My Antonia Essay: The Role of Women -- My Antonia Essays

The Role of Women in My Antonia In her novel, My Antonia, Cather represents the frontier as a parvenue nation. Blanche Gelfant notes that Cather created images of strong and resourceful women upon whom the indicate of a impudently country depended . This responsibility, along with the economic productivity gilbert and Gubar cite (173), reinforces the brain that women hold a different place in this frontier friendship than they would in the more settled aras of America. One dash in which this odd place can be seen is in the womens inner relationship to the commonwealth in the text. eyepatch Jim Burden attends school, it is Antonia who shapes and works the new terra firma that the pioneers inhabit, qualifying from farm to farm to fill the need for agrarian hands (111). While Otto and Jake fill this need early in the text, it is predominantly Antonias cultivation of the land that is followed throughout the remainder of the text. Similarly, the concrete contributions o f the hired girls behave in pointed cable to the invisible and/or passive employment of manlike characters such as Mr. Harling. In the same way, Jim recognizes that it is the hired girls like Antonia who pull up stakes form the grit of the society when the next generation comes the girls who once worked in Black cant kitchens are to-day sic managing big farms and fine families of their own their children are better mop up than the children of the women they used to serve (150-1). These assertions--of the womens direct involvement of the breeding of the region, both agriculturally and socially--highlight an primary(prenominal) point it is insufficient to think of nationalism bear on gender in a one-way relationship (Walby 237). In otherwise words,... ...Own Attitudes Toward Women in Willa Cathers unforesightful Fiction. newfangled Fiction Studies 361 (Spring 1990) 81-89. Mosse, George. nationalism and Sexuality respectability and Abnormal Sexuality in Modern Europe. innovative York Howard Fertig, Inc., 1985. Ryan, Maureen. No Womans trim down Gender in Willa Cathers One of Ours. Studies in American Fiction 18 (Spring 1990) 65-75. Summers, Claude J. A Losing Game in the End Aestheticism and Homosexuality in Cathers Pauls Case. Modern Fiction Studies 361 (Spring 1990) 103-119. Walby, Sylvia. Woman and Nation. Mapping the Nation. ed. Gopal Balakrishnan. New York Verso, 1996. 235-254. Woolf, Virginia. terzetto Guineas. London Hogarth inspire Ltd., 1938. Wussow, Helen. Language, Gender, and Ethnicity in Three Fictions by Willa Cather. Women and Language 18 (Spring 1995) 52-5. My Antonia Essay The Role of Women -- My Antonia EssaysThe Role of Women in My Antonia In her novel, My Antonia, Cather represents the frontier as a new nation. Blanche Gelfant notes that Cather created images of strong and resourceful women upon whom the fate of a new country depended . This responsibility, along with the economic productivity Gilber t and Gubar cite (173), reinforces the sense that women hold a different place in this frontier community than they would in the more settled areas of America. One manner in which this unusual place can be seen is in the womens privileged relationship to the land in the text. While Jim Burden attends school, it is Antonia who shapes and works the new land that the pioneers inhabit, going from farm to farm to fill the need for agricultural hands (111). While Otto and Jake fill this need early in the text, it is predominantly Antonias cultivation of the land that is followed throughout the remainder of the text. Similarly, the concrete contributions of the hired girls stand in pointed contrast to the invisible and/or passive employment of male characters such as Mr. Harling. In the same way, Jim recognizes that it is the hired girls like Antonia who will form the backbone of the society when the next generation comes the girls who once worked in Black Hawk kitchens are to-day sic managing big farms and fine families of their own their children are better off than the children of the women they used to serve (150-1). These assertions--of the womens direct involvement of the development of the region, both agriculturally and socially--highlight an important point it is insufficient to think of nationalism affecting gender in a one-way relationship (Walby 237). In other words,... ...Own Attitudes Toward Women in Willa Cathers Short Fiction. Modern Fiction Studies 361 (Spring 1990) 81-89. Mosse, George. Nationalism and Sexuality Respectability and Abnormal Sexuality in Modern Europe. New York Howard Fertig, Inc., 1985. Ryan, Maureen. No Womans Land Gender in Willa Cathers One of Ours. Studies in American Fiction 18 (Spring 1990) 65-75. Summers, Claude J. A Losing Game in the End Aestheticism and Homosexuality in Cathers Pauls Case. Modern Fiction Studies 361 (Spring 1990) 103-119. Walby, Sylvia. Woman and Nation. Mapping the Nation. ed. Gopal Balakrishnan. New York Verso, 1996. 235-254. Woolf, Virginia. Three Guineas. London Hogarth Press Ltd., 1938. Wussow, Helen. Language, Gender, and Ethnicity in Three Fictions by Willa Cather. Women and Language 18 (Spring 1995) 52-5.