The Professor's House By Willa Cather Analysis

Materialism Murders Nowadays, the new trend is the have the most. People are constantly judging each other on how much they have or how new it is. Society does not look down upon materialism, but rather celebrates it. But this was not yet the case in the 1920s. During this time period, there was a move toward mass production but the idea was not accepted by all. Many people detested the idea, one of these people being Willa Cather, who valued simplicity and intelligence over money and items. This tug-of-war between old values such as art and history, and the new values of technology and material wealth, is a theme Willa Cather addresses in her book The Professor’s House. The novel is centralized around the St. Peter family: husband and wife,
Peter is constantly battling with materialism: his family builds a new house, his daughter inherits a giant sum of money, and his wife always wants youth and materials; yet, he yearns for a simpler and more natural way of living. During the professor’s trips to work at the old house, he would examine the workspace and wonder why he didn’t replace certain things, only to come to the conclusion that “he was by no means an ascetic” (Cather 17). St. Peter does not wish for the newest things, and yet is still content with how he lives. In portraying the professor this way, Cather argues that material items do not make a person happy. After coming face to face with his depression, St. Peter realizes that he had never “learned to live without delight… [but] he would have to,” and that “life [would be] possible, maybe even pleasant” (Cather 257). The professor had always lived a life full of enjoyment, mostly from material items, but now he realizes that he must and can go on without those “essentials.” This is Cather saying that most people don’t understand the importance of living without possessing everything. Through the professor’s plain yet happy life, Cather proves that materialism is an evil that is not needed for