Cather, Willa. "Neighbour Rosicky".

Summary

I... Introducing the Rosickys: Anton Rosicky, a sixty-five-year-old Nebraska farmer, learns from his doctor that he has a bad heart. Rosicky protests and does not welcome Doctor Burleigh’s advice to avoid hard labour: ‘I don’t like no old man hanging round the kitchen too much’ (p. 588). The Doctor is sorry about the diagnosis, he has known Rosicky almost ever since he can remember and he is very fond of him. Rosicky and his wife Mary, fifteen years his junior, are Bohemian immigrants. They raise five sons, aged from twenty to twelve, and daughter Josephine, the youngest of the children and the only daughter. The eldest son Rudolph married an American girl, Polly, in the spring and started farming on rented land. The Rosickys are an idyllic family, they never quarrel, they do not live in plenty but are content and comfortable.

...I. Breakfasting at Rosicky’s: The Doctor recalls last winter when the Rosickys welcomed him warmly for a good breakfast. He spent the night attending Tom Marshall’s wife at childbirth. The Marshalls were rich but their household was slovenly: ‘The woman had too many children and too much work, and she was no manager’ (p. 589). He refused to breakfast there and preferred to call at the Rosickys, who were genuinely pleased and kindly invited him to the table. He observed the natural good manners of the children and the affectionate behaviour of the mother. Mrs Rosicky is proud of Doctor Ed as if he were her own son. She knew him when he was a poor boy who went to study medicine to Omaha and returned to become a respected and favourite physician. The Doctor wonders how comes that the Rosickys do not get on faster despite their being industrious and hard-working: ‘Maybe, Doctor Burleigh reflected, people as generous and warm-hearted and affectionate as the Rosickys never got ahead much; maybe you couldn’t enjoy your life and put it into the bank, too’ (p. 592).

II. Reflecting on Life: Rosicky drives his wagon with horses back home. He does some shopping for his wife and does not forget to buy her some sweets from the pretty shop girl with whom he always jokes innocently. He halts his wagon at the cemetery and reflects how nice and pleasant the place looks. It is located just at the edge of his fields, near home, and it has a ‘snug and homelike’ atmosphere, ‘not cramped or mournful’ (p. 593). The season is late autumn and snow starts falling as Rosicky drives on towards home. The winter is coming: ‘It meant rest for vegetation and men and beast, for the ground itself; a season of long nights for sleep, leisurely breakfasts, peace by the fire’ (p. 594). Rosicky’s wife carefully serves him a meal and inquires about the result of the visit. Rosicky does not wish to disturb her and conceals the graveness of his condition. Rosicky is happy in his wife as much as she is happy in him. Together they went through the rough voyage on the ship bound to America, they shared hard times and good times. Rosicky is city-bred and Mary is country-bred but they agree on all important matters without discussion: ‘They had been at one accord not to hurry through life, not to be always skimping and saving. They saw their neighbours buy more land and feed more stock than they did, without discontent’ (p. 596-7).

III. Recalling New York: Mary soon consults the Doctor about her husband and entrusts the children with guarding Rosicky and not letting him do any hard labour. Rosicky spends the winter carpentering in the house or mending clothes, having been a tailor in his youth. He learned the trade in London where he lived for two years, from eighteen to twenty, but he does not like to recall those unhappy times. At twenty he landed in New York where he remained for fifteen years. He earned enough by his tailoring but he never saved anything. He was self indulgent, he liked good meals, theatre operas and spending his time with friends, he never refused anyone a loan. He lived in a loft above a small furniture factory together with a fellow Bohemian immigrant named Zichec. They furnished the place neatly and were proud of it ‘as a bridal pair’ (p. 599). One afternoon on the Fourth of July Rosicky however realized that he felt oppressed by the emptiness of the city and missed a direct contact with the ground. In a Bohemian paper, to which he subscribed, he read about prospering Czech farming communities in the Midwest and he decided to leave for Nebraska.

IV. Worrying about the Son: Rosicky worries about the future career of his son Rudolph. The young man married an American girl, daughter of a poor widow but nice and well brought-up. Polly worked as a clerk before her marriage and she was used to the sociable life in the town. She finds it difficult to be a farmer’s wife, also she is sensitive about having married a foreigner: ‘A Czech should marry a Czech’ (p. 603). She is however fond of Rudolph, ‘such a handsome, persuasive fellow and such a gallant lover’ (p. 602). Old Rosicky seeks to make it easier for his daughter-in-law and arranges for the young couple to have his family’s car available each Saturday night till the New Year so that they could drive to the town and have some entertainment. The younger children are disappointed that they will not be able to have the car themselves but they do not try to make the father change his mind. Rosicky fears that Polly feels too lonely in the country and that it could made Rudolf discontented with the farm. Rosicky does not want Rudolf give up the land and get himself a better-paid factory job in the town: ‘To be a landless man was to be a wage-earner, a slave, all your life; to have nothing, to be nothing’ (p. 604).

