Willa Cather

By cecytinajero07
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    Second Industrial Revolution

    1867-1914 the industrial revolution impacted Willa Cather's life becuase she lived in "the divide" which were farming fields. The technology helped her in her everyday life because she would have to help farm. "My Antonia" mentions farming and the fields alot, not only there but "O'Pioneers" mentions farming and the fields and how the technology they used for it alot more than "My Antonia"

  • Civil Rights

    The Civil Rights act was influencial to Willa Cather thorughout her life because she was always trying to fit in and not be judged due to her attraction to women by dressing as a man and being addressed as William, which was mentioned alot in her novels, this made sure she would not be judged which made her comfortable with herself
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    Gilded Age

    In this time there was an economic growth that affected Wills's life because this was one of the reasons she had to move in with her grandparents. The move from virginia to Nebraska was mentioned in "My Antonia". Jim, the main character for the novel, mentiones how he was upset to move because his parents could not mantain him, and Jim was thought to be Willa by many of her readers.

  • Born

    Willa Cather is born in Back Creek Valley, Virginia. She is the first child.

  • Grandparents

    Willa Cather and her parents move into the home of her paternal grandparents, William and Caroline Cather. The house, called Willow Shade, is located in an area near Back Creek, Virginia. They were mentioned alot in "My Antonia"

  • Nebraska

    Willa Cather moves with her grandparents to Nebraska. This move really impacted "My Antonia" because it was the main setting for it. It is believed that this move caused her to write stories where people would always move away from family or someone they loved
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    Mauve decade

    (William Henry Perkin's aniline dye let people use the use of those colors in fashion) This was tied in with both Willa Cather's life, and her novels. Willa Cather always had a confusion in sexuality which were showed in her work becuase of her character's confusion on their gender and personality. Willa cather was thought to be with women although there was not solid evidence of it, she would try to hide it by dressing as a man.

  • Education

    Now 16 she graduates grammar school as valedictorian and creates a speech named "Superstition vs. Investigation" that really draw her in to writing.
    She also enrolls in the University of Nebraska

  • Thomas Carlyle

    As a Freshman in College, she writes an essay about Thomas Carlyle which is published without her knowledge on the Nebraska State Journal, later that year her essay on Hamlet is also published. She claims that Thomas Carlyle was the reason she wanted to be a writer.

  • "Peter"

    Willa Cather's first short story "Peter" gets published in The Mahogany Tree, a Boston weekly. This later gets added to "My Antonia". This short story got her name out and started becoming more important

  • "O'Pioneers"

    One of Willa Cather's most famous novels was published during this time, after this she got recognized as a great author.(Willa Cathers Archive, para.27)

  • World War I

    During WWI her cousing G.P. Cather got killed, her and her cousin would write many letters to each other because of the war. When her cousin died this inspired Willa to write "Claude" which was later renamed "One of Ours". Also during this time she was traveling with Edith Lewis to see the battlefields and country sides.

  • Publisher

    Willa Cather signs a new publishing contract with Alfred Knopf that published her things until she died. This helped her grow as an author and she gained money out of each book which let her travel.
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    Awards

    She gained many awards that made her famous, and got awards that had not been given to women either. She got anhonorary degree from Colombia, Yale, Berkley and Princeton( it was the first time a woman got such a degree from Princeton). The American Academy of Arts and Letters awards Willa the Howells Medal for Fiction for "Death Comes for the Archbishop". (The Willa Cather Foundation, para 60). Awarded the Prix Femina Americain for Shadows on the Rock. And honorary degree from Smith College.etc.

  • Death

    Willa Cather dies from cerebral hemorrhage.