Willa Cather?

Question

How did she challenge traditional gender roles in her novel, My Antonia?

(please help, this essay is grueling)

Answer 1

First, you need to be clear about the term, "gender roles."

Gender roles can be defined as the behaviors and attitudes expected of male and female members of a society by that society.

Over the past few decades, Americans have made great strides in accepting and adjusting to new definitions of gender roles. Part of the cause is the increased number of women in the workplace. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white men (who once dominated the workplace) now account for about 45percent of all workers. White women and women of color make up 47 percent of the workplace. In 1995, 76 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 54 worked outside the home, up from 50 percent in 1970.

http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/8/Gender-roles.html

Next spend a moment reflecting how Willa Cather responded to "gender roles" and other changes in society during her generation.

During Willa Cather's time, the 19th Amendment came into being. It was proposed to extend voting rights to women. The Amendment was proposed June 4, 1919 and ratified August 18, 1920.

The public began using automobiles with the introduction of new manufacturing practices by Henry Ford in 1914. Not only was the car being manufactured, but clothes and food were readily available by these processes. People were leaving small towns and farms to make a living that would qualify them to buy these goods.

In the late 1880s, the first generation of white settlers lived occupied Nebraska. (Cather moved from Virginia to Nebraska when she was 9. Her grandparents has previously settled there.) Having spent her early years in the prosperous East, Willa Cather carefully observed prairie people and their beliefs as she grew up and developed into a writer.

Gender roles were changing dramatically in the world of Willa Cather. Women, like Antonia, began running farms. Men, like Burden, were disappointed with life "in town."

"I not care that your grandmother say it makes me like a man. I like to be like a man," says Antonia to Jim Burden.

As you write your essay, think about what you have read. In the early 20th Century, no one had yet written about ordinary, hard-working Nebraskans. Cather knows the language of her time and place. Make sure you focus on her language as well as her insightful observation of people.

Willa Cather was an inspiring writer, may "My Antonia" inspire you to write something which earns you an "A."