The Consequences Of Women In Willa Cather's My Antonia

In Willa Cather’s novel, My Antonia, women although not equal to men, gain importance in postmodern times but at the same time, there are the consequences. Betrayal is to be one of the main consequences that women face. Another consequence is too much freedom; women unable to control themselves when given too much freedom. Finally, women are unknowledgeable; since they are not educated, they do not know how to face situations. Antonia plays a vital role in this novel; she is a character who represents the consequences that women face as well as the importance of women in the postmodern times. To begin, betrayal is the result of women’s importance in the postmodern era. Women have extreme faith in their lover which ultimately causes their love

Freedom is a consequence as most of these are girls who work to take care of their families and if given too much freedom, it could ultimately lead their life in ruination. Women in the novel, My Antonia, decide to dance with the other men at the tent, which is their way of having fun, however, that becomes a consequence of a lot of freedom, as they are treated differently from other normal women. An example of this situation would be when “Young Harry Paine, who was to marry his employer’s daughter on Monday… danced all evening… [then] begged Antonia to…walk home with her …[and] she said she supposed he was nice… [but then] …he tried to kiss her… and [she] slapped him” (155). This incident is critical in Antonia’s life because for the first time she is experiencing how her sense of freedom has gone too far, however, instead she only blames the mistake on Harry Paine. Still, she does not understand that she also partakes in the incident because she gave him space to walk her home although he is to marry another woman. Not obeying rules of the workplace is another consequence that becomes the result of freedom. In this case, Antonia pays no heed to Mr. Harling’s decision on her going to the dances, which is either to “…quit going to [the] dances, or… hunt another place…” (155). Instead, she decides to leave because she wants to

Women uneducated tends to make them less mature than women who are. An example of this can be seen when Antonia tells Jimmy Burden that she does not care Jimmy’s “…grandmother [says working out-of-doors] …makes [her] like a man [because she likes] to be like a man” (105). This quotation demonstrates the comparison between the little girl Antonia used to be when Mr. Shimerda used to be alive and how she is now, wanting to be like a man. Also, Antonia becomes less mature than she was in her early childhood days because she is uneducated; she doesn’t know how to control and take care of herself without following her mother’s footsteps. A woman without education changes her lifestyle completely in the postmodern times; women uneducated tend to think negatively. In specific, Antonia feels so negative about herself when Jimmy tells her that he is going to school, and asks him if he would “sometime… tell [her] all [of the] nice things [that he would] learn at the school…” (94). Antonia’s quote is unexpected because before she told Jimmy that she likes to work like a man; this quotation represents how she really feels about being an uneducated woman in her society. Women without education have difficulty with making life decisions in this era, which is the result of women’s importance. For instance, a life decision is made by Antonia when she packed up her stuff “to live [with Larry