Gender Expectations In My Antonia

Improved Essays
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 …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

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Women are often looked at as weak, inferior and only use is to bear children and raise them, compared to men who are looked at as strong, superior, and gods on Earth, women are not looked at as equal to men. The play Big Love by Charles L. Mee, displays the different views of genders and their thoughts on marriage and equality with the opposite sex. Within the play we see the different gender views of marriage in a way that each character is another level of a gender stereotype. This play proves that women shouldn’t just be a stay at home mother or a man’s trophy wife, but rather an equal life partner, and if not a life partner they should be able to choose their own life path. Women should be able to choose their own life path, all men do…

    • 1892 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Private Eye V. I. Warshawski as the Second Marlowe Traditionally, society sets up a norm of how a person should handle their duties creating gender identities. Tradition comes to play with the aspect of how females and males should conform to these identities. This limits women’s perspective on themselves because society habitually views women doing domestic chores such as making food in the kitchen, cleaning, and taking care of people. It creates gender expectations and people conform to this notion to some amount even in modern households. However, Sara Paretsky’s novel Indemnity Only, liberates feminine terrain with the main character Vicky Warshawski by showing how she isn’t restricted by these norms and instead uses them as one of her…

    • 1872 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gender Roles In Antonia

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Antonia’s character purports the system of reversed gender roles set up in the novel. This is something that Cather likes about her. In the story, Antonia calls the shots, does the field work, strengthens the muscles and keeps her life rolling. For instance, Mr. Harling prohibits Antonia from attending the e weekend dance. Antonia consequently chooses to leave her family so that she is able to lead an independent life.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gender roles and expectations change depending on the community, what may be considered to be feminine or masculine in one community may not be in a different community. In “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, juxtaposed to the previous writers, conveys her argument through the use of personal anecdote. Cofer narrates her experience as a Latin girl growing up in America. Through the appeal of ethos she explains how as a teenager she was taught to behave as a “proper senorita” (Cofer, 371) encouraged to look and act like a women. This made her feminine in the eyes of her community, however her Anglo friend and mothers found them too “mature”(Cofer, 371) for their age.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Since the beginning of time, society has had rigid criteria for men and women with their roles blatantly labeled as either masculine or feminine. The man is suppose to be strong and in charge, while the woman cooks and looks after the children. We are constantly reminded of this through sources such as T.V shows and advertisements. The post modern literary movement has shed light on this phenomenon and stressed the need for flexibility in these clear cut roles. However the process of change is no easy accomplishment, and with this new found flexibility struggle is inevitable.…

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Billy and Kristen like each other so Kristen decides to sleep with him and goes to his frat house, rape occurred when she asked Billy to stop and put on a condom. He didn’t stop and she started to scream and she finally kicks him off of her and runs. Like most cases of rape she did not report because of fear of humiliation, 67% of date rape situation are committed by people who know one another (U.S. Bureau of justice Statistics, 2005). Singleton made gender stratification a clear point he want to call attention to in the book. The name gender stratification means the unequal distribution or wealth, power and privilege between woman and men.…

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Women take the role of men, and vice versa. The line between the two is blurred, and the value of manliness is questioned. Although critics may argue…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the film Mr. Mom a husband and wife are forced to temporarily swap gender roles at work and at home. The film demonstrates gendered division of labor at home and at work. In the film the husband and father, Jack, gets laid off of his job as an engineer at an automobile industry. In return Jack makes it a competition between him and his wife, Carlyon, to see who can get a job fist, Carlyon wins the competition by finding a job as an executive for an advertising agency. The roles in the house swap when Carlyon goes to work; she becomes the breadwinner, while Jack becomes the caretaker.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For this document analysis the work “Letter To My Daughter” will be examined. This document appeared in the Canadian Home Journal, and although the author is not named, one can assume it is a man, as the letter is written in the perspective of a father. Throughout the letter, a daughter is receiving advice from her father on men and marriage. As a man and a father, the author is able to provide insight to his daughter and recognize the injustices she may face in the future as a wife and a woman. Overall, the author reveals himself as a caring father that acknowledges the differences of the sexes and although he accepts the role women have, he encourages his daughter not to accept the stereotype of inferiority but to find an equal partner.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    They oughtn 't to let women watch. It 'll be the end of the human race”. Esther is unsatisfied with the idea that she may only live to be a mother and a wife and strives so to be a professional poet, similarly in The Feminine Mystique written by Betty Friedan convinces women that…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The general population of society expects individuals to hide their true feelings. Gender roles play an important part of social expectations. Two authors that demonstrate the difference of social outlooks are Marie Therese Colimon in her poem “Encounter” and Frank Collymore in “Some People are Meant to Live Alone.” These authors use various types of literary elements to demonstrate the world assumptions for either a male or female. Marie Therese Colimon discusses from a woman’s perspective how we truly feel internally, while Frank Collymore discusses from a male perspective how a man can be forced to their limits because of social assumptions.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Societal issues are apparent in the evident gap among sexes. Anna Quindlen’s essay, “Between the Sexes, A Great Divide, discusses just that. Quindlen reflects upon the questions: Can one cross the divide of the sexes? Or, are these differences inevitably incurable?” The author addresses the inevitable chasm that exists between male and female.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In My Ántonia, by Willa Cather explores the hardship life of living in the wild prairies of Nebraska as people immigrant further west from already established areas of civilization. While many themes are presented during the novel, the subject of gender roles within her female characters of the novel question the stereotypical norms of men and women. The women portrayed in the text become independent, active and strong through the situations presented to them by their surroundings. The physical geography of the novel lends a heavy hand on who the characters are in the novel and shape who they will become through the journey of life in the plains of America. The women in My Ántonia are the product of their harsh environment and it forces…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Although an all-female society may seem unnatural due to the absence of males, I can claim that the female society has become accustomed to the roles that men once played and no longer need a male’s presence in their society. The women have been able to fill the gaps in which they needed men and no longer need the males to achieve a society in which it strives on its own without any outside help. As Janet Evason, a main character, spoke with the males from…

    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    In The Good Anna, Stein’s characters do not work within a set of cultural gender roles in order to subvert them, but challenge them directly by being independent, outspoken, and strong willed. However, while these characters are able to personally reject gender roles and expectations of femininity, many characters impose those gender roles on other female characters. This control and implementation of gender roles onto other characters is most evident in Anna, who often tries to control the actions of the other women in the text. This fact is immediately evident in her relationship with Miss Mathilda, whom she criticizes for wasting money on antiques instead of spending that money on her appearance. Anna’s frustration with Miss Mathilda’s appearance is first apparent in an argument they…

    • 1051 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays