AO3: My Antonia Flashcards
When was “My Antonia” published?
1918
Where did Willa Cather grow up?
Virginia, then moved to Nebraska where her father tried farming for 18 months then moved to Red Cloud where she attended school ( like Jim)
Where di Cather graduate from?
Nebraska Lincoln: same as JIm
What was Cather moved by when she lived in Nebraska?
The intense environment, weather, vastness of Nebraska prairie, and the migrants in the area
How was Cather different from other girls?
She was the eldest of 7 and got on better with her brothers and dressed as a boy - had short hair and was called Willam
What year did she recieve the Pulitzer prize?
1923
What critical reading can Cather’s work be viewed under?
The Queer theory lense as she lived with women and had strong bonds with them - she was buried next to Editch Lewis who lived with her for 40 years
Why did Cather say she used male narrators/
She claimed a woman’s perspective was too sentimental
What is the NAWSA?
The National American Woman Suffrage Association - formed in 1800 with 700 members
What did the NAWSA contribute towards
Their population reached 2 million, making it the largest voluntary organisation in the USA
It played a pivotal role in the passing of the 19th amendment which included women in the vote
What is similar about Antonia and Willa Cather?
They both gave themselves male nicknames - Tony and william
Where is the novel set?
- Nebraska (midwest America).
- The great plains are treeless and suitable for cattle grazing.
- Wide variation between summer + winter.
- Black Halk is a fictional town based on Red Cloud a REAL city in Nebraska where Cather lived during her childhood
When was the railway built in Nebraska?
1844 US Representative Stephen Douglas campaigned for the construction of the railway to the Pacific Coast
It was completed 1869
What is the pastoral genre?
A genre in which authors employ various techniques to place a complex life into a simple one focusing on nature, farming + rural lifestyles.
Often presents farmers as free from corruption and complexity of city life
What is American Romanticism?
1st fully fledged literary movement in the US from 1820- 1860 when America was still a new nation.
They saw an untamed wilderness as full of promise and west America as new + exciting. Willa Cather was inspired by this.
What is a bildungsroman?
A novel dealing wiht one’s formative years also called coming of age novels
What is a Roman Clef?
A novel about real life overlaid with a facade of fiction. The ficticious names in the novel represent real pwop;le
Where is Bohemia?
A medival and ealr modern monarchy in central Europ and the predecessor of the modern Czech Republic
What is the melting pot theory?
Describes the integration of immigrants and mixing of cultures
How many immigrants traveled to America from the 1880s to 1920s?
20 milly
When were women allowed to vote?
1920s - due to the passing of the 19th amendment
Why was the Homestead Act of 1862 introduced?
To encourage people to move west and settle in the vast wilderness
What did the Homestead Act 1862 promise?
160 acres of land to those who lived on the land for 5 years
Which people benfitied from Homestead ACt 1862?
Anyone 21+, including women, blacks + immigrants.
Huge waves of settlers poured into the Midwestern plains
What was the result of the Homestead ACt 1862?
By 1900 over 600,000 claims for property had been filled
What was the prominent religion on Bohemia?
Catholicism - the religion of the Shimerdas
Who did Cather base Antonia on?
1916 Annie Pavelka a friend of cather - a Bohemian immgrant
How was Annie Pavelka similar to Antonia?
- 1916 Annie was a mother of a large no of children and lived on a farm near the town
- AP father committed suicide
- Annie’s employers in Red Cloud, the Miners, inspired Antonias employers = the Harlings
What is the Puritan woek ethic?
The idea that through hard work protestants woudl be rewarded by God in heaven
When did pilgrims first travel to America?
~The Mayflower was an English ship that transported the 1st English puritans, known today as pilgrims, from Plymouth, England, to the New World 1620 where they sought religious freedom in the Ede like America
