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Themes in A Lost Lady, Captain Forrester, The Forrester's property cat…

- - - - ‘…Poles and Swedes and Mexicans, looking scared to death. A lot of them couldn't speak English,—seemed like the only English word they knew was 'Forrester.' As we went in and out we'd hear the Mexicans saying, 'Forrester, Forrester.’’ (p. 76)
        
        we can see how her contemporary views influence the non white characters in the story.
      - ‘When the roast was well under way, Black Tom, very formal in a white waistcoat and high collar, poured the champagne.’ (p. 46)
- - - - Captain Forrester represented the pioneering era of American history
        
        ‘Captain Forrester was himself a railroad man, a contractor, who had built hundreds of miles of road for the Burlington…’ (p. 15-16)
        
        His death signifies the end of this period in American history
        
        ‘He had seen the end of an era, the sunset of the pioneer. He had come upon it when already its glory was nearly spent… ‘(p. 131)
        
        ‘This was the very end of the road–making West; the men who had put plains and mountains under the iron harness were old; some were poor, and even the successful ones were hunting for rest and a brief reprieve from death. It was already gone, that age; nothing could ever bring it back.’ (p. 131)
    - - The meadows that Captain Forrester treasured are destroyed by Ivy Peters. The meadows are symbolic of the loss of the natural beauty in the area, and Captain Forrester's influence on it.
        
        ‘This stream traced artless loops and curves through the broad meadows that were half pasture land, half marsh. Any one but Captain Forrester would have drained the bottom land and made it into highly productive fields. But he had selected this place long ago because it looked beautiful to him…’ (p. 16-17)
        
        ‘Ivy visited his new wheat fields on the bottom land very often; and he always took the old path, that led from what was once the marsh, up the steep bank and through the grove.’ (p. 94)
    - - ‘Niel thought it very bad taste in Ellinger to come to Sweet Water when Captain Forrester was away. He must know that it would stir up the gossips.’ (p. 70)
        
        ‘He told her that people were gossiping about Ivy's being there so much. He had heard comments even on the street. "But I can't bother about their talk. They have always talked about me, always will.’ (p. 119-120)
        
        At this later stage in the novel, gossip about Mrs. Forrester is local common knowledge - she has lost her dignity and status.
        
        Adolph Blum does not tell anyone about Mrs. Forrester's affair because he is of a lower social class than she is. He maintains the old fashioned idea that people such as Mrs. Forrester should be respected simply because of the place they hold in society.
  - - - Cathers uses nature imagery to illustrate the decay of ageing in the character of Mrs. Forrester
        
        Lilac imagery
        The lilac in Greek mythology references the story of a nymph named Syringa and the god of the forest, Pan. Syringa avoids Pan’s romantic advances by turning herself into a lilac fowler. This fowler represents femininity, beauty and innocence. We can see the loss of these qualities over time in the character of Mrs. Forrester.
    - - We see the continuation of nature imagery to describing the ageing of Mrs. Forrester
  - - - 'Now all the vast territory they had won was to be at the mercy of men like Ivy Peters, who had never dared anything, never risked anything.' (p. 86)
        
        ‘They would drink up the mirage, dispel the morning freshness, root out the great brooding spirit of freedom, the generous, easy life of the great land– holders. The space, the colour, the princely carelessness of the pioneer they would destroy and cut up into profitable bits, as the match factory splinters the primeval forest.’ (p. 86)
        
        The writer depicts Ivy Peters as the personification of a new age of fast paced industrial capitalism
    - - The movement of the Old West colonised the Native American land and then the Forrester's are stripped of their land similarly through the expansion of capitalism and the pursuit of wealth.
    - - ‘Captain Forrester had stood firm that not one of the depositors should lose a dollar.’ (p. 76)
        
        When the Denver bank goes bust, Captain Forrester is focused on repaying all of his depositors. He sacrifices his own wealth for the welfare of others who have put trust in him.
      - ‘One of these smooth members of the bar, like Ivy Peters is getting ready to be, might have saved something for you out of the wreck.’ (p. 77)
        
        Ivy Peter's reputation is associated with 'saving' those in financial difficulty. We know that ultimately, despite his decent reputation, Peters is a selfish and self severing character. It is interesting that he is offered as a character of salvation to the Forresters, whereas Captain Forrester is punished for his genuine self sacrifice in the context of this economy.
- - - - 'Unlike Constance she seemed thoroughly amiable, but as she talked she tilted her head and "used" her eyes, availing of those arch glances' (p. 37)
        
        Constance is depicted as a foil character to Mrs. Forrester. As a young school teacher unconcerned with glamour, she represents a contrasting idea of femininity and womanhood in comparison to Mrs. Forrrester.
- - - - the cyclical changing nature of the landscape from one conquerer to the next
- - - - When Neil revisits the Forrester's residence, he notices the decay and damaging of the bridge. This imagery foreshadows the dire state of the Forresters at this period of the novel.
        
        ‘Niel noticed that she smelled strong of spirits…’ (p. 103)‘
        
        The dilapidation of the bridge mirrors the fall of the Forresters.
        
        ‘Mrs. Forrester, apparently, had no power of resistance. She drudged in the kitchen, slept, half–dressed, in one of the chambers upstairs, kept herself going on black coffee and brandy.’ (p. 109)
- - - - 'Her husband had archaic ideas about jewels; a man bought them for his wife in acknowledgment of things he could not gracefully utter. They must be costly; they must show that he was able to buy them, and that she was worthy to wear them.' (p. 47)
- - - - ‘…she was married again,—to a rich, cranky old Englishman; Henry Collins was his name…People said he was rich… She seemed to have everything, though. They travelled in a fine French car, and she had brought her maid along, and he had his valet. No, she hadn't changed as much as you'd think.’ (p. 134)
        
        Marian strives to restore her social status after the death of her first husband by marrying a wealthy man.