THE AMERICAN CENTURY: PART ONE
Presented during the 2000-2001 Season
It is late nineteenth-century Nebraska, and Alexandra, a Swedish immigrant
in charge of her younger brothers Lou, Oscar and Emil, struggles to bear fruit
on her family’s drought-ridden land. When her friend Carl’s family moves to
St. Louis, Lou thinks they should leave too, but Alexandra adamantly believes
that the dry land they own has opportunity.
Sixteen years pass, and their land is now green. Alexandra has made her
wealth with alfalfa, but despite her success, she feels the sting of
loneliness. Emil has gone to University, and Lou and Oscar are now rich and
petty. Carl passes through on his way to Alaska, and marvels at what Alexandra
has done with the land. He shares that he feels like a failure, but Alexandra
says she would rather have his freedom than all her land. Meanwhile, Emil,
back from college, discovers that his childhood sweetheart Marie is now
married to another. Although her husband Frank has become embittered after
years of struggling with the land, Marie asks Emil to accept her marriage or
she won’t see him again. Hurt, he leaves for Mexico. In the meantime, Oscar
and Lou let Alexandra know that she ought to make Carl leave, as people are
gossiping about them. Carl realizes he must leave and make something of
himself, despite Alexandra’s entreaties for him to stay.
Emil returns, and one day, overwrought after the funeral of a friend, goes
to Marie’s, where they fall into each other’s arms. Frank, coming home, finds
them together and shoots them. Alexandra blames herself for not realizing what
was going on between Marie and Emil, and loses the will to live, until one day
she awakes with a clear idea: she must go see Frank in jail. He says that he
never meant to hurt Marie and Emil; she tells him that they were all to blame,
and that she will strive to get him pardoned. When Alexandra returns home, she
finds Carl waiting for her. He’s heard the news, and has come to stay with her
for a while. He has done well for himself, and must go back to see to his own
work in the Spring. He asks Alexandra to go with him, and she will as long as
he doesn’t ask her to leave her land. Carl understands—he would never ask her
to part with it. She realizes that she has achieved peace: “those who love and
understand this country are the only ones who really own it.”
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