Allusions To Other Works
- Marie is first described as being dressed as a Kate Greenaway character would be.
- In the first chapter, the children are said to be reading Hans Christian Andersen and "the Swiss family Robinson".
- In the fourth chapter, Alexandra is said to like to read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry.
- Many copies of the book are accompanied with the poem, "Pioneers! O Pioneers!" by Walt Whitman, which is said to be where the title comes from.
- The romance between Emil and Marie and their death alludes to the similarly tragic lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, from Ovid's book Metamorphoses. Clear evidence of this occurs on page 173 where "the white mulberries...were covered with a dark stain", directly corresponding to Ovid: nam color in pomo est.
Read more about this topic: O Pioneers!
Famous quotes containing the word works:
“Separatism of any kind promotes marginalization of those unwilling to grapple with the whole body of knowledge and creative works available to others. This is true of black students who do not want to read works by white writers, of female students of any race who do not want to read books by men, and of white students who only want to read works by white writers.”
—bell hooks (b. 1955)