Reflection- "A Wagner Matinee"

For this reflection, we were able to choose to read one of two of Willa Cather's stories: "O Pioneers!" or "A Wagner Matinee."  I chose to read "A Wagner Matinee" for no reason in particular, but I remembered that we had talked about it in class and it seemed interesting enough.  In this story, it starts out with the young man finding out that he has to pick his aunt up from the station.  I felt bad for him because of the comparison he made between he and his lifestyle, and she with hers.  The young man is taken back to a time when he was just a farm boy, and he helped her on the farm.  When his aunt finally comes off the train, he notices that she is not in a very good state.  Her skin is yellow, she is not in good shape, and she looks like she is very sick.  For a period in the story, the young man talks about the old days and how much his aunt had influenced him as a boy.  She helped him learn so many things, whether it be concerning school or life in general.  I think it was upsetting to him to see such an influential person of his life become so distant and lost.  The narrator takes her to the opera, where she finally seems to be aware of her surroundings.  So far in the story, I really have absolutely no idea how "A Wagner Matinee" is similar or different to the philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau.  The orchestra takes the young man back to all the places of his childhood; it is truly moving.  The next thing he knows, his aunt is crying.  The is pretty much the first emotion both the young man and the reader have seen from the aunt.  When everything is over and they are the only ones left in the theatre, the aunt exclaims "I don't want to go, Clark, I don't want to go!" (Cather).  This made me sad because she did not want to go home.

"Willa Cather's Short Story: A Wagner Matinee." Read Book Online: Literature Books,novels,short Stories,fiction,non-fiction, Poems,essays,plays,Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.