. Who is the narrator? What picture do we get of his life? What is the reality of his life as it is hinted at in Introduction?

2. Where in part I does Cather explore the relationship between the costs of social acceptance and fulfillment of desire?

3. How does the land reflect stages of human development? Development of human culture?

4. What do the Shimerdas reveal about the frontier experience?

5. What does the story about Pavel and Peter reveal about the nature of community? How does their difficult story inform the tension between old world tradition and pioneer life on the Nebraska prairie?