Riassunto
Riassunto di Uno dei nostri
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love quiet, observant fiction about ordinary lives, and anyone curious about the American Midwest or the First World War from a soldier's side.
Che cos’è questo libro
One of Ours is a novel by Willa Cather, published in 1922. It follows Claude Wheeler, a restless young man raised on a prosperous Nebraska farm, from his unhappy youth to the war in France. Cather wrote it after the First World War, and she drew on the letters and memory of her cousin G. P. Cather, a soldier killed in 1918 at Cantigny. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel in 1923.
The book is built in two large movements. The first stays on the prairie. It shows a boy who wants something he cannot name, and a family and a town that do not know how to give it to him. The second crosses the ocean. It shows what a young American finds when he is finally handed a purpose, and what he finds in the people of France.
You get a close portrait of one man, with sharp and humorous sketches of the people around him. You also get a picture of Midwestern life in the years before 1917, with its churches, its machines, its quarrels over money and drink. Let us begin on the Wheeler farm, where Claude is a young man with everything he needs except a reason to get up in the morning.
In questo riassunto
- 1A restless son on a rich farmFree
- 2School opens a door and then shuts it
- 3Farm work and a father's wild ideas
- 4A marriage built on hope and mistake
- 5Enid leaves and Claude is alone
- 6War arrives and gives him a purpose
- 7The crossing and the ship of sickness
- 8France and the friendship of David Gerhardt
- 9What the book is about and how it is told
Punto chiave 1 di 9
A restless son on a rich farm
The story opens on the Wheeler farm in Nebraska. Claude Wheeler is the second son of Nat Wheeler, a loud, jokey, successful farmer who likes to be the biggest man in any room. Claude is quiet and proud, and he feels out of step with everything around him. He has land, food and a future laid out for him, yet he wakes each day with a sense that his life is being wasted.
The household is drawn with care. Nat Wheeler plays tricks on his sons and makes speeches. He is not cruel, but he does not notice what his younger son feels. Claude's mother, Evangeline, is gentle and deeply religious, and she tries to keep peace in a house of strong wills. Old Mahailey, the family's servant, speaks with a voice from another time and loves Claude with a fierce, simple loyalty.
Claude's older brother Bayliss runs the farm machinery business in town. He is careful, stingy and pious in a way that irritates Claude. A younger brother, Ralph, is more easygoing. Cather lets us see how each person fits into the family, and how Claude does not fit anywhere.
A small scene early on shows the pattern. Claude is sent on errands, he is teased, and he is told his duty is to the land. He does the work well enough, but he is looking over the fence at something else. Readers should notice that Cather never mocks his longing, even when it is vague.
This opening matters because it sets the question that runs through the whole novel. What does a person do with a strong desire for a life that matters, when the world around him offers only comfort? Claude does not know the answer yet. Neither does anyone near him.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Claude Wheeler
- Claude is a restless Nebraska farmer whose longing for purpose separates him from his prosperous family.
- Nat Wheeler
- Nat is Claude's prosperous, boisterous father, whose practical ambitions leave little room for his son's deeper longings.
- Evangeline Wheeler
- Evangeline is Claude's gentle, devout mother, who loves him deeply but struggles to understand his dissatisfaction.
- Bayliss Wheeler
- Bayliss is Claude's older brother, a cautious businessman whose narrow outlook and stinginess irritate him.
- Enid Royce
- Enid is Claude's serious, religious neighbor, whose commitment to temperance and duty attracts his hopes for companionship.
- Mahailey
- Mahailey is the Wheeler family's devoted servant, whose affection gives Claude comfort and loyalty at home.
- David Gerhardt
- David is a cultured violinist and fellow officer whose friendship offers Claude understanding during his service in France.
- Ernest Havel
- Ernest is Claude's thoughtful friend from the Bohemian farming community, sharing his dissatisfaction with a narrowly practical life.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 129,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 8 h 35 min
- Listening time14 h 20 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 10 other languages
Questions about Uno dei nostri
What is One of Ours about?
It tells of Claude Wheeler, a restless young man on a Nebraska farm who feels his life lacks purpose. After disappointments at school and in marriage, he joins the American army in the First World War and goes to France.
Is One of Ours based on a true story?
It is fiction, but Willa Cather based Claude partly on her cousin G. P. Cather, who was killed at Cantigny in 1918. She used his letters and her own memories of Nebraska to build the character.
Did One of Ours win the Pulitzer Prize?
Yes. Willa Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel in 1923, for the book published the year before. It remains one of her most discussed works, partly because critics disagreed about it.
Who is David Gerhardt in One of Ours?
David Gerhardt is a violinist and lieutenant whom Claude meets in France. He is cultured and kind, and their friendship gives Claude the sense of being understood that he has missed all his life.
Is One of Ours hard to read?
No. Cather's prose is plain and clear. Readers who enjoy character studies will find it easy to follow.