An Analysis Of Space And Identity In My Antonia

Willa Cather is famous for depicting the pioneers settling in the western United States."The Virginia-born, Nebraska-cultivated" writer frequently touches upon one theme in the special settlement-the "immigrants" from the other side of Atlantic. Willingly or unwillingly, they establish new life in the American West and help shaping what its current appearance is like. My Antonia is precisely such a fiction concerning immigrants from different parts of the world. As immigrants, they inevitably confront the harsh reality to foster a sense of belonging to the new country and define their new positions in the unfamiliar space. In consequence, the issue of "space and identity" arises, and this is exactly the research focus of the present thesis. In order to survive, the immigrants first need homes to shield themselves; furthermore, they require lands to derive sustenance. Therefore, domestic space and open space are both indispensable in the migratory life. On this basis, the present thesis forms its structure.This paper falls into three parts. Chapter One focuses on the significance of domestic space in identity construction. First, it analyzes separate parts composing home, namely, the bedroom, the kitchen and the study, which are shed much light on in My Antonia. Then it continues talking about the dualistic functions of domestic space in personal development. In most cases, home is the shelter; but it still has the threatening potential to confine personal development. The third part discusses home as a gendered space, and the traditionally expected gendered features of home influence self-identity greatly.Chapter Two deliberates on the construction of self-identity in the open space. The first part highlights different kinds of landscapes, natural and manmade, real and surreal, which exert respective functions in the process of self-construction. The second part moves from the general landscape to the specific exploitation in the open space. It concentrates on the particular meaning of exploitation for immigrants and the gendered implications of exploitation.Chapter Three carries the discussion of the blurred boundary between the domestic space and the open space. The first part analyzes the naturalization of domestic space. In the fiction, such naturalization is realized either by the direct combination of home and nature, or by the window-an important medium to connect home with nature. The second part studies the domestication of open space and probes into the garden and the nest. These two are the main forms symbolizing the domestication endeavor in the open space. In this way, the paper reveals Cather’s intention to emphasize the role that the integrity of space plays in identity construction.By connecting space with identity, the thesis provides a new angle for the study of My Antonia in explaining the disparate identity constructions of characters from spatial perspective, complementing research on both space and identity at large.