A close reader might also discover an incredible interest in colors throughout the text: Ch. 1 tells us about St. Peter's view, "From the window he could see, far away, just on the horizon, a long, blue, hazy smear--Lake Michigan, the inland sea of his childhood." There are many such--aesthetic?--appreciations throughout the text, and many such dwellings upon "observation": it's worth asking what role they have in the text.... Are they part of a larger dialectic?
Monday, November 12, 2007
The Professor's House
Cather clearly is interested in dialectics throughout this work, in ways subtle and not so subtle. For example, what is the world of modernity---the new house, wealth, aviation technology---played off against?? Is the primitive figured forth in the text; if so, how and what are its values?
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Responding to the first part of the prompt, I feel like the world of modernity is tangibly played off against the professor’s old house, his scholarly work/intellect and nature (specifically the lake and Cliff City). Each of these surface level things counters the influence of the new house, wealth and technology and serves to represent the primitive. The primitive in turn seems to represent in this text what is comfortable, routine, and simple.
The old house, particularly the study, is a place in which the professor worked tirelessly, under the same conditions for many years on the same set of texts. Every aspect of that study is so a part of what he knows, he refuses even to let Augusta remove her figures. This study is a part of him in a sense; it is what he is comfortable with. So although it is simple and perhaps unsanitary, he rebels when he is asked to let it go in favor of the glitz and glamour of the new house.
Similarly, the professor refuses to take his nose out of his books, and chooses his studies over a fancy and expensive trip to Paris. Thus intellect is presented as a primitive value in a world obsessed with the finer things, too busy to stop and read a book. Being smart is no longer as cool as being rich, but the professor chooses to work on his volumes because that is a part of his routine, and it is what he enjoys.
Finally, it becomes clear that the Professor (and Cather) value nature. As stated in the second part of the prompt, Cather takes care to describe the lake that the professor loves so much, and also every inch of the Cliff City that Outland discovers and values beyond words. Nature serves as an outlet, a removal from the stresses of the modern world exemplified by Washington DC. Its simplicity and beauty is yet another thing Cather dwells on and plays off against modernity.
--Matt Stevens
In The Professor’s House, the Professor and his wife embody the dialectic between the old and the new. Cather shows the Professor finding utmost joy in his work, which is “simple, natural, happy,” unlike what he calls the “drama of domestic life” (23,16). He even fears that the “perilous journey” down through the “human house” will cause him to lose his temper (18). Thus, he strives with all his being to maximize the time he spends in the confines of his study, where he finds serenity among the “archaic forms” and the “sea of his childhood” (22, 20). Isolated from human beings, even his family, and material luxuries, St. Peter thrives on desire, passion, and the comfort that the silent busts provide. Conversely, Mrs. St. Peter survives on the superficial; she notices that the Professor is very handsome in his bathrobe, and ironically states that he is “better-looking and more intolerant all the time” (24). Although she detests his behavior toward her son-in-law, she delights in his appearance. During their heated argument over the Outland estate, Mrs. St. Peter suddenly comments on his extremely “nice hands” (36). Furthermore, Mrs. St. Peter’s inviting Louie to see the new rug in her bedroom to comfort him satirizes the materialism of the period. While the Professor believes in the modesty, chivalry, and “reserve” of King Arthur’s Knights, his wife scorns these ideals and absurdly labels them as “ostentatious” (37). By displaying the St. Peters’ deteriorating relationship in light of the Professor’s fiery, steadfast love for his work, Cather indicates that one finds true contentment not in the fleeting material, but in one's life goal and passion.
-Stephanie Cho
St. Peter’s observations of his daughters’ appearance might be part of a larger dialectic concerning modernity. On one hand, Rosamond embodies modernity. From her wealth and tastes to her new house and French couture clothing, she represents a growing social dependence on wealth and technology (capitalism). Her beauty and physical coloring represent these superficial values: “dusky black hair, deep dark eyes, a soft white skin with rich brunette red in her cheeks and lips. Nearly everyone considered Rosamond brilliantly beautiful” (26). These saturated colors (black, white, red) are described with saturated adjectives (dusky, deep, soft, rich). They convey a sense of unnatural superficiality because these colors are not the first that come to mind when one pictures nature; usually one thinks of brown, green, and blue. Additionally, even though she is beautiful, St. Peter finds flaws in her seemingly beautiful physique: “he thought her too tall, with a rather awkward carriage. She stooped a trifle, and was wide in the hips and shoulder…” (26). This represents his own dissatisfaction with modernity and its association with superficialities. He finds reason to critique modernity despite its welcome into society, just as he critiques Rosamond’s appearance when everyone else finds her beautiful.
In contrast, Kathleen is described as pale with hazel eyes and “her hair was hazel-coloured with distinctly green tints in it” (27). These are must “softer,” or less saturated, descriptions in comparison to Rosamond: hazel and green eyes versus dark eyes, pale, shadowed cheeks versus rich brunette red cheeks, hazel hair versus black hair. The light and dark theme becomes quite obvious; light is associated with Kathleen and dark, with Rosamond. This only further reveals St. Peter’s attitude concerning modernity. Kathleen lives a more modest and pragmatic lifestyle without the pomp and circumstance Rosamond lives by. Thus, light becomes associated with the primitive, traditional life, and dark, with the modernized, capitalist life. This most certainly suggests St. Peter desires a return to the primitive lifestyle.
