My Antonia Essay Women on the Frontier - 857 Words

Women on the Frontier in My Aacute;ntonia nbsp; In 1891, marking the elimination of free land, the Census Bureau announced that the frontier no longer existed (Takaki, A Different Mirror, 225).nbsp; The end of the frontier meant the constant impoverishment, instead of the wealth they had dreamed of, for a large number of immigrants from the Old World: they came too late.nbsp; My Aacute;ntonia, however, illuminates another frontier, a frontier within America that most immigrants had to face.nbsp; It was the frontier between Americans and foreigners.nbsp; The immigrants were still foreign to the Americans who came and settled earlier.nbsp; They had to overcome the language and cultural barrier and struggle against the†¦show more content†¦Foreigners culture from the Old World is something they should give away.nbsp; It is old and disgusting like the mushroom that Mrs. Shimerda gave the Burdens as a present.nbsp; (Jims grandmother threw it away.)nbsp; Mrs. Shimerdas keeping dishes under the feathered quilt, including many as pects of her housekeeping, brings about disgust.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; While the cultural barrier forces the foreigners to give away their own culture, the language barrier blocks the foreigners from economic success or social respect and contributes to the class division between foreigners and Americans.nbsp;nbsp; nbsp; All foreigners were ignorant people who couldnt speak English. There was not a man in Black Hawk who had the intelligence or cultivation, much less the personal distinction, of Aacute;ntonias father.nbsp; Yet people saw no difference between her and the three Marys; they were all Bohemians, all hired girls.nbsp; (129) nbsp; nbsp; All foreigners are assumed ignorant because they cannot speak English and thus cannot but be poor.nbsp; Their intelligence is of no use, not knowing English.nbsp; Their daughters become the wage laborers in town for their family.nbsp; No matter what background they have, the girls are at the base of social pyramid as foreigners and hired girls.nbsp; The daughters themselves cannot get a well-paid and respected job asShow MoreRelatedThe Western Frontier Is An Important Part Of American Society848 Words   |  4 PagesThe Western Frontier is an important part of American society that captures the archetypal curiosity that ever American has in search of new opportunities. Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay titled, â€Å"The Significance of the Frontier in American History† explains the relevance of westward expansion in the late nineteenth century. Turner describes the western frontier as the â€Å"meeting point between savagery and civilization† because once one cro sses the boundary from the East to the West; the laws ofRead More My Antonia Essay: The Spirit of Antonia1253 Words   |  6 PagesThe Spirit of Antonia in My Antonia      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The life of Antonia Shimerdas, the main character in Willa Cathers My Antonia, could easily be judged a failure. Perhaps measures of wealth, career, beauty and love fall short when held next to Antonia. 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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.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One mannerRead MoreEssay on Use of Environment, Landscape, and Cycles in My Antonia3310 Words   |  14 PagesUse of the Environment, Landscape, and Cycles, in My à ntonia       The landscape and the environment in Willa Cathers, My à ntonia, plays several roles. It creates both a character and protagonist, while it also reflects Cathers main characters, Jim and à ntonia, as well as forming the structure of the novel. Additionally, it evokes several themes that existed on the prairie during the time in which the story takes place. Some of these themes that directly relate to the novel, which are worthRead MoreBrief Survey of American Literature3339 Words   |  14 Pagesprinciples in various magazines. Besides, they even published their journal, The Dial (1840-1844). Major Transcendentalist Figures Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Nature (1836) The American Scholar (1837) Divinity School Address (1838) Essays: First Series (1841) Essays: Second Series (1844) H. D. Thoreau (1817-1862) Walden (1854) â€Å"Civil Disobedience† (1849) Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845) Editor of The Dial (1840-42) High Romanticism Whitman and Dickinson: