On Female Self-construction of Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! and My Ántonia From the Perspective of Feminist Criticism

Abstract：Willa Cather is an eminent writer who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains.Her early frontier novels O Pioneers！ and My Ántonia are songs of women pioneers.Feminist criticism focuses on women and re-examines the literary works from women’s perspective.This essay talks about the female immigrants’ self-construction in the American unreclaimed west land from the angle of feminist criticism.Through individual struggle，the women pioneers make their female identity realized.The interpretation of the typical women’s outstanding characteristics also helps women today to enhance their self-consciousness and establish their own female identity.

Key words：Feminist criticism   Female self-construction   Willa Cather

I.Introduction to the Author and Feminist Criticism

Willa Cather（1873-1947）was an outstanding American writer for frontier novels，among her masterpieces，the most famous two frontier novels are O Pioneers！ and My Ántonia.Within the variety of researching topics concerning these two novels are prairie theme，realism，marriage，American dream，war，pioneering life and so on.This essay focuses on female self-construction of the typical female characters of the two novels of O Pioneers！ and My Ántonia.It aims to probe into female self-construction of the typical female characters’ individual struggle from the perspective of feminist criticism of the two novels.

Throughout the recorded history，women were always under the shadow of male imperialism and the idea of male superiority.“The position of women in colonial America was determined by the hierarchical worldview of the Puritan colonists”（Madson 2）.“Puritans believed that the inferiority of women was a mark of original sin，manifest in physical weakness，smaller stature，intellectual limitations and a tendency to depend upon emotions rather than the intellect.Women should be confined to the domestic sphere，nurturing children，maintaining the household and serving their husbands”（2）.

However，with the turning of 19th century，the Industrial Revolution had a great influence on women.The two waves of American feminism are the representatives.The first wave was generally recognized starting from the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 to the ultimate victory in the woman suffrage campaign in 1920.Women fought against the male supremacy and started a comprehensive struggle for their liberation.During the protesting course in the second wave，“women activists came to perceive that women’s liberation is largely the revolution of ideas.To reach such a goal，it is necessary to resort to theories.All of a sudden，women found that they were almost in a state of vacuum in the realm of theory”（Shi 20）.As a result，women began to construct their own theories，that is，feminist criticism.

Feminist criticism，first appeared in the early 1970s’ and developed and diversified since the early 1980s.It has been committed to reading or re-reading literary works with feminist consciousness，stressing the importance of female values，female experience and female aesthetic pursuit，examining the ways in which literature reinforces or undermines the economic，political，social and psychological oppression of women.

II.Individual Struggle to Female Self-construction

2.1.Optimistic and Placid Mrs.Bergson’s Self-construction

Though Mrs.Bergson was described in bite sized pieces，her optimistic and placid image cannot be ignored.“Alexandra often said that if her mother were cast upon a desert island，she would thank God for her deliverance，make a garden，and find something to preserve”（Cather，“Early novels” 152）.In those hard days，she was such an optimistic woman that could still take some comfort in the world.“Stout as she was，she roamed the scrubby banks of Norway Creek looking for fox grapes and goose plums，like a wild creature in search of prey.She made a yellow jam of the insipid ground-cherries that grew on the prairie，flavoring it with lemon peel;and she made a sticky dark conserve of garden tomatoes”（Cather，“Early novels” 152）.Life seemed to be not that tough for her and she could find the joy of life.Since the Bergsons moved to this piece of land，for eleven years，Mrs.Bergson had worthily striven to maintain some semblance of household order amid conditions that made order very difficult.Habit was very strong with Mrs.Bergson，and her unremitting efforts to repeat the routine of her old life among new surroundings had done a great deal to keep the family from disintegrating morally and getting careless in their ways.

She represents the housewives who devote themselves to their family and children.What they do was simple and trivial，but necessary.Their self-construction is reflected by their contribution and self-sacrifice to their families.

2.2.Independent and Unremitting Alexandra Bergson’s Self-construction

Since parents had gone，Alexandra was the backbone of the family.Though life was hard，she never thought of retreating.She had faith in the high land and she would hold on harder than ever.“It seemed beautiful to her，rich and strong and glorious”（Cather，“Early novels” 170）.Facing with the wild land，she did not feel discouraged，but regarded it beautiful and rich and strong and glorious.She was unremitting in spirit.She spent days down among the river farms，driving up and down the valley.She talked to the men about their crops and to the women about their poultry.She spent a whole day with one young farmer who had been away at school，and who was experimenting with a new kind of clover hay.She learned a great deal about farming.When the others were frustrated by the land and decided to sell the land and moved to the other place，Alexandra still held on to the land.She insisted，“the thing to do is to sell our cattle and what little old corn we have，and buy the Linstrum place.Then the next thing to do is to take out two loans on our half-sections，and buy Peter Crow’s place;raise every dollar we can，and buy every acre we can”（171）.She was independent and foresighted.She sent Emil to big cities for studying.

