into how it came to be that Mrs. Forrester was married to a man so much older than she. After being taken to the mountains to avoid publicity over her fiances murder, she fell almost to her death during a hiking trip. All night in the bitter cold, she laid there. But then, Captain Forresters party came to her rescue. It did not escape her that â€Å"she suffered less when Captain Forrester carried her, and that he took on all the most dangerous places on the trail himself† (Cather 158). In his arms, she felt secure, saying to those listening that â€Å"I knew that if we fell, wed go together; he would never drop me . . . when he asked me to marry him, he didnt have to ask twice† (Cather 158-159). She thought that he would never drop her, never let her down in life. That is why she consented to marry him. At nineteen, she was not in a position to understand what she was getting herself into. But as we meet with her in the novel, we see that she is starved for something that she had likely never known shed have to leave behind when she said yes to Captain Forrester at the sprightly age of nineteen: companionship with those on the same social level. Captain Forrester did indeed let her down, by isolating her from her natural habitat of socialization, like an exotic tropical bird locked away in a cage in distant northern mountains. After telling her story, Marian â€Å"drew her finger-tips absently across her forehead, as if to brush away something, – the past, or the present, who could tell? † Marian was brushing away those foolish ideals of romance and the heroic triumph of true love. She was embracing her own power and independence, to effect change in her own life, without waiting for change to present itself. Marian was preparing herself to shed her former romantic self, to do what she had to do to get what she wanted, indeed, what she had been starved of so long through her own foolish pursuit of love. Indirectly, we discover the result of Marians struggle to redefine herself. â€Å"Oh yes,† we learn, â€Å"she was married again, – to a cranky old Englishman; Henry Collins was his name† (Cather 165). Marian has found once more her natural place in society, she is discovered at a banquet, in a big hotel, â€Å"all done up in furs, with a scarf over her head† (Cather 164). Her husband, we learn, cannot really truly love her, and nor can she truly love him. However, she has found at last the sort of life she was looking for, if only by shedding her true identity. She was a good deal made up, of course, like most of the women down there; plenty of powder, and a little red, too, I guess. Her hair was black, blacker than I remembered it; looked as if she dyed it† (Cather 165). Like most of the women of her age, and certainly, of her era, she had to cover up her true self in order to exert her power and independence in the pursuit of happiness. Indeed, he r remarkable comeback stuns Ed Elliot, who states that â€Å"It was remarkable, how shed come up again. She seemed pretty well gone to pieces before she left Sweet Water† (Cather 165). Of course, any one who truly paid attention to Mrs. Forrester throughout her journey could never have been truly surprised at her outcome. Mrs. Forrester, though sometimes allowing herself to be carried away with the strong emotions she faced, always maintained willful independence and control over the opinions others may have of her. She had faced her night, with the death of her husband (who she once, I believe, truly did love dearly), and with the marriage of Ellinger, whom she never loved truly, only believed she did. She makes peace with both, by forgetting the latter entirely, and by paying her respects to the former, â€Å"wherever she was, she always sent a cheque to the Grand Army Post every year to have flowers put on Captain Forresters grave for Decoration Day† (Cather 166). She understands the role they played in the development of her character, and especially, her own understanding of the extent of her resolve. While her new husband Collins seems deliberately misplaced, (an Englishman whom she met in America before moving to South America), Marian is quite at home. She has finally found her place in life, by conquering her foolish ideals of romanticism in exchange for something she loves still more – comfort and consequence. In the end, Marian makes peace that she is not destined to have both true love and a comfortable life of wealth, and is contented with the fact that she must choose. We follow her through three distinct life stages. At first, she is an idealistic young woman, who believes that she is attaining love and comfort in her choice of Captain Forrester. As her comforts slowly wear away to nothing, and her romance along with it, she discovers that she made the wrong choice in Captain Forrester. Her passionate mid-life encounter with Ellinger finalizes the blow that she received from Captain Forrester, and that is that love can be fickle and decietful, and cannot be trusted with something as important as the rest of ones life, sending her into a proverbial â€Å"night,† where she is clouded by darkness and feels miserable. At the end of her life, she learns to trust in something far more substantial – herself. She gives up her pursuit of love, and instead pursues only comfort in life. She finds what she is looking for, and with that, she is contented. Only with distant nostalgia does she look upon her life in Sweet Water, because she knows that it was a life as unsustainable as it was unsupportable. Just as Sweet Water is cleared away to make room for industrialization, Marian clears the ideals of romantic love from her existence. Though she learns to live practically, and to find happiness in her life without love, she never forgets the life she led before, and the love she knew. Through the encounter with Ed Elliot, where she states â€Å"if you ever meet Neil Herbert, give him my love, and tell him I often think of him,† and by her respect toward her husband, through the decoration of his grave, she reveals that she looks upon her life of love without regret (Cather 165). Through her personal growth, we find that Marians ideals of love must evolve over her life based on the circumstances with which she is faced, and we come to understand her as an individual with both the power to change her own circumstances and the ability to love deeply, whether or not she chooses to pursue that love.

