When recalling the female characters from My Antonia an anecdote about carrots, eggs, and coffee beans comes to mind. Each of the items on their own have good qualities however when the items are placed in boiling water they drastically changed. The carrots strong and hard become weak after being placed in the boiling water. The once fragile eggs become hard and rigid. Coffee beans however release their flavor and aroma. The coffee beans changed the least but by changing the water or their surroundings become something better.
The women in My Antonia show how they change and evolve into better women when faced with adversity. Frances Harling, Molly Garner, and Lena Lingard all change while in Black Hawk. They do not weaken or become hardened and jaded when faced with adversity; they roll with the punches and come out on top.
Frances gains a greater sense of responsibility. After the death of her father she takes on many new responsibilities. Frances, like the eggs, became tougher when faced with trouble. She seems to become stronger and more resilient after her fathers death. She takes over his business and becomes successful because of her perseverance. She works harder and with more dedication than ever before. Frances demonstrates a woman gaining success through her hard work and dedication.
Molly Gardner was married but was truly the woman behind the successful man. Molly was originally strong but like the carrots knew when to act weak. Molly Gardner was not a weak character but she did allow herself to play housewife when it suited her. Molly was fascinated with material things and because of this was driven to achieve wealth and success even if she had to drag her husband along. Molly was the smarter of the two she made many of the important decisions in the marriage. Because she was the more intelligent she also ran the business through her husband.
Lena Lingard wanted a better life than what she had. It was this overwhelming desire to make a better life that was the driving force behind most of her actions. It was because Lena disliked her work on the farm and wanted a better life that she decided to move to town and become a seamstress.
Jeannette is a hero because both are represented as being forgiving, caring, and believing in people. By having theses qualities, Jeannette is able to persevere through her life. Jeannette is forgiving because she is able to rise above her bully, Dinitia, and befriends her (Walls 142). She is able to accept Dinitia’s “apology” and move on. Jeannette is also caring. She is caring because she also helps Dinitia with schoolwork (Walls 142). She does not invited Dinitia over because “Erma had made it clear how she felt about black people” (Walls 142). By keeping Dinitia from Erma, Jeannette is protecting her from Erma’s racism. By protecting her former bully, Jeannette shows just how caring she really is. Jeannette also believes in people and chooses to see the good in them. When Brian accuses their father of spending all of his money on booze, Jeannette defends him (Walls 78). Her father says “I swear, honey, there are times when I think you're the only one around who still has faith in me” (Walls 78). Jeannette then tells herself that she will never lose faith in him (Walls 78). Because she is able to keep faith in her alcoholic dad, she believes in him and that one day he will move on. By being forgiving, caring, and seeing the good in others, Jeannette is a the character archetype of a hero and uses her qualities to help her persevere in
The reader is first introduced to Francie when she is at the age of eleven. Francie is an average, normal girl growing up in Brooklyn in the year 1912. She doesn't have many friends and her family doesn't have much money, however she enjoys reading and is constantly finding ways to amuse herself. Being as young and innocent as she is, life seems nearly perfect for Francie. Eventually though, Francie realizes that this isn't the case and, in a sense, looses a bit of her innocence.
With a husband and two children at the age of twenty eight, Edna Pontillier realized that the mother-wife life was not for her. With her new found independence Edna’s husband was unsure of how to handle his new untraditional wife. “I came to consult—no, not precisely to consult—to talk to you about Edna. I don't know what ails her.”(pg. 109) Mr. Pontillier is a loving and good husband but, his slight narcissistic personality causes him to lose touch with his wife. Mr. Pontillier buys Edna bonbons and compliments her in front of their friends but it would seem that he enjoys spending time with his friends and working more than he values his time with his wife. “Coming back to dinner?" his wife called after him. He halted a moment and shrugged his shoulders.”(pg. 8) The only reason Mrs. Pontillier stays with her husband for so long is because of her children. Although the Pontillier children are not major characters they help demonstrate her true commitment. Edna would rather die than let her children think their mother left them to be with another man. “She thought of Leonce and the children. They were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body...
Lena Lingard is the best example of a non-domestic central character which appears amidst the domesticity of My Ántonia. Often the sections which feature Lena instead of Ántonia are seen as confusing divergences from the plot line of a novel that purports to be about the woman named in the title. However, since Lena appears in the novel almost as often as Ántonia, and more often than any other character except Jim, she is a central character. Lena is a working woman who refuses to accept the constraints society places upon her. Even when society predicts that by becoming a dressmaker instead of marrying she will fail and become a "loose" woman, she disrupts their expectations and succeeds.
Ferguson, Mary Anne. "My Antonia in Women's Studies: Pioneer Women and Men-- The Myth and the Reality." Rosowski's Approaches to Teaching 95-100.
Living with McKinley in a far off mill hamlet continued to keep Lena isolated, and this condition was further aggravated by the fact that she was kept busy with housework much of the time. Admittedly, housekeeping for a large family is one kind of community, but it is not the kind that Lena wants. She would rather have a family of her own than care for someone else’s, and so she seeks love in the form of Lucas Burch. Unfortunately, Burch does not want to start a family. He only uses Lena for his own pleasure, and as soon as she tells him about the pregnancy, he leaves town (p. 16-17).
