My Antonia by Willa Cather

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Women Immigrants Challenges During 19th and 20th Century
Introduction
The late nineteenth and early twentieth, saw an influx of immigrants come to America relative to the economic boom and problems in their own countries. Among the majority of immigrants that streamed in during the time were the Europeans, especially from the eastern and northern parts of Europe. Most of the European immigrants came in from Ireland and a good majority came in from Germany. Countries such as Ireland were experiencing the Great Famine and thus most of the immigrants were coming to America in search of better place to live and away from instability in their countries. America at the time was picking up speed from the effects of industrialization, which created millions of jobs and billions in wealth. The book titled My Antonia, authored by Willa Cather brings out a different aspect of the lives that the immigrants led in their foreign land. The book, which takes the form of a memoir, brings out some of the basic elements of the struggles that the immigrants had to endure to live in their new found homes. Relative to the various struggles that the immigrants experienced, there is also the element of the struggles that women experienced (Sallquist, 173). Over the years the women immigrants have had a turbulent past. Today the situation is relatively changed and the immigrants lead a better live due to the fact that there has been subtle policy evolution in light of human rights, gender equality and civil rights. However, the rights of immigrants still leave a lot to be desired with constant strain placed on people seeking for a better life.
Thesis statement: Women immigrants were treated to difficult times during the late 19th century and early 20th century and despite the policy reforms over the years the struggle is hardly won.
My Antonia on women immigrants
In the book My Antonia, the plight of women that were immigrants is brought to the readers’ attention with amazing details. These include some of the elements that most of the women immigrants had to experience, during the late 19th century and in the early 20th century. This is also echoed in the article by Sallquist, stating that;
‘The most detailed treatment of hired girls in the works under consideration is found in
Willa Cather's My Antonia. In this classic, Cather lovingly fictionalized the lives of those
immigrant pioneers who settled the plains. (Sallquist, 167)’
One of the sections in the book that addresses the plight of women, who had immigrated to the US, is Book Two, which is titled The Hired Girls. For the native women such as Mrs. Harling, they carried themselves with a lot of authority and confidence in everything that they did. According to Cather, Mrs. Harling was married to one of the wealthiest men in the town of Black Hawk (Cather, 99). Her husband would be on most days attending business trips and thus would not be at home for days on end. During this time, she would take over the responsibilities of managing the businesses and the home affairs. As such, there was an element of equality on the responsibilities of the family empire. Relative to the fact that, she was also an immigrant who had arrived much earlier in the country and that her husband was much more established in the town, she lived a better life and was also much more confident.
“Every inch of her was charged with an energy that made itself felt the moment she entered a room. Her face was rosy and solid, with bright, twinkling eyes and a stubborn little chin. She was quick to anger, quick to laughter, and jolly from the depths of her soul. How well I remember her laugh; it had in it the same sudden recognition that flashed into her eyes, was a burst of humor, short and intelligent. Her rapid footsteps shook her own floors, and she routed lassitude and indifference wherever she came. She could not be negative or perfunctory about anything. Her enthusiasm and her violent likes and dislikes, asserted themselves in all the every-day occupations of life” (Cather, 102).
It is easy to see why her husband made his name in the town as a great businessman. Having been born in Minnesota, he was practically an American citizen by birth and even though the parents were Norwegian, he was a second generation immigrant. As such his struggles were not as turbulent as the rest of the immigrants and would been more natural for his to take advantage of the opportunities that America had to offer. He did not have to struggle with language barriers or much stress assimilating in the American culture, he was part of the culture (Cather, 102).
Mrs. Harling is one of the examples of immigrant women who were leading a fulfilling life relative to the hardships that were common among the women at the time. This account in the book serves to show the different sides of the story that most of the immigrants had to experience. However, reading Book Two further also brings out another aspect that affirms the plight of the immigrant women. While some of the immigrants may have had a relatively easier time living in their foreign land, a greater majority of the immigrant women had a rough time. However, for Mrs. Harling, she carried around the kind of confidence that most of the natives did, as a result of her husband’s wealth and social status (Cather, 102).
Cather, in the book draws the attention to the fact that most of the women that were in powerful positions in the society tried to uplift their fellow women fork who had migrated to the country. This is the role that Frances, the oldest daughter to the Harlings and Jim’s grandmother take. Frances took personal interest in the lives of the people in the countryside, attending social functions and helping out where she could (Cather, 104).
“When Frances drove out into the country on business, she would gomiles out of her way to call on some of the old people, or to see thewomen who seldom got to town. She was quick at understanding thegrandmothers who spoke no English, and the most reticent and distrustful of them would tell her their story without realizing they were doing so. She went to country funerals and weddings in all weathers.A farmer's daughter who was to be married could count on a weddingpresent from Frances Harling” (Cather, 104).
According to the book, she would attend all the funerals and the wedding as part of her schedule to get in touch with those that needed help in the society among them the immigrants, most of whom lived in the countryside. This is also the role that is taken by Jim’s grandmother who is seen to help out the Shimerdas, especially Antonia.
For most of the immigrants finding respectable work that they could do and get reasonable pay was hard (Sallquist, 166). This was more so for the women who had to work in the farms as the men did. Working in the farms was hard labor and most of the jobs were mostly refined for men as they have better physical endurance abilities. Antonia was one of the women highlighted in the book and signifies the wider struggles that the immigrant women experienced to get paid. For Antonia, she worked with other men in the countryside going from farm to farm looking for thrashing work or binding sheaves (Cather, 101). What is more is the fact that, she was working under the authority of her older brother called Ambrosch.Most of the farmers admitted to liking her better than the brother relative to the fact that she was much more likable than the brother as she was humble and hard working at all times.
After Jim’s grandmother put in a good word for her with the Harlings, Mrs. Harling and her eldest daughter, Frances, rode to the countryside in search of Antonia. When they got to the Shimerdas and made their agenda known to the family, the older brother became upset and controlling. Ideally he wanted the Harlings to send him the money that Antonia would be paid working for them in the city as allowances and pocket money. In return, he would then decide if she needed to buy new clothes or not. According to the older brother, the Harlings wanted to take his sister to the city, so that they could dress her up and make a fool out of her. The Harlings, however, insisted that they would ke...