Neighbor Rosicky

He didn't know another farm-house where a man could get such a warm welcome, and such good strong coffee with rich cream. No wonder the old chap didn't want to give up his coffee! Dr. Burleigh is...

Doctor Burleigh speaks these lines to his patient, Anton Rosicky, when he comes to check on the old man's health. Rosicky is sixty-five years old and his heart is starting to show signs of wear....

In "Neighbor Rosicky", Willa Cather contrasts Rosicky's experiences in the city and in the country. Cather compares the closed in spaces of London and New York to the open prairies of Nebraska....

(eNotes editors can only answer one question per posting.) In Willa Cather's "Neighbor Rosicky," Anton Rosicky is presented as a good and decent man. Having been born in Czechoslovakia, Anton...

Anton lived in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), London, and New York before moving to Nebraska. In each place, however, he is able to find Czechs or people who know the Czech language who protect...

Rosicky values a happy life living off the land for his children. His greatest hope is that his children never have to contend with the worst of human nature. In the story, Rosicky worries about...

How Rosicky in "Neighbor Rosicky" feels about the graveyard that he passes on his way home from Dr. Burleigh's office is set up in the description Cather writes at the beginning of the passage....

One of the main messages, I think, is that a life well- and fully-lived is better than money in the bank or acres of land or even the respect of one's neighbors. Anton Rosicky and his wife, Mary,...

After many years of struggle, change and travelling as an immigrant, Rosicky finally comes to settle on a Nebraska farm and he draws great strength from these surroundings. The rich, peaceful...

Polly is Anton Rosicky's daughter-in-law, married to his son Rudolf. Polly's a city girl and Anton's worried that she might not adapt to life in the country. She might get so unhappy, he fears,...

One literary device used is that of flashback. Rosicky, the main character, often looks back to his past, and as we have full access to his thoughts we get a fuller picture of his life in this way....

At the age of sixty-five, Rosicky has attained a sense of contentment that pervades the entire story. The narrative makes it clear that he has achieved this not through material gain but through...

The character Anton Rosicky is described by Dr. Burleigh as being a well-rounded and contented man who has struck a fine balance in his life. This balance can even be seen in the even blend of...

In "Neighbor Rosicky" by Willa Cather, Doctor Ed Burleigh is the first character mentioned; he is also the last. That is, of course, a deliberate choice by Cather. She uses the young doctor both to...

In Carter's "Neighbor Rosicky," Anton Rosicky is a Czechoslovakian immigrant to the United States who gave up tailoring and turned his hand to farming. This is a period story, taking place in...

A warmhearted and sensitive man, Anton Rosicky possesses triangular-shaped eyes--critic Edward J. Placentino contends this shape is meant to suggest the image of a plow--that look deeply into life...

Dr. Burleigh is the first one in "Neighbour Rosicky" to bring up the idea of Rosicky's family values, although of the eleven times "family" is mentioned, it is never tied to "values," which is a...

I am not sure that the setting truly affects Mary in this story by Willa Cather. Mary is not the central character and her thoughts and actions are minor. There are not sufficient examples in the...

In the United States, a combination of health-related social programs and constantly changing medical technology would probably extend Rosicky's life. Much of his diagnosis and treatment might be...

Mary shares the same values as her husband, which probably accounts for the fact that they have such a happy married life together. One of the values that they share is a relative indifference...

This is open to interpretation, and Mary's geraniums are actually mentioned only twice in the story. However, if we think about what Mary represents in a wider context, we can infer from that what...

It suggests that the Rosickys are renowned for their warmth and hospitality. Dr. Burleigh has just pulled a night-shift at the neighboring Marshall farm, where he delivered another baby. But...

Anton and Mary Rosicky had a long and loving marriage, and the narrator observes the loyalty that kept them together in good times and bad times: They had been shipmates on a rough voyage and had...

Your question could be answered in more than one way. I see both indirect and direct characterization in the breakfast conversation. There are many obvious instances of indirect characterization in...

At the beginning of “Neighbour Rosicky,” the title character is in a doctor’s office in town. Our first clue is in the line, “Doctor Burleigh swung round in his desk-chair….” This is further...

The kitchen is very obviously Mary's domain, from the first time Rosicky mentions it. He says that he doesn't think Mary would like to have him "hanging round the kitchen too much," suggesting that...

One of the story's themes, revealed at the end of the fourth section, is that farm living provides a kind of peace, happiness, and freedom that city living never can. Consider Rosicky's thoughts as...

"Neighbor Rosicky" begins in medias res and proceeds in straight diegetic chronological time until one of the various instances of analepsis occurs, which shifts not only the order of time but the...

Before he rocks up at the Rosicky residence, Dr. Burleigh pays a call at the Marshalls' farm. The Marshalls are very wealthy, with plenty of stock, animal feed, and expensive farm machinery. And...

This area of the U.S., the northern prairie, was settled by Scandinavians and northern Europeans looking for farmland similar to their homeland. Life was difficult, but with hard work and devotion...

Dr. Burleigh is from the same area in the country as Mr. Rosicky. The narrator tells us that the doctor was "a poor boy in the country before he went away to medical school; he had known Rosicky...