Women^s Roles in Food Production: A Case Study of Willa Cather^s My Antonia
Ferdinal Ferdinal (a*) and Oktavianus Oktavianus(b)

a)Master^s Program in Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Andalas
*Email: ferdinal[at]hum.unand.ac.id
b)Master^s Program in Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Andalas

Abstract

While men were considered family breadwinners, women were often hidden in the process of food production. Given that soil, food, and animal breeding are the domains men occupy, some women writers tried to counter such stereotypes through their stories. Willa Cather in My Antonia argues that women can excel world^s patriarchal determination of women^s powerlessness through their giant power behind their softness. This article aims to investigate how Willa Cather depicted women^s extraordinary roles on land opening and early agricultural activities in the USA. Through a feminist perspective, this study will answer 4 questions: (1) how Cather portrays nature, (2) how Americans live agricultural life, (3) how women played their significant roles in the frontier life, and (4) what is the connection between creative writing and ideology. The research shows that Cather represents some extraordinary women who have contributed a lot to development of agriculture in America frontier life. Their effort to some degree has excelled their physical capacity that some men might not be able to do. They have a duty to fight for their family survival.

Keywords: food production- gastronomy- soil- prairie life- survival

Topic: Agriculture Productivity