The Character of Lena Lingard in My Antonia Lena Lingard is the best example of a non-domestic central character which appears amidst the domesticity of My Ántonia. Often the sections which feature Lena instead of Ántonia are seen as confusing divergences from the plot line of a novel that purports to be about the woman named in the title. However, since Lena appears in the novel almost as often as Ántonia, and more often than any other character except Jim, she is a central character. Lena is a working woman who refuses to accept the constraints society places upon her. Even when society predicts that by becoming a dressmaker instead of marrying she will fail and become a "loose" woman, she disrupts their expectations and succeeds. The first image of Lena in the novel is as newly arrived, pseudo-sophisticated country girl who has come to town to learn the trade of dressmaking. However, from the beginning of our knowledge of Lena she is anti-domestic. Lena recognizes that marriage is difficult-- she is never caught up in the "idea" of romance which leads Ántonia to a disastrous relationship and unwed motherhood. Ántonia takes the dances and socializing much more seriously and ends up in trouble, whereas Lena enjoys dancing and kissing but is merely having fun. When asked about her mother, Lena responds, "Oh, mother's never very well; she has too much to do. She'd get away from the farm, too, if she could" (Cather, 104). When Frances Harling teases Lena about a suitor who the town thinks Lena will marry, she responds, "I don't want to marry Nick, or any other man, . . . I've seen a good deal of married life, and I don't care for it" (105). It seems impossible for the town to believe that a beautiful gir... ... middle of paper ... ...c plot" limits and ignores the non-traditional female experience which is just as important to analyze. The Nan Princes, Lena Lingards and Tiny Solderalls of the fictional world deserve and demand critical attention not for what they don't do (the dishes) but for what they are-- working women. Works Cited Cather, Willa. My Antonia. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1995. Gelfant, Blanche H. "The Forgotten Reaping Hook: Sex in My Antonia." Bloom's Modern Critical Views, 103-123. Jewett, Sarah Orne. A Country Doctor. New York: The Penguin Group. 1986. Romines, Ann. The Home Plot: Women, Writing & Domestic Ritual. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press. 1992. Weiner, Lynn Y. From Working Girl to Working Mother: The Female Labor Force in the United States, 1820-1980. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 1985.
then the town and down till he's in the room with Tom and his wife. In "The
When Willa Cather wrote her novel My Antonia in 1918, there probably was not any doubt that it was the story of a woman's accomplishment. However, today there have been many critics that claim this work to be the legacy of a girl's struggle, not triumph. This perception can easily be argued. This leaves readers with the choice of interpreting the book as enlightening or depressing.
to bed. She was fussing the whole time but I heard none of it; I just
This ESSAY discusses the female Lowell factory worker as portrayed in the Offering. Although the magazine never expressed an overtly feminist view of the factory girls' condition, nor invoked a working-class consciousness similar to later labor expressions in Lowell, there is evidence of a narrative strategy and ideology speaking both to the factory women and the middle-class readership outside of the mill town. The paper's short stories, epistolary narratives and commentaries seek to legitimize an operatives' role within the feminine ideal of domesticity. In conforming to the norms of feminine literature, the Offering reconstructs the operatives' character. It subordinates the evidence for independence or autonomy to relate stories of familial or sentimental ties binding the factory girl to the world outside of factory life. The magazine sought to provide an answer to this question: given her new liberties, what kept the "factory girl" from losing contact with her moral sentiments?
The women in Susan Glaspell's “Trifles” and Henrik Ibsen's “A Doll's House” creates a complex picture of male-female relationships and their effects on women's views about reality. Nora Helmer, the main character of Ibsen's play, seems totally happy with her family and social life: she is constantly pampered and patronized by her husband and plays the role of a trivial, small girl who cannot take pertinent choices. In a similar manner, Minnie Foster, the central character of Susan Glaspell's “Trifles”, spends her life in separation and rejection, banned by her husband from realizing her purpose and aspirations. Nora and Minnie are two strong females in a male-dominated world, who choose different ways to cope with gender inequalities and protest against gendered standards and expectations of female performance.
The central theme of Act III, Scene ii of “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare is the power of rhetoric because it shows the effect of two funeral orators’ on the crowd. In this scene, Antony and Brutus have similar purpose in talking to the public, which is to gain the support of the Plebeians according to their conflicting views about Caesar’s assassination. This essay focuses on comparing the orations of the two speakers in this part of the play according to Aristotle’s rhetoric system. According to Aristotle’s writings, Antony’s speech is more persuasive than Brutus’ speech, because he is able to provide logical, emotional and ethical appeals to his audience. Firstly, in comparison to Brutus’ logic, Antony provides more evidence to prove that Caesar was not ambitious. Secondly, Antony’s emotional acts and speech moved his audience more than Brutus. Finally, Antony acts more noble than Brutus does.
