Gender Expectations In My Antonia

Gender dictates one’s life. Gender is the division that separates all of society. This is demonstrated in Willa Cather’s My Antonia, Mindy Kaling’s “Type of Women in Romantic Comedies Who are Not Real,” and Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “More Room.” In Willa Cather’s My Antonia two childhood friends, Antonia and Jim, reunite with each other to share their experiences throughout life and observe how they and their family go through life differently due to gender views. In Mindy Kaling’s “Type of Women in Romantic Comedies Who are Not Real,” the media is exposed in which gender expectations are shown to the audiences. Lastly in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “More Room,” the author’s childhood of gender discriminative interactions between her grandmother, Mama, and grandfather, Papa, are described. As demonstrated by the arguments in Willa Cather’s My Antonia, Mindy Kaling’s “Type of Women in Romantic Comedies Who are Not Real,” and Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “More Room,” gender defines one’s perspective by contributing to men’s uncharitable manner, setting unrealistic expectations of females, and suppressing women. An indication that gender defines one’s perspective is in that it causes men to get absorbed in their male reputation of being brutal and superior to women. In Book 5 My Antonia, author Willa Cather proves this by arguing that men believe that any act of violence performed contribute to fulfilling their male role in society. When Jim arrives to Antonia’s home, he is greeted by all of her children. One son in particular, Rudolph, offers to tell Jim a story and his brothers listen along with Jim. The story is about an old man, Cutter, who was purchasing a gun and when the salesman asked why he was purchasing a gun, he told him he was going to shoot animals. As Rudolph explains his story to Jim and his other siblings, he describes that “[Cutter said] he was going to shoot a dog, and adding that he ‘thought he would take a shot at an old cat while he was about it’ (Here the children interrupted Rudolph's narrative by smothered giggles)” (Cather 232). Males are in agreement with violence. Cather uses the rhetorical strategy characterization, a method an author uses to develop character in …show more content…
Rudolph brothers think that killing animals is a joke and funny thing to laugh about, proving that males are for violence. Male figures associate violence with a positive connotation, which helps contribute to the stereotypical male being. By giggling when a story is told about a man who intends to kill animals just for the fun of it, it proves that men are brutal human beings, in that they believe violence is an acceptable thing. Because men accept violence willingly, they also do whatever it takes to uphold their preeminent reputation. Additionally in Book 5 of My Antonia, Cather further supports this by showing that men are willing to do what it takes so that their male prestige isn't flawed. Rudolph explains that Cutter and his wife are really old but Cutter is sicker than her. While telling his story to Jim, Rudolph explains that if a wife outlives her husband, she is entitled to some part of his property. Cutter wasn’t pleased by this is and did what he could to stop it. Rudolph describes that Cutter wrote a note that “stated that he had just shot his wife; that any will she might