Feminism, also known as women’s liberation, promotes social equality and the social theory and political movement. In My Antonia, the heroine, the public security of East Asia, depicts some independent, brave and strong female images. At the opposite side, male characters is very different in this book. The young Antonia went with his family from Bohemia to the desolate Nebraska prairies to seek wealth. The ten year old snowy weather made his own strapped zenolda family. The strong Antonia learned to share the housework for the family from a young age.
After her father died, she took on the burden of the family. She worked like a boy and was proud of being able to do the same farm work with her brother. Antonia never worried that her face would be affected by a long field work, instead she was proud of her bulging muscles and strong power. Kaiser’s Antonia is always a positive and optimistic girl. Lena Lingard is another independent and brave woman besides Antonia Cather.
In a time of male consciousness, ‘all the traditional women have to do is to prepare themselves, to find a husband, to adapt to the family, to have children.’ What Lena did was out of line with traditional women. She never depended on anyone. She just wanted to live on her own hands. ‘I don’t marry anybody.’ I’ve seen a lot of married life. I don’t care much about it. I just want to be able to help my family and take care of my mother.
Lena’s pursuit of independence and freedom leads us to a brave and brave new woman. At the beginning of the novel, the Antonia moved to the Nebraska prairie with his father in the Nebraska, which originally hoped that the family could reap the wealth and make the family more comfortable. But the bleak natural environment coupled with the bad snowstorm gave him a fatal blow. He gradually lost the morale of life and became passive and frustrated. And the women in the family take on the responsibility of life, and Antonia and her mother always try to make life better, and try to reduce the burden of life for him as much as possible. His own life was ended by the last shot of the homesick, and the burden of all the complexity and life was given to the family.
His behavior seemed to be a kind of relief, but a kind of cowardice in character. He was afraid of the challenge, and he was afraid of the difficulties in his life. When the problem appeared, he would only escape by the way of death. The second male images introduced in the novel are Antonia’s brother, who gave a detailed description of his appearance when he appeared. ‘Brown eyes are small and sly eyes, like his mother, but more cunning and sneaky’. When his father died, Antonia’s elder brother became the master of the family. He always held his power in his hands, so that Antonia could do the same farm work as himself. Sending Antonia to the city as a helper, he took all of Antonia’s labor income, leaving only a little money for Antonia’s winter clothes. Antonia’s brother is always a man of authority, but he has not made a substantial contribution to his family. He is a selfish, arrogant nuisance. As a supporter of the feminist movement, Vera Kaiser’s works show great differences between men and women. In the process of growth, women will suffer some harm, but they will eventually gain happiness because of their strong and independent life. They are the representatives of the strong.