New vs. Old

“Habit is such a big part of work.”

Godfrey tells this to Rosamond in the beginning section of the novel, after Rosamond offers to build him a new study at the new house. This quote really stood out to me, because it seems to me that the entire novel is centered on the debate between the merits and drawbacks to the new and the old. Willa Cather makes comparisons between the physical elements incorporated in to the story, as well as technological developments and now even the characters’ ways of life. I noticed that from the beginning of the novel, Cather creates a division between the old and the new and seems to use the characters to build separate arguments for the benefits and downfalls of each. I think that this debate is particularly applicable to college students, particularly those at Carnegie Mellon. College students are in the process of deciding what type of impact they would like to have on the world. Carnegie Mellon especially, encourages the development and modernization of technology, while also supporting liberal arts. Students have the choice of contributing to the world of tomorrow or the choice of studying and analyzing the world of yesterday as it applies to tomorrow. We must also make a decision about what the rest of our lives will be like; will we follow the conventional expectations of our parents? Or will we decide to instead go our own way? It is an interesting debate between which is better to follow. This simple quote also opens up the debate over whether habits are beneficial or detrimental to work. One can just as easily argue that habit can limit work. For example, there is a section in the novel that discusses Godfrey’s relationship with Langtry. They despise each other out of habit, even though there is really no professional reason to hate each other anymore. Godfrey acknowledges this, but because of habit, he does not think to stop it. I think that habit is a big part of some types of work, particularly the work that Godfrey is involved in. I think that this also ties in to the debate between new and old. Habit helps to develop patterns, which seems to be important in studies of the past, while creativity helps to develop completely new things.