Economic Historical Context Of My Antonia Essay

Economic historical context of women in My Antonia

Women in the late 1800s began a transformation that would remain as a lasting phenomenon. During this time period, the US witnessed the creation of the new woman. From Antonia who is a farm laborer to Tiny who owns and manages her own business, the new woman is portrayed extensively in Cathers My Antonia. The goal of this paper is to analyze the new woman from an economic perspective by creating a historical context. Although the scope of the paper is not to exhaust the discussion on all female characters, it will attempt to create a discussion which will portray the female characters from the novel in the economic context of the late 1800s to early 1900s time period. This is the time period in which the novel is set. The thesis of the paper will revolve around the idea that immigrant women during this time period engaged in labor in order to survive, sustain the family, and ensure that a family enterprise ran smoothly and to pay off debts owed by the family.

The late 1800s saw immigrant women engage as laborers on family owned farms. This was a tough time period for immigrants in general because they struggled to survive in a new country. According to Boydston, The labor force participation of immigrant women (first from Europe and later from Latin America and Asia) was constrained by employer discrimination; immigration policies that made employment status uncertain; and attitudes within their own cultures that restricted some married immigrant women to home-based outwork, family-operated enterprises, or industries that employed family-based groups. Poverty and discrimination combined to concentrate immigrant women in particularly exploitative jobs in domestic work, migrant agricultural labor, and low-wage manufacturing. (Boydston, Women in the labor force) Although there is no evidence of Antonia or Miss Shimerda being discriminated against, it can be speculated that they are both immigrant farm laborers as a result of the Bohemian culture as well as poverty, which may have restricted them from working outside the home or family owned farm. Even when Antonia is married, she continues to be a farm laborer. It almost seems like she enjoys being in the farm work force at the same time trying to sustain the family. This is witnessed when Antonia expresses her love for the trees and her enthusiasm for developing the farm, I love them as if they were people, she said, rubbing her hand over the bark. There wasnt a tree here when we first came. We planted every one, and used to carry water for them, too after wed been working in the fields all day. (Cather, My Antonia, 129)

Other examples of immigrant women laborers are Mrs. Harling and her daughter Frances who were Norwegian. Their circumstances were slightly different from the Shimerdas. For the Harlings, the women had to become laborers because Mr. Harling was away from home a great deal. In his absence his wife was the head of the household. (Cather, My Antonia, 97) In addition, the daughter, Frances was her fathers chief clerk, and virtually managed his Black Hawk office during his frequent absences. (Cather, My Antonia, 97) Frances was excellent at what she did and she created a reputation for herself because of the way she conducted and maintained her fathers business. In this situation, Boydstons idea of immigrant women working in family owned enterprises was a result of families having a greater level of trust and being more comfortable with a family member controlling the enterprise rather than an outsider. More likely the family member/s would be female because generally, there have always been more females than males in any population. In addition, males generally have an egoistic nature to make a life for themselves as seen in the character of Charley who was the only son in the Harling family who was going to be moving to Annapolis. On the subject of women running family owned enterprises, it is also important to make mention of two characters Mrs. Gardener who owned a hotel business and Tiny who later became a venture capitalist and a successful businesswoman. Therefore, the new woman who began to establish herself in the labor force may have initially been absorbed into it in order to survive, sustain for the family and in the case of family owned enterprises, had to step in to ensure that the business ran smoothly in the absence of a male figure (not necessarily in the case of Mrs. Gardener ). However, with time, the new woman began to enjoy and embrace the idea of working as well as the social stature that tagged along with the idea of a woman being a laborer. Therefore, she continued with her presence in the work force and was able to receive and maintain dignity and respect from her family and the society at large.

Apart from the idea of women beginning to infiltrate the work force, it is also important to note that there were significantly more single white women in the labor force compared to married white women (Herr, Women, 350). These figures are evident as shown in Herrs paper on Women, Marital Status, and Work Opportunities in 1880 Colorado. Although Herrs paper reports on statistics about the womens labor force in Colorado, it is safe to assume that Nebraska had similar statistics because of its proximity to Colorado and the fact that both are located in the west/midwest region. In My Antonia the majority of female characters who are laborers are also single. Although the sample size may not be statistically large enough to be significant it can still be used to support Herrs paper. There were a total of fourteen female characters who were laborers, ten were single and working, and four were married and working. The reason for this could have been the idea that many married women hired single women to work for them on their farms and in their homes. Antonia and Ambroschs sister are great examples of single women hired by the Harlings to engage in domestic work. Lena who was hired by Mrs. Thomas to be a dressmaker and Tiny, who was hired by Mrs. Gardener, are other examples of single women hired by married women. In addition, single women may have densely populated the work force because many of them came from families that owed debts. Many of the immigrant families moved to the US with little or no money to survive and therefore needed to take loans to purchase homes and farms. Therefore, the single daughters from these families were determined to help in the struggle to clear the homestead from debt. (Cather, My Antonia, 128) Cathers does an excellent job of creating the female characters who are laborers in the context of the late 1800s to early 1900s time period. The novel is consistent with the realities and dynamics related to women laborers during this time period.

Works Cited

Boydston, Jeanne. Women in the Labor Force. The Oxford Companion to United States

History, Paul S. Boyer, ed., New York, 2001.

Cather, Willa, My Antonia. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918. 77. Print.

Herr, Elizabeth. Women, Marital Status, and Work Opportunities in 1880 Colorado The

Journal of Economic History Vol. 55, No. 2 (Jun., 1995), pp. 339-366 .