My Antonia Essay: The Role of Men in My Antonia -- My Antonia Essays

  The Role of Men in My Antonia        Gloria Steinem once wrote that A woman needfully a man like a seek needs a bicycle. Clearly she is attempting to assert womens independence and further the liberation movement. However, her analogy is not quite complete. A bicycle has absolutely no place in a fishs life, but whether she needs him or not, men are very much present in a womens life. While a women can save without a male influence, his influence shapes much of her personality. This role of man manifests itself in the lives of the women of Black Hawk but most vividly in the form of the operative girls. While working in Black Hawk, the hired girls assert their independence from men in practical matters but also proclaim their dependence in defining their personality. Tony, flyspeck, Lena, and any other country girl ever to work in town can clearly survive without a male influence. They are, in fact, supporting the men with the funds they send ho me. However, as each is independent from men for survival, each is still delineate by their actions and attitudes toward men. Lena Lingard is most outwardly defined by men. In the fields and the cattle she exists in a male vacuum where she can be wild like the fields around her. once she is exposed to town life and men, she still retains the wild nature, but it is now covered by a facade of new dresses preferably of her earlier rags. The erratic color of her eyes - a shade of deep violet - and their soft, confiding expression are no longer representative of her pure nature, but instead an object to be lusted over by men (150). Lena doesnt need men to survive, but she needs men to be beautiful. In similar fashion, the farm physiques of Tiny and Ant... ...back, youre here, like my father. So I wont be lonesome (256). Those memories of her father and Jim are all that Antonia posses of her past and they are all that shapes her future No woman genuinely needs a man to sustain life but men will much shape their future. As clearly shown in My Antonia , men often have an undeniable impact on womens personalities and choices of lifestyle. Mrs. Steinems metaphor does not hold. A bicycle has no place in a fishs world, but men and women cannot be separated. Any past action inevitably shapes ones future. If a man exists anywhere in a womans world he will affect her life whether it be in a positive or negative fashion. The more appropriate metaphor would be something like Women need men like a fish needs nuclear waste. You certainly dont need it, but if its there, its going to have an impact on your life.