In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, two speeches are given to the people of Rome about Caesar's death. In Act 3, Scene 2 of this play Brutus and Antony both try to sway the minds of the Romans toward their views. Brutus tried to make the people believe he killed Caesar for a noble cause. Antony tried to persuade the people that the conspirators committed an act of brutality toward Caesar and were traitors. The effectiveness and ineffectiveness of both Antony's and Brutus's speech to the people are conveyed through tone and rhetorical devices.
...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.
In Christine Stansell’s City of Women, the main issue discussed is “the misfortunes laboring women suffered and the problems they caused” (xi). Throughout the book, Stansell delves into the different aspects that affected these female New Yorkers’ lives, such as inadequate wages, societal stigmas about women laborers, and the hierarchal class system, within antebellum America. She argues that since the nation’s founding, in 1789, the bedrock of these tribulations working women would be mercilessly exposed to was gender inequality. Women’s opportunities and livelihoods were strongly dependent on the dominant male figure in their life, due to the fact that in that period there was very few available and accepted forms of employment for women. Stansell claims, “Paid work was sparse and unstable. Laboring women were confined within a patriarchal economy predicated on direct dependence on men” (18). As the work continues, she illustrates these women’s desires to break away from their reliance on men, as well as the avenues they took to achieve this desired independence. To help solidify her
Many women characters appear in fiction who have been damaged by or disintegrate under the stresses of life. Just as in life, however, many fictional characters survive, adapt, and triumph; these characters may never be recognized within a larger world, but they are vitally important to other characters and are the objects of deep love and respect. Creating this woman in fiction can often be difficult, because the writer must present a whole character, not one trivialized by sentimentality or stereotyped by convention. Willa Cather in My Antonia and O.E. Rolvaag in Giants in the Earth have developed such characters.
“Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare is the story of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Two speeches were made after his death, one being by Mark Antony. He uses many rhetorical devices in this speech to counter the previous speech and persuade the crowd that the conspirators who killed Caesar were wrong. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and these many devices strengthen this by making points and highlighting flaws. Antony uses many rhetorical devices, all of which are used to persuade the crowd that the conspirators are wrong and Caesar did not need to be killed.
Many women in modern society make life altering decisions on a daily basis. Women today have prestigious and powerful careers unlike in earlier eras. It is more common for women to be full time employees than homemakers. In 1879, when Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House, there was great controversy over the out come of the play. Nora’s walking out on her husband and children was appalling to many audiences centuries ago. Divorce was unspoken, and a very uncommon occurrence. As years go by, society’s opinions on family situations change. No longer do women have a “housewife” reputation to live by and there are all types of family situations. After many years of emotional neglect, and overwhelming control, Nora finds herself leaving her family. Today, it could be said that Nora’s decision is very rational and well overdue.
When Nina cheat on husband and notice that she loves Ned, she says “I’ve loved him ever since that first afternoon…then love came to me…in his arms…happiness!” From this description, it is clear that she realize love after having done sexual activity. Her figure here completely matches with Abbie who seduced Eben to gain sperm and result in loving him. Also, there is a strange match in terms of killing their own children. Looking more closely to the similarity with other heroines in other works, we can see similarity with Ella of All God’s children Got Wings in terms of suffering in marriage with unwanted husbands. Besides that, in terms of intense maternity, it can be pointed out that it is similar to Cibel in The Great God Brown, also it can be said that Nina is similar to Christine in Mourning Becomes Elektra in terms of murderous intent to her husband. In this way, Nina has a lot of features of the heroines of plays O'Neill. From this, we can consider Nina as a memorable female character that represent all heroines in O'Neill’s
Nora, from Ibsen’s play A Doll House, plays the main role. Both in the play itself and ironically seems to be acting throughout the whole play. It is not until the Act III that the reader sees Nora standing up, revolting against the role others have given her. It is crucial to acknowledge that the period the scene is taking place is during the late 19th century in Norway. This was a time where most residents were conservative, unlike Ibsen. Ibsen was a social revolutionary, wanting to role changing and present modern ideas of marriage. Thereby making theater more realistic such as A Doll House. Ibsen precisely used the character of Nora as a social revolutionary woman, to channel his voice, and cause dispute amongst specially couples.
Though the Harling women, such as Frances, were granted description by Cather, she is much more involved in the influence of the country girls. Jim sees the Danish laundry girls at the firemen's dances, but the "girls never looked so pretty at the dances as they did standing by the ironing-board, or over the tubs, washing the fine pieces, their white arms and throats bare, their cheeks bright as the brightest wild roses, their gold hair, moist with the steam or the heat and curling in little damp spirals about their ears" (170). Infatuated with their ability to work and play with such strength and good cheer, Jim never associates himself with the town-bred girls, but rather fascinates himself with observations of the three Marys, Tiny, Lena and, of course, Ántonia. Cather continuously describes the deep color of Ántonia's cheekscolor that would never grace the complexion of a town girl. And due to her strength and purpose, Ántonia, like the other immigrants, is always granted a special place in Jim's memory. The simplicity and steadfastness of the hired girls are what jogs Jim's memory of the Nebraska prairie. Even the men that are close to his heart, such as Jake and Otto, are those of the working classmen, who through their labor and good cheer, influenced Jim's young life.