A Wagner Matinee

The story A Wagner Matinee by Willa Cather is a literature piece about a women who is living the pioneer life style and how it has affected her life. The story is from the perspective of a women named Aunt Georgiana's nephew. The nephew is informed that his aunt, whom which used to care for him as a child, is coming back to Boston from Nebraska for a visit to claim a newly founded estate. The nephew then takes this time to rekindle some time that has been lost since her thirty year pioneerage to Nebraska. He feels that she has done so much for him as a child and recollects some fond memories spent with her. He says "I owed to this woman most of the good that ever came my way in my boyhood, and had a reverential affection for her."("Willa...) whenever he talks about his childhood with is aunt. He feels so much remorse for her because he feels her soul has gone to stone and has been "dead" for thirty years. He describes her eyes in this sentence by saying "She sat looking about her with eyes as impersonal, almost as stony, as those with which the granite Rameses in a museum watches the froth and fret that ebbs and flows about his pedestal-separated from it by the lonely stretch of centuries." ("Willa...) The author then goes on to say how his aunt was a wonderful musician when she was young and loved music and has now realized she has lost her love for it. This saddens him the most and he makes a plan to change this long time lost. "At two o'clock the Symphony Orchestra was to give a Wagner program, and I intended to take my aunt; though, as I conversed with her I grew doubtful about her enjoyment of it." ("Willa...) This was his exact plan and although he was quite nervous of following through he did with great success. A the end his aunt says "I don't want to go, Clark, I don't want to go!" ("Willa...) A literary critic talks about Cather's writing in her story by saying "Key structuring techniques that will retain importance throughout Cather's canon are already evident in this early story, for example, significant or symbolic names." (Werlock) This compares to Thoreau and Emerson because they both use symbols in their writings to take their writing to the next level. This compares to Thoreau and Emerson because they both use symbols in their writings to take their writing to the next level. This technique is very unique and makes the writing become even better, making this a good one.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "'A Wagner Matinée'." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CASS846&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 18, 2012).


"Willa Cather's Short Story: A Wagner Matinee." Read Book Online: Literature Books,novels,short Stories,fiction,non-fiction, Poems,essays,plays,Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize. Readbookonline.net, 2011. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. .