The Artistic Arc Of The Rise & Fall Of Cather's Female Protagonists Of The Pioneering Age

Willa Cather is one of the foremost American novelists in the 20th century, but she is also one of American's most misunderstood major novelists. As an unconventional woman, Cather has certain feminist trend. But her unconventional opinions and deeds do not accord with the rules of the feminist criticism, and therefore it is natural that feminist critics do not do justice to her. Focusing on a contrastive analysis of Cather's two female protagonists, associating the author's writing intention and her own experience, applying some methods of feminist criticism but not following the rigid rules of it, this thesis will try to do justice to Cather's feminist voice and reveal the "undercurrent" of the novels.Cather's novels My Antonia and A Lost Lady together express the whole spectrum of the pioneering age, with the former as the paean of the earlier stage of the age and the latter, the elegy of the later period. My Antonia was published before 1922 and A Lost Lady after. The year was the dividing line in Cather's writing career, witnessing the change of the author's philosophy of life from optimism to pessimism. Thus the two novels compose a changing process, an arc, providing time and social background for the two female protagonists. Coincidentally, the two novels depict the separate struggle of the two protagonists during thirty years and the consequence of their choice. The thirty years for Antonia traces her growth from an innocent fourteen years old immigrant girl to a mature virtuous woman pioneer at the age of forty-four, drawing an ascending arc. The novel stops at her middle age, describing the first half of her life. While the thirty years for Marian sees her change from a charming young lady to a lost lady, drawing a descending arc. The novel begins when she was a charming married woman in her prime (she was then about more than twenty by deduction) and stops until her death (in her early fifties), describing the latter half of Marian's life. The rise of Antonia and the fall of Marian, each spanning thirty years, compose a symmetrical arc, an artistic arc of the rise and fall of Cather's women characters of the pioneering age, which reflects the change of time and society and the decline of morality.Cather places Antonia and Marian in the role of the protagonists, while the male characters are only secondary and minor ones. The two female protagonists do not have any trace of the stereotypes of women found throughout the literary canon but brand-new creations. They possess various power and charm, subvert males' definition and expectation of women, and outshine the male characters. Antonia wins Cather's admiration and approval. Though getting "lost", Marian gets Cather's understanding and sympathy. Cather uses their nonconformity to subvert social and literary conventions set for women. All these make Cather's feminist voice, which may not be direct or propagandistic, loud and clear. Cather's use of male narrator and observer could hardly endear her to the feminist criticism but she had good reasons to do so, which, as a result, strengthens the force of her feminist voice. What is more significant, Antonia and Marian, with their rise and fall, both explore a way for women's development and survival. The rise and fall of them reveal that economic independence is the crucial factor in women's struggle. Only economically independent woman can be independent spiritually, lead a life they want and win their own place in the male-dominated world. Cather's own struggle in the literary field is the most convincing demonstration of this revelation.