On Willa Cather’s My Antonia：Landscape and Female Immigrants

Abstract：The thesis is mainly about the novel My Antonia， discussing the writing background， the spirit， i.e. the beauty of landscape and the brave female immigrants， and its special ways of expression and narration.

Key words：landscape  woman  beauty

中圖分类号：H319         文献标识码：A            文章编号：1672-1578（2020）01-0001-01

My Antonia was written by Willa Cather， a female American novelist who wrote “more than fifteen books， including O Pioneers！ and The Song of Lark”. The content of the novel is truly impressive： the boundless prairie， various wild flowers， beyond the horizon， a big sun shining， sending out flushes. How beautiful it is， just like the landscape of Nebraska.

From the foreword by Doris Grumbach， Cather is known to move to Nebraska with her family at the age of nine， so she knew very much about the place and the people living， working and struggling there. Thus， “this landscape later provided her with the setting for many of her finest stories”（the cover jacket）. Bearing this in mind， her description of the scenery of prairie in Nebraska was something vivid and possibly true out of her own experiences and feelings. She paid much emphasis to those pioneer women characters， who， enduring the hardship of survival， still own not only the strength but also the eagerness and passion to life. But as a writer “blessed with a great many loyal friends and enough money to live the life she required” （forward， xxix）， can she really understand the hard life of these early settlers in frontier？ Although she represented their life seemingly lifelike， did she know what exactly in their minds and hearts？ Perhaps， thats just life in her eyes.

As the title indicates， this novel is about the story of a Bohemian immigrant， named Antonia， about her life as a child， as a hired girl and as a pioneer woman.At the beginning，Antonia is“twelve or thirteen， maybe， and shes as bright as a new dollar”（p6）， at the end， she becomes a woman with many children， “in the full vigor of her personality， battered but not diminished”（p214）. Moreover， apart from Antonias story， there are still other stories about those frontier settlers coming from different parts of the world， such as the story of two Russians， Pavel and Peter， who throw the bride to wolves， the story of Lena Lingard， another hired girl， etc.

O Pioneers！， another novel of Willa Cather， is also a novel in the setting of Nebraska， creating another unyielding heroine named Alexandra， who helped her family to survive and set it up in the new world. Alexandra rendered an impression which is much similar to that of Antonia. Both two are immigrants， and the symbol of beauty， strength and vitality. They are more forceful and iron-willed than those men surrounding them， facing the harshness and cruelty of life directly， overcoming them one by one bravely with their insistence and courage.

My Antonia attracts readers greatly with its simple and emotional expressions. There is a kind of special beauty of form in it， which is just like a harmonious symphony. “No romantic novel ever written in America， by man or woman， is one half so beautiful as My Antonia.” This is a comment by H. L. Mencken on the books cover jacket.

Whether this opinion is correct or not， one thing is true： the novel is certainly written in beautiful words， with beautiful description about landscape and people. In addition， the depiction is fluent and coherent， easy to understand. But on the other hand the subtext is not so easily to know.“The most significant fact of her （Cather） fictive art in this novel is the use of the obtuse and romantic Jim Burden as the narrator.” Because of his over-romanticism， he becomes an “unreliable narrator”， whose account is not very trustworthy （Toming， 2003）. So， sometimes readers cannot believe everything the narrator says， and should “never uncritically identify the narrator as the author or immediately assume that the narrator speaks for the author”.

On the whole， it is really worth reading this novel， My Antonia， for its beauty， readability， and vitality！

References：

[1] Guo Guoliang. Willa Cathers Artistic Portrayal of Female Characters[J]. Foreign Literature Studies.1999（4）：99-100.

[2] Toming.A History of American Literature[M]. Nanjing： Yilin Press.2002，P205.

[3] David Bergman and Daniel Mark Epstein. The Health Guide to Literature（the second edition）[J].Lexington： D. C.Heath And Company.

[4] Willa Cather， My Antonia， the United States of America[J].Houghton Mifflin Company，1988.

作者簡介：周樱（1981-），女，汉族，籍贯苏州人，苏州工业职业技术学院讲师，硕研。