With her persistence，things turned out to be good.Could John Bergson rise from beneath it，he would not know the country under which he had been asleep.The shaggy coat of the prairie，which they lifted to make him a bed，had vanished forever.From the Norwegian graveyard one looked out over a vast checker-board，marked off in squares of wheat and corn;light and dark，dark and light.The rich soil yielded heavy harvests now.Alexandra had her own orchard and silo and wheat-field and pasture where the milking cows used to be kept.She engraved the picture of her own and realized realized her self-construction through her reward from the land and her pillar position in the family.

2.3.Tough and Persistent Ántonia Shimerda’s Self-construction

The place where she lived seemed to be left behind by the world.For the new comers of the Shimerdas，life was rough.Their dwelling was no better than a badger hole;no proper dugout at all.The slender Mr.Shimerda was old and frail and knew nothing about farming.

When the first snowfall came，life for the Shimerdas was harder.“We get from Mr.Bushy，at the post-office what he throws out.We got no potatoes”（759）.They had nothing but picked the abandoned vegetables of others. Ántonia and Yulka slept in a pile of straw for that was warm like the badger hole.Things went hard for them.However，misfortunes never come singly for the family.The old Mr.Shimerda shot himself.Since then，little Ántonia had to do more for the family.She was out in the fields from sunup until sundown.However，she never lost faith in life.She was always keeping learning from Jim.

Several years later，when life began to be better for the Shimerdas，at the night dance ball in Black Hawk，she met Larry Donovan and went away to marry him.But he deserted her.He never married her，but there was now a baby.This could be a disaster for a girl at that time.For quite a long time，she lived with her mother and never came to Black Hawk.All that spring and summer she did the work of a man on the farm.

People thought life should be bad for the poor disgraced woman since then.However，the first time when Jim came to see Ántonia after she had abandoned by Larry Donovan，she was not as bad as he imagined.“She was thinner than I had ever seen her，and looked as Mrs.Steavens said，‘worked down’，but there was a new kind of strength in the gravity of her face，and her color still gave her that look of deep-seated health and ardor”（909）.One year later，she married Anton Cuzak，a young Bohemian.They were poor and had a large family.In Tiny Soderball’s eyes，“Ántonia had not ‘done very well’;that her husband was not a man of much force，and she had had a hard life”（912）.However，things turned out to be different when Jim saw the big Cuzak family.“Whatever else was gone，Ántonia had not lost the fire of life.”（Cather，“Early novels” 917）.No matter how things went wrong，Ántonia never got down-hearted.

At last，on her piece of land，there was an apple orchard and grape arbor and a rough jungle of French pinks.Some hens and ducks crept through the hedge.Her children were good about taking care of each other.The big Cuzak family enjoyed themselves.

As Yu Jianhua says，“Ántonia devotes herself fully to the land.With the good tradition inheriting from the ancestors，she struggles hard with the poor land.She conquers it and makes it a fertile farmland and garden”（Yu 95）.

Ántonia makes her self-construction by her persistent efforts towards life.She represents that women can change their life by their own.

2.4.Level-headed and Confident Lena Lingard’s Self-construction

Lena had a hard life on the farm.She used to herd her father’s cattle in the open country between his place and the Shimerdas’.Jim said，“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”（Cather，“Early novels” 817）.There were gossips about her.The Norwegian women disapproved her and thought of her as something wild.However，she was never rough and mannish.Jim was astonished at her soft voice and easy，gentle ways when he talked to her for the first time.She used to be with perfect composure.

At last，this girl，for whom people had always foretold trouble，turned out to be an elegant leading dressmaker of Lincoln，much respected in Black Hawk.She “breaks the traditional female literature image and gets rid of the shadow of Eve who depends on Adam in the Garden of Eden”（Jiang 91）.

Lena Lingard represents the pioneering women who have their own thinking.They follow their own way.Lena makes her female self-construction by her confidence and persistence.

Works Cited

[1]Cather，Willa.Early novels & stories.New York：Library of America，1987.

[2]Madson，Deborah L.Feminist Theory and Literary Practice.Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2006.

[3]蒋梅玲：“内布拉斯加走出的新女性—从女性主义看薇拉·凯瑟的《我的安东妮亚》”，《绥化学院学報》26.1（2006）：89-92]

[4]施旻：《英语世界中的女性解构》。北京：九州出版社，2004。

[5]虞建华：《美国文学的第二次繁荣》。上海：上海外语教育出版社，2004。

[6]朱刚：《二十世纪西方文艺批评理论》。上海：上海外语教育出版社，2001。

作者简介：

邓以南，女，1986年11月，讲师，硕士研究生，黄冈师范学院，研究方向为英语语言文学。

（作者单位：黄冈师范学院）