Claude Wheeler

Claude Wheeler is the protagonist of Cather’s novel. From the novel’s onset, Claude is dissatisfied with his life as a farmer in Frankfort, Nebraska, longing for a life with definite purpose and meaning. Claude feels that by his very nature, he will never achieve this purpose. He thinks he is “exactly the sort of looking boy he didn’t want to be” and feels himself a “chump” (10). Claude finds small comfort through his friendship with Ernest Havel, who provides him with a “mental liberty” he cannot find elsewhere (8), as well as his blossoming relationships with the Erlichs. Although Claude loves the Erlich’s intellectual liveliness, thinking they “know how to live,” Claude ultimately feels out of place with the Erlichs. Claude realizes he “always [feels] the rightness of returning to his own [home],” even though he enjoys the Erlichs company more than that of his...