O Pioneers!

O Pioneers!

by

Willa Cather

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on O Pioneers! makes teaching easy.

Oscar Bergson Character Analysis

Oscar is Alexandra’s younger brother and the eldest son of John Bergson. He is solidly built, but a slow thinker. He doesn’t mind hard work, as long as it is part of his routine. Oscar and Lou stick close together, and they both resent Alexandra’s unconventional ways and relationship with Carl Linstrum.

Oscar Bergson Quotes in O Pioneers!

The O Pioneers! quotes below are all either spoken by Oscar Bergson or refer to Oscar Bergson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Power of the Land Theme Icon
).
Part 2, Chapter 3 Quotes

The conversation at the table was all in English. Oscar’s wife, from the malaria district of Missouri, was ashamed of marrying a foreigner, and his boys do not understand a word of Swedish. Annie and Lou sometimes speak Swedish at home, but Annie is almost as much afraid of being “caught” at it as ever her mother was of being caught barefoot.

Related Characters: Lou Bergson, Oscar Bergson, Annie Lee
Page Number: 67
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2, Chapter 10 Quotes

“Hard on you? I never meant to be hard. Conditions were hard. Maybe I would never have been very soft, anyhow; but I certainly didn’t choose to be the kind of girl I was. If you take even a vine and cut it back again and again, it grows hard, like a tree.”

Related Characters: Alexandra Bergson (speaker), Lou Bergson, Oscar Bergson
Related Symbols: Land
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire O Pioneers! LitChart as a printable PDF.
O Pioneers! PDF

Oscar Bergson Quotes in O Pioneers!

The O Pioneers! quotes below are all either spoken by Oscar Bergson or refer to Oscar Bergson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Power of the Land Theme Icon
).
Part 2, Chapter 3 Quotes

The conversation at the table was all in English. Oscar’s wife, from the malaria district of Missouri, was ashamed of marrying a foreigner, and his boys do not understand a word of Swedish. Annie and Lou sometimes speak Swedish at home, but Annie is almost as much afraid of being “caught” at it as ever her mother was of being caught barefoot.

Related Characters: Lou Bergson, Oscar Bergson, Annie Lee
Page Number: 67
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2, Chapter 10 Quotes

“Hard on you? I never meant to be hard. Conditions were hard. Maybe I would never have been very soft, anyhow; but I certainly didn’t choose to be the kind of girl I was. If you take even a vine and cut it back again and again, it grows hard, like a tree.”

Related Characters: Alexandra Bergson (speaker), Lou Bergson, Oscar Bergson
Related Symbols: Land
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis: