“A Wagner’s Matinee” Study Questions
1. Georgiana says about music, “Don’t love it so well, Clark, or it may be taken from you.”
How do you feel about her attitude?
2. In contrast to the music and the concert hall is the emotional effect of the Nebraska
frontier – the setting we hear about over and over again in the story. How does Cather
want you to feel about the Nebraska setting? What specific images create this
“feeling”?
3. Summarize in your own words what you think Clark “understands” at the end of the
story.
4. What seems to be Cather’s theme in the story? How would you say the central episode
of the concert contributes to this theme?