jueves, 19 de noviembre de 2009

My Antonia

If you consider My Antonia a realistic novel, mention the characteristics that enable you to categorize it as such. Give examples from the novel.

Having studied Realism as a literary movement and its most fundamental characteristics, I can now attempt to analyze a piece of art and be able to decide whether or not a novel such as My Antonia is realistic. Being a fan of Henry James (Wikipedia), Willa Cather wrote My Antonia with many realistic features all influenced by this Realism’s prominent figure. Thus, My Antonia has been considered a realistic novel and, in this essay, I will provide reasons and examples from the novel to demonstrate it.

Realism can be defined as the faithful representation of reality having as the central piece the singular and common individual (Campbell). Therefore, any realistic piece will present the day to day situations of life, social relationships and the protagonists will be characters with strong real roots and marked development: people with whom you can feel more or less identified.

One of realism’s most fundamental characteristics is the representation of middle-class family (Campbell). I can perceive this characteristic in My Antonia because Jim’s family belonged to this social class. Jim went to college and then to Harvard which denotes that he was not poor nor rich, but middle-class. It was very difficult for sons of farmers in Nebraska to stay at the university. In book 3: Lena Lingard, the narrator describes “Some of those boys came straight from the cornfields with only a summer’s wages in their pockets, hung on through the four years, shabby and underfed, and completed the course by really heroic self-sacrifice” (Cather). This description does not apply to Jim’s stay at Lincoln because his grandparents helped him economically to go and experience a pleasant stay.

Another major trait of realism is the importance of the characters’ development over the importance of the plot (Campbell). Willa Cather did her part in the novel by developing Antonia, Jim and Lena fully. For example, Lena grew in the course of the story as I can perceive it with the following statements: “Whenever we rode over in that direction we saw her out among her cattle, bareheaded and barefooted, scantily dressed in tattered clothing, always knitting as she watched her herd. Before I knew Lena, I thought of her as something wild that always lived on the prairie, because I had never seen her under a roof.” (Cather) And, “'I don't want to marry Nick, or any other man,' Lena murmured.’I've seen a good deal of married life, and I don't care for it. I want to be so I can help my mother and the children at home, and not have to ask life of anybody.'” (Cather). These two statements show how her life was and who she wanted to become. From her early youth, she was determined to be an independent woman and help her mother. However, she did experience rough life at the beginning of her arrival to the United States because she was a foreigner and there is always homesickness and obstacles to face when being abroad.

The last element being used for this analysis is that realistic novels render reality closely and in comprehensive detail. Apart from that Cather uses beautiful language in all her very detailed description which, at the same time, accounts for My Antonia as a work of art. This comprehensive detail is very clear specially when used to describe the landscape. It was interesting to see how simple grass became the most energetic and overwhelming grass I have ever read. In the following quotation we can see how nature is transmitted to the readers: “But the little buzzing things that lived in the grass were all dead—all but one. While we were lying there against the warm bank, a little insect of the palest, frailest green hopped painfully out of the buffalo grass and tried to leap into a bunch of bluestem.” (Cather). Her way of describing is particularly close to what has been defined as “imagery”, using words to produce an image in an instant of time. “We were so deep in the grass that we could see nothing but the blue sky over us and the gold tree in front of us.” (Cather) represents the image she produced and this took me there instantly almost feeling the touch of the grass in my body.

After analyzing My Antonia, I have realized the magnificence of realistic works, especially this novel. Its descriptions provide the readers with a sense of understanding, specifically because I felt as if I was there in Nebraska when reading it.

By using these three main features in realistic works: representation of middle-class family, importance of character development over the importance of the plot and rendering of reality and in comprehensive detail, I have given reasons and examples which determine that My Antonia by Willa Cather is a realistic novel. With other features mentioned, I have also expressed that My Antonia is a work of art in Literature.

2. Which of the characters is most attractive to you? Say why.

After reading My Antonia, which I liked very much, I can see how important characters are in any piece of art. My Antonia is not the exception since it is a realistic novel which is characterized by the development of characters. In order to answer this question I have three great characters to choose from: Antonia, Jim and Lena. Well, I feel very attracted to Lena Lingard for many different reasons: the most important one being her independence. She was also a very goal-oriented person which can be seen after she had accomplished her goals such as becoming a dress-maker and helping her mother.

Throughout the story, Lena Lingard grew up and matured extraordinarily. From being just one of the hired girls she walked a long path to becoming a respectable woman who accomplished her goals. I always feel really identified with this type of women because they simply inspire me.

Lena’s sense of independence was extremely important to her and in some of her first interactions with the other characters in Book II: The Hired Girls, she makes it even more prominent. In the following quotation she expresses her desire of being someone on her own, “'I don't want to marry Nick, or any other man,' Lena murmured.’I've seen a good deal of married life, and I don't care for it. I want to be so I can help my mother and the children at home, and not have to ask life of anybody.'” (Cather). The independent woman was portrayed in her character because she decided to move to Lincoln and start her own business as a dressmaker: “I live in Lincoln now, too, Jim. I'm in business for myself. I have a dressmaking shop in the Raleigh Block, out on O Street. I've made a real good start.'” This independency is what has called my attention the most. It is also this independence which makes her the most attractive character of all to me.

Lena Lingard’s autonomy has also led me to think about the concept of the “self-made man”. This concept describes the capacity of human beings of becoming who they decide without much help of others or the society. Lena is a good example of that concept as illustrated in the following quotation: “Certainly she (Lena) had no one but herself to thank for it”.

Her being a goal-oriented person is also very attractive to me. I could read that since she was young she had her mind focused on achieving her goals. She stopped working in the farm and started working for Mrs. Thomas. From this moment on, she knew she wanted to become a dressmaker as stated in this quotation: “She (Mrs. Thomas) is going to teach me to sew. She says I have quite a knack. I'm through with the farm. There ain't any end to the work on a farm, and always so much trouble happens. I'm going to be a dressmaker.'” (Cather). Despite all the obstacles a fine young foreign woman can encounter in her life, she achieved everything she dreamt about. That is inspiration to a young woman like me and she has taught me that I can achieve everything I want to. She also wanted to help her mother and build a house for her: “This summer I’m going to build the house for mother I’ve talked about so long” (Cather) and even until the end she usually went home every summer and help her mother so much (Cather).

Lena Lingard was a woman full of sacrifice and she accomplished her goals in life. She was also very independent and did not like having people helping her out. She has been a real inspiration to me, and she is to me the most attractive character in the novel. As Lena has inspired me, I would love that she inspires my students, especially the female students, so I would love to invite Lena to my classroom and share her testimony of how despite all the difficulties you can still achieve your objectives and make their dream come true.

Bibliography

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