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Sexuality And Gender Norms In My Antonia

670 Words3 Pages

A Dissolving Line: How the theme of Sexuality and Gender Norms is Presented in Willa Cather’s My Antonia

Like immigrating to a new country with different customs, perspectives of sexuality and gender roles of the characters in Willa Cather’s My Antonia either seek to stay with traditional norms or seek to revolutionize and change those norms. In the 19th to early 20th century, women’s role in society improved and played a more prominent role in progressing America. In My Antonia, however, Jim’s characteristics fit a more romantic, idealistic, and outdated view of society: while Antonia is a realist, Jim is a romantic idealist. Sexuality and gender norms in My Antonia can be seen through masculine characteristics of Antonia Shimerda, the feminine characteristics of Lena Liegard, and the inner thoughts of Jim Burden.
Sexuality and gender norms play a big role in comparing the masculine characteristics of Antonia Shimerda. In My Antonia, Antonia plays a lot of roles unexpected for women at the time, and as a result, developed characteristics usually seen as unfit for women in her time. In Book 1, Antonia eagerly offers a “little chased silver ring she wore on her middle finger” (Cather, 31). Antonia’s offering …show more content…

Jim is an ideal romantic, causing him to dislike the idea of women encompassing masculine traits. When Antonia offers Jim the silver ring, he declines the offer, thinking that it was “reckless and extravagant about her wishing to give it to a boy she had never seen before” (Cather, 31). Jim highlights the term “boy” as he believes that it is his duty to present a ring to others, not the other way around. Jim also began to view Antonia as disagreeable, noting that she “ate so noisily now, like a man” (Cather, 116). As a result of Antonia’s working in the field, she develops visible male characteristics, conflicting with Jim’s idealistic views of

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Psychoanalytical Lens In Willa Cather's My Antonia

748 Words | 3 Pages

Antonia also never seems to meet Jim’s expectations, for it is Lena that makes an appearance in Jim's subconscious, not Antonia. Although Jim may be unaware, the Psychoanalytical Lens helps explain why in the

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How Does The Impact The Hired Girls Have On Jim In My Antonia

764 Words | 4 Pages

In her novel “My Antonia,” Willa Cather shows the impact the Hired Girls have on Jim is the way they offer him a nostalgic connection to his past by using the works of Virgil, and from this connection Jim is able to reach deep intellectual and personal understanding. After being away from his childhood home for many years, and in the midst of pursuing his studies, Jim is reunited with Lena Lingard. The effect she has on him is immediate and lasting, and after seeing her for the first time Jim finds himself thinking of the past. “When I closed my eyes I could hear them all laughing - the Danish laundry girls and the three Bohemian Marys.

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Comparing Jim To 'Te-E-Ach My Antonia'

339 Words | 2 Pages

I believe Jim was the one who happened to learn more out of the whole relationship. One detail would be that while Antonia was being taught, Jim was also able to learn more himself. For example, he was able to learn more about himself throughout the entire experience. This shown through Jim not knowing that you could “cook cucumbers” but found that it was ok because “Ántonia assured [him] they were very good.”

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Examples Of Misogyny In The Scarlet Letter

1183 Words | 5 Pages

This show of misogynistic ideas and practices is in correlation with Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Elizabeth bennet’s her sisters are undervalued and ticketed of as victims of misogyny and male dominance. The novel was published in 1850 around the same time of the suffrage movement. The first wave of feminism took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, emerging out of an environment of urban industrialism and liberal, socialist politics.

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My Antonia Character Development

565 Words | 3 Pages

Antonia was around the same age as Jim so she gravitated toward him. Jim was Antonia's first friend when they moved to Nebraska. Jim taught Antonia how to speak English

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Accepting Jim In Willa Cather's My Antonia

399 Words | 2 Pages

Jim and Antonia were out gathering potatoes when Jim killed a snake. At that point Antonia saw Jim in a different light and began to admire his strength and courage. She said, "I never know you were so brave." After the snake incident, Antonia looked up to Jim and had more respect for him. Antonia was dedicated and determined to improve the conditions of her life and her family '

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Comparing William Dean Howells's Editha And Henry James Daisy Miller

607 Words | 3 Pages

They show the harsh and cruel reality of the surrounding environment that women live in without framing that reality in beautiful frame. This is obvious in William Dean Howells’s “Editha” and Henry James’s “Daisy Miller”. Both Editha and Daisy share the same characteristic of the New Woman. These two women redefine the feminine ideology of women who suffer from following the social norms of their culture. They believe that women should have freedom as well as men, and they are responsible for making decisions in their lives without under

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Theme Of Friendship In My Antonia

841 Words | 4 Pages

Social barriers were one reason why Jim didn’t pursue Antonia romantically. Antonia, also known as Tony, was a poor, uneducated immigrant that moved in America with her family to find a better life. Jim, on the other hand, was an average, educated youth, moved in Nebraska to live with his grandparents. He remembered how Antonia’s father begged to teach Antonia in English (19). Immigrants were poor that they could not even provide proper education to their children like how Mr. Shimerda asked a ten-year-old Jim to educate a fourteen-year-old Antonia.

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My Antonia Passage Analysis

513 Words | 3 Pages

The suffering and starvation of her first winter on the prairie, ending in her father’s suicide, never diminished Antonia’s love for the country. And now Jim could see the literal fruits of her labor. Her life exhibited “the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last” (Cather, 127). Antonia planted seeds of kindness, freedom, and hope everywhere she went. “Tireless in serving generous emotions” (Cather, 127), Antonia freely gave her love, attention, and self to everyone she met.

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It may skew her thinking and at times be subjective. The intended audience is someone who is studying literature and interested in how women are portrayed in novels in the 19th century. The organization of the article allows anyone to be capable of reading it.

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Major Themes Of My Antonia

1024 Words | 5 Pages

On page 45 Ántonia confides in Jim, “‘My papa sad for the old country. He not look good’” (Cather, 45). Later Jim explains that he knew what killed Mr. Shimerda, “’ I knew it was homesickness that had killed Mr. Shimerda…’” (Cather,50).

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In 1347 Siena, Italy faced a horrible crisis when the ‘Black Death Plague’ killed off around 60% of their overall population. Everyone thought the end of Siena was near, and that their rival Florence would soon take over; but that was not the case. Around the 14th century, the Renaissance began, and the rebirth of Siena was in action. During this time, the term “Humanism” was very important, illustrating interests in the Ancient world. Humanism was a study first done during the Renaissance, where for the first time people started to think and learn about themselves as people, rather than just focusing on god and religion.

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2071 Words | 9 Pages

Ancient Greek sexuality and gender roles and their place in society were very different from what is considered the societal norm today. Society, law and democracy focused on the adult male citizen [Source 9], with mainstream sexuality being defined as his active pursuit of a partner of lower social status than himself who was expected to be passive in both the courtship and the sex act itself [Source 2][Source 6][Source 10]. This partner could be a woman, an adolescent boy, or slaves of either gender. It should probably be pointed out at this point that, while much has been written on “Greek homosexuality,” the Ancient Greeks themselves would not have seen it as such, as such definitions only really came into usage relatively recently [Source 4]. The Ancient Greeks had no concept of “gay” as we would understand it, as equally no concept of “straight.”

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