A Lost Lady Lesson Plan

In the opening chapters of A Lost Lady, Cather describes both the nature of the prairies on which Sweet Water is established, and the role the railroad plays in creating a social hierarchy. How does the novella compare the prairies and the social structure? How does it contrast them?

Students should note the novella's focus on frontier life. In the novella's imagination, the prairies are open land, ready to be civilized. That civilization brings a romantic social order at first, in which good people make their fortune in the west. But they are eventually followed by those who would exploit the land for business gain.

The novella repeatedly describes Mrs. Forrester as an...