A List of The Iliad Characters

A List of 'The Iliad' Characters The Iliad is attributed to Homer, although we dont know for sure who wrote it. It is thought to describe characters and legends traditionally dated to the 12th century BCE, passed down orally, and then written by a poet or bard identified as Homer who lived during the Archaic Age in Greece  in the 8th century BCE. Major Characters Here are major characters, both mortal and immortal, from The Iliad: Achilles:  The hero and subject of the epic poem. Achilles  brought his troops known as the Myrmidons, was insulted by the leader of the Achaean (Greek) forces, and was sitting out the war until his close friend Patroclus was killed. Achilles then went after the man he blamed for the death, Hector, the prince of Troy.Aeneas:  The nephew of King Priam of Troy, a son of Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. He shows up with a much bigger part in the epic poem The Aeneid, by Vergil (Virgil).Agamemnon:  Leader of the Achaean (Greek) forces and the brother-in-law of the beautiful Helen, formerly of Sparta, now of Troy. He makes some hard choices, like sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia at Aulis to provide wind for his ships sails.Ajax the greater: The son of Telamon, who is also the father of the best Greek bowman, Teucer. After Achilles death, Ajax wants his armor thinking he deserves it as the second greatest of the Greek warriors.Ajax the lesser: The son of Oilean and the leader of the Locrians. He rapes Cassandra, prophetess daughter of Hecuba and Priam. Andromache: The wife of Trojan Prince Hector and the mother of a young son named Astyanax who features in touching scenes. Later Andromache becomes Neoptolemus war-bride.Aphrodite:  The love goddess who won the apple of strife that started things in motion. She helps her favorites in the fray, is injured, and discusses matters with Helen.Apollo:  The son of Leto and Zeus and the brother of Artemis. Hes on the Trojan side and sends plague arrows to the Greeks.Ares: The war god Ares was on the side of the Trojans, fighting disguised as Stentor.Artemis: The daughter of Leto and Zeus and the sister of Apollo. She, too, is on the side of the Trojans.Athena:  The daughter of Zeus, a powerful goddess of war strategy; for the Greeks during the Trojan War.Briseis:  The source of ill-feeling between Agamemnon and Achilles. Briseis had been awarded to Achilles as a war-prize, but then Agamemnon wanted her because he had been obliged to give up his.Calchas:  The seer who told Agamemnon that he had angered the gods and must fix things by returning Chriseis to her father. When Agamemnon obliged, he insisted that he receive Achilles prize Briseis instead. Diomedes:  An Argive leader on the Greek side. Diomedes wounds Aeneas and Aphrodite and routs the Trojans until the son of Lycaon (Pandarus) hits him with an arrow.Hades: Is in charge of the Underworld and hated by mortals.Hector:  The lead Trojan prince whom Achilles kills. His corpse is dragged around in the sand (but by the grace of the gods, without destruction) for days while Achilles vents his grief and anger.Hecuba:  Hecuba is the Trojan matriarch, mother of Hector and Paris, among others, and wife of King Priam.Helen: The face that launched a thousand ships.Hephaestus: The blacksmith of the gods. In return for an old favor from the nymphs, Hephaestus makes a wonderful shield for the nymph Thetis son, Achilles.Hera:  Hera hates the Trojans and tries to harm them by getting around her husband, Zeus.Hermes:  Hermes isnt yet the messenger god in the Iliad, but he is sent to help Priam get to Achilles to ask for the corpse of his beloved son Hector.Iris: Iris is the mess enger goddess of the Iliad. Menelaus: Helens aggrieved husband and the brother of Agamemnon.Nestor:  An old and wise king of Pylos on the Achaean side in the Trojan War.Odysseus:  The lord of Ithaca who tries to persuade Achilles to re-join the fray. He plays a much larger part in The Odyssey.Paris:  Aka Alexander, the son of Priam. Paris plays a cowardly role in The Iliad and is helped by the Trojans gods.Patroclus: The beloved friend of Achilles who borrows his armor to go lead the Myrmidons against the Trojans. He is killed in battle, which results in Achilles re-joining the fray to kill Hector.Phoenix: A tutor of Achilles who tries to persuade him to re-join the battle.Poseidon:  Sea god who supports the Greeks, basically.Priam:  Another old and wise king, but this time, of the Trojans. He fathered 50 sons, among whom are Hector and Paris.Sarpedon: The Trojans most important ally; killed by Patroclus.Thetis:  Nymph mother of Achilles who asks Hephaestus to make her son a shield.Xanthus: A river near Troy known to mortals as Scamander, and its god, who favors the Trojans. Zeus:  King of the gods who tries to maintain neutrality in order to make sure fate isnt thwarted; father of Trojan ally Sarpedon.