In her novel, My Antonia, Cather represents the frontier as a new nation. Blanche Gelfant notes that Cather "creat[ed] images of strong and resourceful women upon whom the fate of a new country depended" . This responsibility, along with the "economic productivity" Gilbert 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.
In the words of entrepreneur Brandi Harvey, “You are enough, without anyone else’s stamp, without anyone else’s validation or approval.” In this quote, she validates the fact that people, women in particular, do not need somebody to tell them they are sufficient enough— a woman does not need a man to provide for her needs, make her happy, or make her feel good about herself. It shows that women who lose their independence often lose their dreams as well. This idea centers all throughout the book, “My Antonia” by Willa Cather. In this book, the author focuses on the life of a young man named Jim and the many diverse women that surrounds him all from he was a small boy to a grown man. The idea of independence
In actuality, she was defiant, and ate macaroons secretly when her husband had forbidden her to do so. She was quite wise and resourceful. While her husband was gravely ill she forged her father’s signature and borrowed money without her father or husband’s permission to do so and then boastfully related the story of doing so to her friend, Mrs. Linde. She was proud of the sacrifices she made for her husband, but her perceptions of what her husband truly thought of her would become clear. She had realized that the childlike and submissive role she was playing for her husband was no longer a role she wanted to play. She defied the normal roles of the nineteenth century and chose to find her true self, leaving her husband and children
Ever since she was a young girl. Jeannette had set high goals for herself. Since she was so advanced in school and genuinely enjoyed learning, it made sense that she would want to do big things with her life. Whether it was being a veterinarian or a geologist, her dreams extended far beyond her homes in little desert towns or Welch, West Virginia. However, because of her poverty-stricken home life, many people believed it didn’t seem likely that she would be so successful. One day, while living in Welch, Jeannette goes to the bar to drag her drunk father back home. A neighborhood man offers them a ride back to their house, and on the ride up he and Jeannette start a conversation about school. When Jeannette tells the man that she works so hard in school because of her dream careers, the man laughs saying, “for the daughter of the town drunk, you sure got big plans” (Walls 183). Immediately, Jeannette tells the man to stop the car and gets out, taking her father with her. This seems to be a defining moment in which Jeannette is first exposed to the idea that she is inferior to others. Although this man said what he did not mean to offend her, Jeannette is clearly very hurt by his comment. To the reader, it seems as if she had never thought that her family’s situation made her subordinate to those
All in all, Jeannette’s character development through the course of the novel is immense. Her personality begins to ripen, and she starts to discover the truth about her life and family. Numerous instances occurred in the novel; firstly she discovers the truth about her parents and realizes that she misperceived their personalities. To continue, Jeannette begins to learn a bit more about the issues the Walls face. The life of adventure began to seem dangerous and unstable. Lastly Jeannette starts to develop her own personality and focus on her future. She never had these thoughts previously; she always concerned herself with the dilemmas of others. Throughout Jeannette develops tremendously, she begins to see the world through her own eyes and no longer has a barrier of youth to protect her.
... education. Katie firmly believes that schooling is her children’s only escape from poverty. She is not embarrassed that Francie’s knowledge surpasses her own, instead she pushes her daughter to work harder. Kaite’s constant pushing results in Francie’s acceptance into a college university. Katie Nolan is the heart and soul of the Nolan family and without her Francie would not grow up to be a hard working, intelligent young woman.
She is very close to her father so this impacts her deeply. She feels the need to step up and care for her family. This turns Antonia into a very hard worker. She begins working with Ambrosch, her brother, by plowing the fields. She takes on the responsibilities of a man. This makes her stop going to school. This worries Jim until he finds out that Antonia is actually very hurt by the event of her father dying. Antonia cries in secret and longs to go to school.
Jeanette's parents taught her the importance of knowledge from a very young age which also shaped her to become the person she became after her childhood. THroughout the story Jeannette is always learning, always reading, and educating herself to become more knowledgeable. She even at one point in the book begins a rock collection on different types of rocks which she sells to make money. Jeanette's parents instilled a large amount of positive traits and characteristics through their life of poverty to craft the amazing women Jeannette grew up to
Jeannette Walls was born into a poor family who often had to live homeless and without food. The environment in which she grew up in is what gave her the characteristics she possesses. One trait that describes Jeannette is that she is very adventurous. Since she was constantly exposed to new surroundings, she became curious of them. While she was homeless in the desert, she would play a game with her father called Monster Hunting. She grew to not be afraid of anything, since she could fight off these so called “monsters.” Also, Jeannette is very decisive. To get away from Welch, a poor town in West Virginia, she made sure that she would get enough money to move to New York. She did this by getting a job to save up money for a bus ticket and for college. Along with this, Jeannette is very ambitious. She worked very hard to get accepted into college by working for the school newspaper, since she wanted to become a journalist. On the other hand, Melba Patillo was born into a middle class family who lived in Lit...