Comparing Carl Sandburg's Chicago And Willa Cather´s My Antonia

The American frontier is a term used to delineate the history of the creation of America. It is a tale of survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America. For hundreds of years the United States has been attracting immigrants with its promise of freedom and opportunity. Unfortunately, though many contributed to what makes America so great through their role as laborers, caretakers and pioneers on the frontier, the promise of freedom and opportunity were unattainable for many due to barriers created to prevent their success–several examples of which are found in Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago” and Willa Cather’s My Ántonia. Through the physical struggle for survival, the social battle between

natives and immigrants, and class and gender-based oppression, the works of Sandburg and Cather interpret the nature of the American frontier through the rugged life of its pioneers who sacrificed everything for the promise of a better future.
Having spent much of his early life serving as a laborer, Carl Sandburg was personally acquainted with the American working class; he used his poetry to explicate how life is, can, and could be. In his works, Sandburg places a heavy emphasis on the importance of the laborer. It is this humanitarian platform on which all of his poetry is based, as the fair treatment of workers is Sandburg’s greatest crusade.
Sandburg’s belief in the worker is best conveyed through his poem “Chicago,” an examination of a city, its industry, and those who are responsible for this industry.

Chicago seemed to represent all that was good in the gritty early twentieth century. Though criticized for its reliance on industrial manufacturing and the evil this reliance creates, the city was home to a vibrant and proud populous. However, in a rag to riches approach (much like how immigrants start off in America), Sandburg begins the poem with a collection of opposing set of adjectives to describe Chicago–wicked, crooked, and brutal. Sandburg does not deny that these adjectives are present in the city. In fact, he agrees that they are, saying “yes, it is true” (Sandburg). But in lines 12-13, he fights back, for these negative terms are not the only words that describe the city. To Sandburg, Chicago is alive and strong: a powerful, fierce city defined by the spirit of its people. He challenges those who “sneer” at the city in lines 15-16, saying “come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.” It is in this spirit that Chicago is validated. The “sweaty,” tired and “half-naked” laborer smiles and laughs with “dust all over his mouth,” holding strong to the promise of freedom and opportunity (Sandburg). To Sandburg, “Chicago” is more than a poem. Through this work, he defies the social institutions of his time, crying out and advocating for the

laborer. Written in free verse, “Chicago” is dry, colloquial, and realistic with a cold, naturalistic aesthetic that imitates the harsh realities of labor, struggle, oppression and pride. “Chicago” uses this tone to demand justice and an end to class-based oppression.
Willa Cather further elaborates on Sandburg’s representation of the American frontier by identifying the diverse populous of the frontier in her novel My Ántonia. Thanks to TV shows such as Bonanza and The Lone Ranger, the heroic figure of the pioneer is often seen as a rugged, determined, cowboy-hat-wearing male. However, in My Ántonia, Cather reminds its readers that life was hard for everyone on the frontier; she places great emphasis on the pioneer women who were every bit as tough and independent as the men. An example of this strong female pioneer is seen in the novels heroine, Ánontia Shimerda. While the passive male narrator, Jim Burden, attends the “country school”, Ántonia is out working the land, toiling in "the fields all day” and doing “chores at night" (82-85) "School is all right for little boys,” says Ántonia. But “I help make this land one good farm" (123). This illustrates Ántonia as a great example of the success of pioneering women, however, that’s not where her significance as a character ends–not even close.
Although the question of gender is central to the text, to read My Ántonia solely in terms of its commentary on gender is a mistake.

You see, Ántonia is a symbol. She is representative of the group of immigrants who helped to develop the American West. Her strength, spirit, and sheer will are a tribute to the fearlessness and determination of this historically important set of individuals. Much like the “half-naked,” “sweaty” and “husky” laborers in Sandburg’s “Chicago,” the hired girls toil endlessly in order to make ends meet and provide for their families (Sandburg). My Ántonia takes place at a turning point in American history, when the unsettled lands of the frontier attracted many hopeful settlers eager to make a fresh start. Though they are treated poorly and will never achieve the same economic and social standings as the native women of Black Hawk, the hired girls are vital to the success of the American frontier. Similar to the ways in which the laborers survive the “wicked” city in “Chicago,” the hired girls are trying to survive the harsh realities of the frontier (Sandburg). For example, in book II, chapter IX, we read about the three Marys–hired girls that used to work in Black Hawk. All three women were taken advantage of and impregnated by the men of the families they worked for; because of this, they are seen as dangerous and a “menace to the social order” (201). “Yet people saw no difference between her and the three Mary’s; they were all Bohemian’s, all

hired girls” (201). Another example of the harshness of the frontier is found in Book I, Chapter XIX as Jim and Ántonia sit on the roof of the chicken house, watching the electrical storm. “Things will be easy for you,” says Antonia. “But they will be hard for us.” Here, Antonia illustrates how, as a native white male, Jim has opportunities and a bright future ahead of him. Because the hired girls are immigrants and female, they are expected to live a life of hard labor and social injustice.
Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago” and Willa Cather’s My Antonia share similar tales of survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America. Unfortunately, though many of their characters contributed to what makes America so great through their role as laborers, caretakers and pioneers on the frontier, the promise of freedom and opportunity were unattainable for many due to barriers created to prevent their success. Through the physical struggle for survival, the social battle between natives and immigrants, and class and gender-based oppression, the works of Sandburg and Cather interpret the nature of the American frontier through the rugged life of its pioneers who sacrificed everything for the promise of a better future.