Neighbour Rosicky

"Neighbour Rosicky" is a short story by the early-20th-century writer Willa Cather. It was first published in 1930, relatively late in Cather's career. Perhaps in part for that reason, "Neighbour Rosicky" is a largely backwards-looking story; it takes place in the final few months of Rosicky's life, fleshing his story out through multiple flashbacks. However, while the tone of "Neighbour Rosicky" is strongly nostalgic, it is not regretful or bitter. On the contrary, Cather uses Rosicky's impending death as an opportunity to reflect on what makes life valuable—most notably, genuine love for others and a capacity to appreciate even simple pleasures. Rosicky has both these traits in abundance, and the story closes on a life-affirming note.

Interwoven with this meditation on the nature of life are two other themes that recur throughout much of Cather's work: life on the American frontier and the immigrant experience.For Cather, these two things were very much intertwined; although her own family originated in Wales and had lived in the United States for several generations, Cather largely grew up in rural Nebraska, which was heavily populated by Czech and Scandinavian immigrants. This period of Cather's life formed the basis for much of her later work, including "Neighbour Rosicky," where she juxtaposes the innocence and traditionof life in the country with the corruption of the city. Whereas the economic pressures of urban life force even the best-intentioned people to take advantage of others, the earthiness of the countryside taps into deep-seated kindness and fosters ties to family, culture, and heritage.

The structure of the story echoes all of these concerns. The story more or less opens and closes on the same image and character: the graveyard, and Doctor Burleigh. This creates a sense of circularity, particularly because Doctor Burleigh's thoughts about the graveyard closely parallel Rosicky's earlier recollections. The repetition underscores the story's interest in the past—Rosicky's life, his Czech roots, etc.—since the story seems to move backward even as it moves forward in time. However, the story's circularity also allows it, like Rosicky, to seem "complete" on its own merits and (relatedly) to distance itself from the world beyond the Rosicky's farm (Part VI, Paragraph 32). "Neighbour Rosicky" takes place during an era of rapid urban growth; realistically speaking, the entirely rural and independent life it celebrates is already under threat. The story itself, however, not only makes no mention of this but almost seems to exist outside of this historical context. In effect, "Neighbour Rosicky" reads as a kind of closed loop, where time stands still and both Rosicky and his farm remain unchanged, just like the "long grass which the wind forever stir[s]" (Part VI, Paragraph 32).