V... Recalling Hard Times: The Rosicky household is making preparations for Christmas. Rosicky recalls his unpleasant London years. He came to London to work at a cousin’s confectionery shop but on his arrival he found that the cousin had left to America. He had no money, knew nobody in the city and could not speak the language. By chance he met a poor German tailor who spoke some Czech and who hired him as an apprentice in exchange for boarding and food. Rosicky’s recollections are interrupted by the visit of Rudolph and Polly. The family gathers and reminisces. Mary recalls one Fourth of July when hot wind burnt all the crops. Rosicky arranged an opulent picnic without telling his wife about the loss. When she found out, he reacted that they should enjoy what they had and not mourn what they had lost. Their neighbours were discouraged by the blow but they were not better off with their despair than the Rosickys with their calm acceptance.

...V. Recalling London: Rosicky recalls one day just before Christmas that he spent in London. His poor land-lady was saving money to fix them all a nice supper for the Christmas Eve. Rosicky woke in the night and smelled a roasted goose. He could not resist eating a half of it. He felt miserable for what he had done and ran out to the streets. He accidentally came over a group of Czech-speaking people who gave him some money. He bought another goose and fruits and sweets for children. The Czech people later sought him out and offered him to pay his ticket to New York where life was easier. And so he went. The encouraging stories are appreciated by the young couple and Polly offers Rudolph to invite his parents for the New Year’s Eve supper. Rudolph is overjoyed.

VI... Suffering a Heart Attack: The winter turns out badly for farmers and good crops are not prospected. It is early spring and Rosicky reflects as he did for the last time in New York, only now not about what he wants in life for himself but what he wants for his sons. He does not wish them to live in the city, to him city people are mean and treacherous. His boys are too honest to stand the corruption of the city: ‘the worst they could do on the farm was better than the best they would be likely to do in the city’ (p. 613). Recently Rosicky has been worried about the alfalfa field that was blown over with the Russian thistle plants in the winter. The boys dismiss his worries and are busied with other work rather than to rake up the thistles. One day when Rudolf leaves with the car to the city, Rosicky takes his work-team and rakes up the thistles. When he is finished, he suddenly feels a sharp pain in his chest so that he can hardly walk back to the house. Fortunately Polly spots him and leads him to the bed.

...VI. Concluding: When Polly nurses Rosicky, she realizes that ‘Rosicky had a special gift for loving people’, she thinks that nobody ever loved her more than this old man (p. 616). She calls him ‘Father’ for the first time. When Rosicky recovers, he realizes that Polly is a fine woman and will manage to adapt herself to the country life and make Rudolph a helpful wife. Doctor Burleigh is away when Rosicky suffers another attack shortly afterwards and dies. The Doctor goes to pay a visit to the family who lost their father. When he passes by the graveyard, he reflects on the richly beautiful countryside and the pleasant last resting place. The story concludes: ‘Nothing could be more undeathlike than this place; nothing could be more right for a man who had helped to do the work of great cities and had always longed for the open country and had got to it at last. Rosicky’s life seemed to him complete and beautiful’ (p. 618).

Analysis

Realism: The story is written in the vein of realism, though it is idealized in many aspects (especially the portrayal of the idyllic Rosicky family). It is sentimental about family values and the virtues of country life, it reprimands the corrupting impacts of city on people’s lives and characters. It describes a protagonist with a deeply rooted love to the land. Rosicky lives for the farm and eventually dies for it (suffers a heart attack when weeding the field). Rosicky’s life can only be fulfilled in the country, it would be empty and meaningless in the city.

Local Colour: The story contains many local colour details, there are loving descriptions of the Nebraska region as well as realistic details from the lives of the Bohemian immigrants (‘kolache stuffed with apricots’). The story is also remarkable for its convincing rendering of a Slavic accent in dialogues. The English sounds non-existent in Czech are substituted in writing by the nearest approximate sounds from the mother tongue of the characters (‘dere’ for ‘there’).

Narrative: The main plot line is developed in a linear way but numerous unobtrusive flashbacks telling the backstory of the characters are included. The character of the Doctor creates a narrative frame to the story. It opens with the Doctor in his office telling Rosicky his diagnosis and closes with him at the graveyard reflecting on Rosicky’s life. The graveyard is also the place where Rosicky stops to muse on his way from the Doctor’s office, this stopping foreshadows his impending death.

Symbolism: The lives of the characters are interwoven with the cycles of the nature. Rudolph marries and so founds a new family in spring. Rosicky learns about his heart condition in late autumn when the time for rest is coming. Rosicky dies in early spring as if to make place for the new young generation (Polly hints that she is probably pregnant). Also of significance is the date of Fourth of July, the day when Rosicky realizes that his place is in the country and the day when the Rosickys lose their crops but face the loss bravely.