My Antonia Analysis
...rongly out of her shoulders, like the bole of a tree out of the turf”(130). Antonia is determined to show her mother that she is just as good a worker as Ambrosch, her older brother, if not better. This leads to her obtaining masculine traits that whittle away at her feminine side. From the above examples, it is obvious that Cather wants to describe women as willing to do what ever it takes if the condition require, even if it means losing their femininity. Antonia has a tremendous amount of determination that drives her to do well and survive. For example, when she arrives on the prairie, she believed that hard work will make a person “become wealthy”(56). This shows the “pioneer spirit”(68) is within her and that she will stop at nothing to “become wealthy”(56). When her father dies, she is extremely sad, but because she’s a “realist,”(94), she recovers quickly and takes up his work in the fields. This is a good example of her strength and determination overcoming her sorrows to survive by working in the fields. After her father dies, her “horse sense”(65) (common sense) tells her to be strong and take up her father’s responsibility since her brother is to irresponsible to do any work. Cather uses this situation to show the reader that when “push comes to shove”(73), women can do a man’s work and even more if necessary. Antonia looks at her role in life from which she had experienced. For example, when Antonia and Jim were on Jim’s farm after Jim killed the snake, she told the story immediately. The way she bragged about Jim showed her unselfish, “maternal” (53) instict of how mothers are proud of what their children do. She protected Jim’s reputation like a mother would protect a child. In addition, working for Mrs. Harling, Antonia learns how “chores”(125) are done in a “well-ordered”(125) home, and she also learns how to take care of the Harlings’ children. By working for the Harlings Antonia is preparing herself to be a good wife and an experience mother. It also shows that her role in life is beginning to take place. But Antonia’s “spirit”(72) cannot be easily controlled; s...