Mrs.McConkey
ENG 3UE
5 December 2011
Thea Kronborg: A Life Story
Standing the test of time years past the dawn of their creation, classic novels are the diamonds in the rough that all readers are glad to happen upon, especially accidentally. They stand out inexplicably; whether written by already well-known authors, or brand new ones starting their literary career with a spark. Volumes and tales of woe and wonder that are rarely thought of as a waste of a read. Sadly, The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather no longer seems to meet this criteria.
At one point in time, this novel was likely a popular one. In a sense, it might have appealed to readers back in 1915 and a few years afterwards. However; as civilization progresses, so does culture. You can even tell from the grammar, and the way punctuation is used, for example “To-day she went to sleep while she was thinking about it.” (48) and “She had forgotten nothing, and she clung tightly to her handbag, which held her trunk-key and all of her money that was not in an envelope pinned to her chemise.” (135). The dashes used to join certain words, and placed in the middle of others, are not often seen today. Along with the sentence structure, which seems to disregard breaking unnecessarily long sentences into multiple shorter ones. Perhaps this was just the way people wrote, back then.
Unlike, for example, the works of Shakespeare, which are classics today even though his grammar and diction were different than readers today are accustomed to, The Song of the Lark seems to drag painfully on. Thea herself is a very unique person, which some might think would be easy to relate to, as everyone is different and unique in their own way. However, Thea’s story is far from extravagant and adventurous. It’s rather dull, and almost uneventful. The few things that would be exciting are things she expects and doesn’t really look forward to. It’s almost as if she views herself as a princess, designated to be a queen. Although, it seems that only when she finally leaves Moonstone that she begins to realize this “But, of course, it was herself and her own adventure that mattered to her. If youth did not matter so much to itself, it would never have the heart to go on. Thea was surprised that she did not feel a deeper sense of loss at leaving her old life behind her. It seemed, on the contrary, as she looked out at the yellow desert speeding by, that she had left very little. Everything that was essential seemed to be right there in the car with her. She lacked nothing.” (138) Perhaps it is her unending confidence that seems to be overwhelming, but someone with such talent and uniqueness is often difficult to relate to.
Not only does a character one can’t relate to hint at an unlikable novel, a character that is unlikable also hints at the same thing, as obvious as that is. Thea seems to be the kind of character that won’t appeal to a lot of readers, for almost the same exact reasons as in the previous paragraph. Her intense uniqueness is rather off-putting, and her seeming lack of flaws is rather disagreeable. Of course, she is not perfect, but she’s far too mature for her age, and far too effortlessly talented. One could say that Thea is a rather unbalanced character that her family and friends make up for, with their lack of success. However, Thea is not very close to her family and friends, and seems to be detached from them, therefore making them null and void. Those that she is close to are also very talented and successful, although they are more balanced than Thea is, character-wise. An unbalanced and unrelatable character is rarely likable, which likely never aides a novel in being a classic.
All in all, The Song of the Lark was once indeed a popular novel in its time. However, as time passes and society changes, it is clear that this novel will not stand through the ages. It may, perhaps, even be forgotten. It seems to be that way already, as there are not many who have heard of this book. Perhaps it may be studied, as it is definitely a different book, but it doesn’t appear to be the type of novel that will be read by generations to come purely for enjoyment. In essence, it could not be defined as a classic novel.