-Meghan Casey
The professor's double life represents the presence of both the primitive and modern in his world. On one side, the professor travels throughout Spanish nations, exploring its history to acquire more information for his true passion, which was writing his history book. Also, on the flip side, the professor must assimilate into the modern culture and societal expectations by holding a steady job at a respected university and raising his family. Although he tries to keep these two aspects of his life separate, he admits that 'the most important chapters of his history were interwoven with personal memories" of the present (85). The professor tries to keep the primitive and modern parts of his life somewhat separate so that he could concentrate fully on each one; however, his modern responsibilities as a professor prevented him from spending a third year abroad, illustrating the connection between the two dialectic ideas. In a similar way, the professor reminisces of the past through picturesque images of his childhood days in Lake Michigan as an escape from the modernity of life. Thus, the primitive and modern are hardly separate aspects of the professor's world, but rather two coinciding, struggling forces that cannot be completely one-sided or balanced.
What interested me most in Cather's dialectic were the unlikely critiques of the modern world. Some comparisions are obvious and produce an inarguable opinion: Tom Outland, before the interference of the modern world was more wonderful and real. He told stories to the girls, visited the house like a brother. After his death and the success of his patent, rather than be imortalized in its sucess, he was lost amidst the conflicts over money. His true self became a thing only romantics like St. Peter and Katherine remembered. Another clear comparison is the Blue Mesa, magical before the tiresome politics of Washington. Even Roddy is spoiled by modern intentions. But St. Peter strips his life down to its most simple form when his family is away at Paris. As he annotes the simple, "purely descriptive" diary of Tom's discoveries at Blue Mesa, he rediscovers his "unmodified" self, the boy in him who knew nothing of the responsibilities of modern life. Here the aspects of life normally celebrated (marriage, children, a career) are set up against the pure mindset that exists outside of these social obligations. The primitive man is cast in a positive light, and the life St. Peter had lived seemed like "a chain of events which had happened to him...accidental and ordered from the outside." It seems that the only truth to be found is the primitive, where one can say "That is right" to any observed circumstance. St. Peter, after coming in touch with his primitive self, sees the affects of aging or a root in his path does not analyze and attempt to change like he did with observations of his family, Agusta or the Cranes. This primitive self seems to be the only way to truth, to pure acceptance, without modern interets and needs complicating and making impossible the process of existence.
Suzannah Powell
In Cather's novel, the world of modernity is played off against ideas of the primitive seen in the Professor's house in contrast with the modern aspect of the new house. In this money-driven society that becomes prevalent throughout the book, we see that there is a dichotomy between the Professor's old house and the new house, as well as idealism vs. materialism. In the old house, it isn't so much ruled by money, as it is a house that's in shambles, but still holds very sentimental value for St. Peter in the house's simple, nature-like environment. St. Peter seems to be attached to this old house as an attempt to hang on to his old life by staying in his dark office and keeping "forms" in the positions where they have always been in the room. This ideal and simple place of comfort for St. Peter allows him to focus on his studies as the world of modernity prevails in society and his family. The professor's wife, two daughters and their husbands represent this very materialized and money-driven society of the new house. In comparison to St. Peter, these characters are influenced by money and the practical, superficial lifestyle unlike the professor who is involved in his studies and values intellect. In Rosemond's decision to marry outside the family line, it breaks the bond between the family and separates what makes the two houses representative of the primitive and modern; the professor is trying to hold on to what once was instead of giving in to society's standards.
- Monica Chum
Willa Cather is strongly juxtaposing elements such as modernity and the primitive throughout The Professor’s House. The old house embodies aspects of life that we would consider primitive as opposed to the new ideals that are represented by the new house. For example, the old house signifies a simple state of living that is in harmony with nature and with the warmth of family living. The Professor and his family did not need the luxuries that they have in the new house. Every material thing in the old house was significant because it has a story behind it, while in the new house, all the family history that was represented in their old belongings is erased.
On the other hand, another dialectic in the book is one that is made clear through observation. It is true that the book seems to dwell on “aesthetic appreciations”; I think that this might be due to the Professor’s internal reflections upon his life. He has a melancholy view on life ever since he moves into the house because it seems as though the more that he reflects upon the past, the more he believes that everything he strived for for so many years is achieved and that he has nothing to live for. It is as though the new house was his goal in life, and now that he attained it, his life is pointless, which is why he reflects and yearns so much for the past through observations.
-Stephanie Uriarte
One of the most obvious dialectics, as discussed in class, is that of the modern, money-driven, technological world versus the primitive world that dwells in the simple pleasures of the past.
Because St. Peters insists on keeping the old dress forms in his study, for reasons that are unclear even to him, we can see that he is trying to hang on to the primitive world of the professor’s house. Although the new house is seen as practical, St. Peters would rather turn to what’s comfortable and familiar, avoiding the new world of technology and his “ostentatious” family. In reference to the forms and Plato’s allegory of the cave, it’s almost as if St. Peters wants to stay with the old forms inside his allegorical “cave.” He does not want to turn around and face the outside world because although primitive, his old house is what he knows best. So despite the old stove and walls “painted the colour of ashes,” the old house is where he got his best work done and where he sees himself. St. Peters declines the conventional “aesthetic appreciations” of the modern world that the women in his family so enjoy for his very own professor’s house.
--Tracy Pham
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