My Antonia: Reflect Events in History?

I feel as if I have already answered the question How does this novel reflect events in history? in about a bazillion other blogs already, but this is my last blog so here you go Mr. Langley. [Sigh of boredom]

My Antonia does an okay job of reflecting history because although the roles are given in the Shimerda family, they tend to be broken. Family roles have been seen in society dating back to the Indians, so in this case, yes, the novel does correctly reflect history. However, if the Shimerda's are breaking the rules and setting new roles, does that mean they are recreating history? Let me explain this in an easier manner. After Mr. Shimerda's suicide, Antonia had to start working in the fields to make money for her family. She was proud of this fact boasting, "I can work like mans now. I help make this land one good farm (Cather 76)." This was absurd. Men were supposed to be doing the manual labor while woman cooked and cleaned. Grandma Burden was not afraid to confront the Shimerda family about their decision. "Heavy field work'll spoil that girl. She'll lose all her nice ways and get rough ones (Cather 78)," she said. In hopes of getting her different work, grandma began by offering Antonia money to help her in the kitchen around Christmastime. Then she got her a job work for Mrs. Cutter in her kitchen. Mrs. Cutter, a wealthy woman, shared a nice bond with Antonia, a needy immigrant, proving that society's opinion didn't always make the final decision.

The men in the family worked hard every day out in the dirt and heat (in this novel anyway) in order to grow enough crop to feed their family and be prosperous. As a boy, Jimmy watched his grandpa, Jack, and Otto work out on the land. He once said, "I used to wonder, when they came in tired from the fields their feet numb and their hands cracked and sore, how they could do all their chores so conscientiously (Cather 44)." If reflecting the part of history that meant families working hard every day to make money for their family is what this question was asking, then, yes, My Antonia did just that.

[Bibliography]

Cather, Willa. My Antonia. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004. Print.