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w2117009 — 2025-10-11 22:29:07 UTC

"On the Gull's Road" by Willa Cather (Post-Colonism): Post-colonialism looks at what happens to people and cultures after colonizng nation has been ruled by another. It asks how they deal with the effects of being controlled, and how they reclaim their identity, language, and history.

Character

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 16:58:09 UTC

The Narrator

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 17:06:12 UTC

Has a western culture mindset where in the story he exoticizes Alexandra Ebbling as a figure of beauty and sadness and has a possessive colonial tone where he wants to save her from her 'unhappy life and neglectful husband', which kind of creates that western culture mindset he has where he thinks he can 'save her' and be a hero.

"Was it her loveliness, I often ask myself, or her loneliness, or her simplicity, or was it merely my own youth? Was her mystery only that of the mysterious north out of which she came?" ( Pg 1)

Alexandra Ebbling

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 17:12:54 UTC

She is a marginalized figure on the ship and that has to do partially to that she can't speak English and her husband's inattentiveness which reinforces her loneliness. Mrs. Ebbling chooses her duty and obligation to her husband rather than running away with the narrator because it can possibly be part of her culture to not leave her husband aside and her duties as a wife. She chooses her authentic self and strongly sticks to her decisions and terms of how she wants to die.

"You think Ebbling neglects me, but you are mistaken... I am grateful to him, and there is no more to be said." (Pg 6).

Lars Ebbling

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 17:17:41 UTC

We see where he does talk about his wife Mrs. Ebbling but more in a way where it looks like he cares for her but is not present or attentive to her where he can help her socialize with people since she doesn't speak English.

"It is very bad for her this trip that she speaks no English. I am indebted to you." (Pg 4).

Symbolism

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 17:27:35 UTC

The ship and Sea

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 17:30:38 UTC

Represents a hidden unspoken area, like being caught between cultures or identities. In post-colonial literature, this often symbolizes people who don't fully belong anywhere.

"We talked, like two very young persons, of arms and men, of the sea beneath us and the shores it washed." (Para. 4).

Mrs. Ebbling's Silence

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 17:34:56 UTC

The narrator's voice tells the story, but Mrs. Ebbling's thoughts are mostly hidden. This reflects how colonized people's voices are often left out or silenced in history.

"Was it her loveliness, or her loneliness, or her simplicity, or was it merely my own youth?" (Para. 16)

The gift box

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 17:38:31 UTC

The gift box she gives the narrator holds personal items, like seashells and a flower. These can be seen as symbols of memory and identity, similar to how colonized cultures preserve their traditions even when they're suppressed.

"A magnolia, strands of her hair, and two pink shells." (Para. 2).

Setting

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 17:43:22 UTC

Steamboat traveling around Italy

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 18:02:49 UTC

The story more than likely took place within the past 100 years as the story takes place primarily on a steamboat traveling around Italy. Even within this timeframe the story actually is a story being told from 20 years prior.

"Upon boarding my steamer at Genoa, I saw my luggage into my cabin and then started for a rapid circuit of the deck. Everything promised well. The boat was thinly peopled, even for a July crossing; the decks were roomy; the day was fine; the sea was blue; I was sure of my appointment, and, best of all, I was coming back to Italy." (Pg 1).

Point of View

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 18:06:15 UTC

First Person Perspective

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 18:13:44 UTC

The story is being told from a first person perspective as the story is of him telling a fellow countryman of his past life 20 years ago. This relates to the literary theory of post-colonial in a way the main character is telling the story from the pov of a foreigner as he may not be familiar with European culture. Another point to be made in this story is that. the time this story was written, ethnic characters might not have been looked as important to add to a story. This can be seen as the post-colonial effect of denying ethnic groups their relevance.

"I went on shore for the day. I did not, however, entirely escape the ubiquitous engineer, whom I saw lunching with the LongIsland commodore at a hotel in the Santa Lucia. When I returned to the boat in the early evening, the passengers had gone down to dinner, and I found Mrs. Ebbling quite alone upon the deserted deck" (Pg 2)

This quote uses a lot of first person POV language as it uses the word 'I' a lot.

Plot

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 18:20:10 UTC

Outcome of Mrs. Ebbling and the narrator's fate together.

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 18:32:11 UTC

The story begins years after their voyage, foreshadowing the outcome of Mrs. Ebbling and the narrator's fate together.

The narrator is on a ship from Italy to New York, and meets a woman named Alexandra Ebbling, who is very sick and is from Finnmark. She is married to an older German man, but has a deep bond with the narrator. The story emphasizes that their love is mutual, but her marriage keeps them from exploring further.

"Sometimes I could see that even the light pressure of my thoughts made her paler. One still evening, after a long talk, she whispered to me, 'You must go and walk now, and - don't think about me.' She had been held too long and too closely in my thoughts, and she begged me to release her for a little while" (Pg 4)

Their love matured so deeply that Mrs. Ebbling understood that her illness and marriage would hold her back from connecting with the narrator even more. Her illness causes her to push the narrator away since she knows there is not much of a future ahead of her. Since she also cares so deeply for the narrator, she is aware that pushing him away will protect him from giving him hope of a future together.

Literary and Rhetorical Devices

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 18:37:21 UTC

Metaphor

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 18:48:28 UTC

A metaphor that is seen throughout the story and relates to post-colonial theory would be the gulls road, which is the title. The title, "On the Gull's Road" represents a road, which usually tends to be the sea, so a metaphor would be the sea and the road/journey through it. In the story, the gull's road represents more than the sea; it symbolizes a deep sense of disconnection personally, and emotionally. The characters are narrated between their memories of each other and the places that they have met. This correlates to post-colonial theory because the sea and its journey through it, can feel like they are disconnected or distanced, not only emotionally, but culturally as well, which is usually felt by colonized people. They tend to find themselves in between worlds, and are trying to fit in with the world they were in, to a new one that was unfortunately imposed on them.

"I sat with my hands idle on my knees and let the tide come up in me. It carried me so swiftly that, across the narrow space of deck between us, it must have swayed her, too, a little. I had no wish to disturbed or distress her. If a little, a very little of it, reached her, I was satisfied. If it drew her softly, but drew her. I wanted no more." (Pg 4).

Some challenges to applying this theory

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 18:55:05 UTC

It was challenging to apply the theory of post-colonial to this story because of the lack of representation of the post-colonial theory. The story is mainly about an unrequited love and longing and there wasn't much evidence to use to be able to apply the theory of post-colonial, so we had to mainly/focus on the lack of representation of post-colonial and ethnic studies there was in the story.

Theme

w2198769 — 2025-10-12 18:58:37 UTC

The story follows the feeling of unfulfilled love between two people and living in regret of not exploring connections further.