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Thea Kronborg and Willa Cather's Kingdom of Art
By Sonia Labs
Every artist makes himself born. It is very much harder than the other time, and longer. Your mother did not bring anything into the world to play the piano. That you must bring into the
world yourself. (Cather 1988: 160)
These words bring encouragement to a despairing Thea Kronborg, the main character in Willa Cather's The Song of the Lark. At this point in the novel, Thea is lost, overwhelmed, and unprepared
to pursue her dream of a musical career in Chicago. These words also serve as a reminder that to become an artist, Thea must endure a sort of second birth to renew her spirit, passion and determination. Willa Cather subscribes wholeheartedly to these ideals. In fact, she believes that artistic talent is borne of passion and perseverance. Throughout her years as a developing writer and critic,
Cather explores what she calls the "Kingdom of Art." While Cather believes that this 'kingdom' is full of wondrous beauty and joy, she also feels that the road leading to this marvelous place is filled with pain
and struggle. Her life as a writer is her art. Art and writing are so important to her that she writes about the artistic process of writing. Consequently, she develops a philosophy to explain how one
gains entry into the Kingdom of Art. In The Song of the Lark, Cather uses Thea Kronborg to illustrate her perspectives on the artist's life. |
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Open Defiance When writing for the Nebraska State Journal, Cather states
that true "artists have never been close observers of the conventionalities of life because it requires too much time and that way lies an artificial regularity. But to openly defy the accepted conventionalities
of any generation requires...ceaseless and unremitting labor" (Slote 413). From the beginning of the book, Cather paints Thea as untraditional. We sense that she does not quite fit in with the rest of her
family or the rest of Moonstone, Colorado. For example, while her older sister, Anna, concerns herself with the mundane matters of Moonstone, Thea prefers the company of wild-spirited Spanish Johnny, drunken music
teacher Wunsch, and the unhappily married but generous Dr. Archie. Through these seemingly unsavory men, however, Thea is initiated into Cather's Kingdom of Art. Spanish Johnny is overcome with madness and
escapes the confines of Moonstone for months at a time, chasing the spirits of his mandolin. Wunsch, Thea's music teacher, recognizes her talent as well as her "power of application, her rugged will" (Cather 1988:
27). Dr. Archie treats her with utmost awe, escaping his stifling marriage by bringing her special treats and introducing her to the world outside of Moonstone. He encourages her to fulfill her destiny by
saying, "Don't marry and settle down here without giving yourself a chance, will you?" (72). Cather sets the stage by allowing these unconventional characters to yield the most influence on Thea's early
life. These fellow 'artists,' whose lives are filled with regret and disappointment because they did not achieve their dreams, ignite and feed Thea's passion for music. Isolation, Struggle and Success Another core aspect of Cather's philosophy is her belief
that good art demands that the artist lead a life of struggle and isolation. In a preface to The Best Short Stories of Sarah Orne Jewett, Cather writes that an artist "if he achieves anything noble,
anything enduring, it must be by giving himself absolutely to his material" (Cather 1949: 51). On another occasion, Cather expresses that the artist's chief concern is not with his life, but rather his
work: "Life in itself is a great task and to live it well or even decently is an art...What if we had all the infinite cares and struggles and perplexities of an artist heaped on top of the ordinary woes of
life? One or the other must suffer, not from evil intent, but from neglect, from an inability to do two things well at once, from our very finiteness and the limitations of human capacity...If there was not that
selfish instinct of art preservation there would be no art" (Slote 396). Cather also accepts that an artist must live in solitude to create good work, "…if an artist does any good work he must do it alone...There
is much to suffer, much to undergo: the awful loneliness, the longing for human fellowship and for human love...It is a hard thing to endure" (Slote 435). Thus, in Cather's philosophy, a person must abandon
most human needs in order to totally commit himself to realizing his artistic potential. It is at such high levels of devotion and perseverance that a person is reborn an artist.In
The Song of the Lark, Thea recognizes the struggle she must endure to survive and succeed. She understands that the world which has become her adversary is "no longer remote and negligible." She must face the
challenge before her and "she would live for it, work for it, die for it; but she was going to have it, time after time, height after height" (176). Even with this ultimate recognition of herself as an artist,
Thea must continue to work for her success. Under the guidance of Harsanyi, her music teacher in Chicago, she becomes aware of herself as an artist who will succeed because of sheer determination. When
she spends a summer in Panther Canyon, Thea experiences perhaps, the truest awareness of herself as an artist. At this critical turn in the novel, Cather empowers Thea with an incredible sense of determination:
"Thea at last made up her mind what she was going to try to do in the world, and that she was going to Germany to study without further loss of time" (265-6). As her musical career as begins to flourish, Thea's
resolve is tested when her mother falls ill. Instead of returning to Moonstone, she remains in Dresden to take advantage of career opportunities there. Cather justifies Thea's decision when her mother
reflects, "…the children you don't especially need, you have always with you, like the poor. But the bright ones get away from you. They have their own way to make in the world. Seems like the brighter
they are, the farther they go" (343). Years later, after Thea's fame has been achieved, Dr. Archie asks if she ever considered marrying. To this Thea responds that she has never had a personal life
outside her work, "…your work becomes your personal life. You are not much good until it does. It's like being woven into a big web. You can't pull away, because all your little tendrils are woven into
the picture. It takes you up, and uses you, and spins you out; and that is your life" (380-1). This aligns completely with Cather's views since she believes that "married nightingales seldom sing" (Curtin,
176). Paradoxically, Thea does eventually marry Fred Ottenburg. In the epilogue, he is referred to as her husband. Cather gives no explanation for the marriage, and one is left to wonder if Cather's
strict philosophies have somewhat softened. References
Cather, Willa. On Writing: Critical Studies on Writing as an Art. New York: Knopf, 1949.Cather, Willa. The Song of the Lark
. New York: Signet Classic Edition, 1998. Curtin, William M., ed. The World and the Parish: Willa Cather's Articles and Reviews, 1893- 1902
. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970. Slote, Bernice, ed. The Kingdom of Art: Willa Cather's First Principles and Critical Statements,
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966. Page references taken from the Signet Classic version of The Song of the Lark. Click here to go to a related Lesson Plan
Sonia Labs is currently teaching at Minnetonka High School in Minnesota. |
