My Antonia Essay: Women on the Frontier

Patricia Nelson Limerick describes the frontier as being a place of where racial tension predominately exists. In her essay, “The Frontier as a Place of Ethnic and Religion Conflict,” Limerick says that the frontier wasn’t the place where everyone got to escape from their problems from previous locations before; instead she suggested that it was the place in which we all met. The frontier gave many the opportunities to find a better life from all over the world. But because this chance for a new life attracted millions of people from different countries across the seas, the United States experienced an influx of immigrants. Since the east was already preoccupied by settlers, the west was available to new settlement and that

The frontier was the most line of rapidness and effective Americanization. When the masters of the colonist found him, an European, it stripped him and provided him with a hunting shirt and moccasin. It settles him in a log cabin of the Cherokee and Iroquois. It provided a planting job of Indian corn and plowing with a sharp stick. Before going to planting he shouted the war cry and took the scalp in Indian fashion. Little by little his transformation outcomes were not old Europe and not the development of Germanic germs.

Women did not have an easy life during the American Colonial period. Before a woman reached 25 years of age, she was expected to be married with at least one child. Most, if not all, domestic tasks were performed by women, and most domestic goods and food were prepared and created by women. Women performed these tasks without having any legal acknowledgment. Although women had to endure many hardships, their legal and personal lives were becoming less restricted, although the change was occurring at a snail’s pace.

Women didn’t have it very easy on the Oregon Trial. They had many chores/jobs they had to get done. And those jobs were no walk in the park. They were hard, laborious, and dirty jobs. They were also often “handed” these jobs. Women were often taken granted for. In the men’s minds, they were trivial, but that was far from true. If women hadn’t gone on the Oregon Trail, it probably wouldn’t have gotten that far. Women and girls play a big rule in Women and girls had to adjust to very rough conditions.

As the 19th century closes, the west held the reputation of mythical proportion and defined the United States’ identity during the gilded age. Promises and dreams of having free land, your own freedom, and wealth for all people infatuate the nation and those who hear of the frontier; these myths created a “golden gilding “ which masks the actual turmoil and issues in the United States. In 1863, historian, Frederick Jackson Turner lectured, “‘The Significance of the Frontier in American History,’ in which he argued that on the western frontier the distinctive qualities of American culture were forged: individual freedom, political democracy, and economic mobility.” These tall tales created in the country a drive to push and inhabit the west

United by the obligations of the law, yet entirely divided by society, welcome to America. Patriots chant “equality” one moment, and “deport them” the next. Cruel, unaccepting, and uncompassionate, American society of the majority often appears to view itself as sovereign, turning a blind eye to, and often contributing to, the struggles of minorities. In “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan (1990) does an excellent job of sharing her experience with similar issues as she tells her readers about the struggles her mother encountered due to being an immigrant who only spoke “broken” English. Society often put no weight into what Tan’s mother had to say, believing her ability to express her thoughts reflected the quality of said thoughts, which are of absolutely no correlation (Tan, 1990). This often led to Tan having to intervene for her mother, especially during serious situations that required resolution (Tan, 1990). Immigrants, no matter how intelligent or talented, may be plagued by continuous struggles because of a lack of understanding of English or American culture, stereotypes encouraged by the media, and discrimination, especially in the workplace.

Willa Cather draws a stark contrast between the respectable women of Black Hawk and the “hired girls” in books II and III of My Antonia through Jim’s unavoidable attachment to them.  The “hired girls” are all immigrants who work in Black Hawk as servants to help support their families in the country.  They are hardworking and charming.  They are simple and complicated.  They are sad and joyful.  They work all day and dance all night.  For Jim they are the most interesting people who  reside in Black Hawk.  The respectable women are boring and predictable.  They all go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning.  Their

Women have always been fighting for the rights of others and rights for themselves; they’ve stated time after time that everyone should be equal. Equality in America meant everything to women; equality between whites and blacks, Native Americans and whites, and women and all of America. “There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women,” (DuPont 12; Lewis). Passages such as the pervious sentence are just a few of many that express women’s feelings towards women’s rights and suffrage. However, women did want changes in rights for all people, but with women being women

It goes without saying that all things, miniscule or monumental, are bound to become subject of change. Change can be caused by a number of things, but for the women who’s tales were recanted in Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars: Life and Culture on the Lower East Side 1890-1925 written by Elizabeth Ewen, change was especially imminent as they were forced to exchange the “old ways” of their native countries for the “new ways” of America. Immigrant women’s lives were completely altered, as they had to adjust to American culture in an innumerable amount of ways; they specifically saw change in how they perceived leisure and luxury, their views on marriage and roles as wives, and also their expectations as daughters.

 The role of the women in My Antonia as the showcased laborers and workers in the new community does not, certainly, alleviate the questions of patriarchal influence offered in the discussions of gender. Certainly, the fact that Ántonia is deprived of the education she longs for and yet cannot have, because it is she who is responsible for her family's success--"'School is all right for little boys. I help make this land one good farm'" (94)--cannot be seen as entirely good, if we agree that "the value of education is among the greatest of all human values" (Woolf 45); and in spite of her protests to the contrary, the bitter recognition of exclusion brings Ántonia to tears. However, recognizing the

According to the frontier thesis, all the resources on the frontier as well as its lack of an established socio-political structure provided opportunities for the settlers. They could now pursue their dreams “of limitless wealth and self-betterment.”[6] Cheap or free land meant more opportunities for the self-made man, and provided a ‘safety valve’ for the ‘newcomers’:

During the 18th and 19th century, patriarchy has been responsible for designing women’s role in society. Throughout history, men have been deemed as superior while women have been regarded as inferior. Society has this ideology that women are the sole laborers of a household; they were not granted the same privileges as men. In addition, women have been negatively affected by stereotyping. Women have been portrayed on television as being submissive to men. The depiction of women on television portrays the implications of a societal view of women. From a man's perspective, an ideal woman is a housewife who does all the household duties herself. However, over the years, studies have shown that gender roles have slowly advanced. Women began

world and does not care to return to it. At this point, the reader begins to pity Jim,

During the westward expansion the Indians were the only Texans who had any real knowledge of the land west of the present day Interstate Highway 35. Soon settlers began to push homesteads farther west into this uncharted region. The new explorers faced several dangers such as weather, water shortages, and uncertain relations with Indians. New explorations and developments in transportation and establishments brought more movement to the west. Residents began arriving in the west hoping to get rich land and political representation. The men and women who went out to establish the last frontier lived lives that would decisively shape the American character. The settlement of the frontier was driven by profit and political purpose. U.S. citizens pursued the work and adventure of subduing their country’s last frontier. Settling the frontier brought out the best and worst in people of all varieties that wanted to make their mark in the west.

‘Foreign,’ written by Carol Ann Duffy, is a poem depicting the perspective of an immigrant worker who lives in unfamiliar surroundings and narrates their experiences. In this dramatic monologue, Duffy uses language and themes in effective ways that allow readers to interpret the different themes and ideas to highlight the persona’s sense of confusion, feelings, nostalgia, and many more. Through the use of literary devices, regular structure and varied tones throughout the poem, the author presents strong themes that can be related to the audience as well as to gain sympathy to the narrator.