1、1The Songs of Praises for Pioneering WomenAbstract. The paper is to analyze the characters of firm pioneering women in depth from the works, combined with the history of and it explores that how the pioneering women grow up and improve themselves in the cruel environment. In addition, the great huma
2、n spirit reflected in the works is of great significance to our. Key words: spiritual value; immigrant; perseverance; real life When we read Willa Cathers novels we seem to come back to the American prairie in the 19th century and early 20th century. The hardworking women in the vast grassland let u
3、s admire deeply, and furthermore their spirit of struggle and perseverance and enthusiasm for life are more impressive to people. Willa Cather, a famous American female writer in the 20th century moved to Nebraska prairie in South America with his family when she was a child. In the barren land the
4、immigrants from Eastern Europe struggle against harsh natural environment with their hope for future. Cather was greatly touched by their 2firm and indomitable spirit. In Cathers writing career, the most excellent works are the novels on the basis of background of frontier life. This paper will focu
5、s on the analysis of strong simple female images and their pioneering spirit reflected in the novels Oh! Pioneers!and My Antonia. 1. Pioneering Womens Personal Charm My Antonia lays the Willa Cather an important status in the history of American literature. The heroine, Antonia, a Bohemian girl move
6、s to Nebraska prairie with her parents and begin hard pioneering life. The whole family lives in a cave on cliffs working day and night. They are often in rags and have little food to eat, especially in cold winter, the life is more difficult. There are some rotten potatoes in the buckets and a smal
7、l pile of flour which can not be enough food for the family. In such difficult situation Antonia can still keeps an optimistic attitude towards life, and she never complains making her great efforts to learn English from or they run to catch hares and quails in prairie. The winter is coming near. An
8、tonia shouts cheerfully, “My dad will make a rabbit skin hat for me! I will wear it in winter!“ “The rabbit is delicious and the skin is good for making a hat.“ - She says switching her fingers. 1 P192 3It is very clear that has intense love and confidence of life. Unfortunately, Antonias commits su
9、icide because he can not withstand the burden of life. So Antonia, the young girl takes on the heavy burden of supporting her family. But the hard life doesnt make her a wreck, and years of hard work makes Antonia grow up a strong girl. We are shocked that the burden of life does not destroy her and
10、 she is still energetic. With Antonia and her familys hard work, life is improved gradually, and the whole family move to new wood house from old caves. In order to boost their household income, Antonia comes to the black hawk town to work as a maid, but something unfortunate once again comes to the
11、 young girl. The poor Antonia believes others so easily that she is cheated to have sex relationship with a train conductor and then she has a child, and finally she is abandoned. Bad luck again fails to conquer her. She realizes that she comes from the prairie and she has to seek a better life with
12、 their diligence and indomitable personality. In desolate land she develops her own farm and she has a happy family and lives with her husband and a group of lovely children. Antonia shows intense enthusiasm for work and great endurance after she suffers pains. Having built up their own family, she
13、takes much responsibility for 4her family and life. She is an honest, kind, strong woman with great pioneering spirit. Oh! Pioneers! presents us a vivid description that a girl immigrants from Sweden struggle against the wild in the prairie and reclaim waste land and create a new life . 2 P18 The he
14、roine Alexandra is a girl from Sweden who lives in the low small log cabin with his family in the edge of the river valley. The whole family leads a poor life, and then Alexandras father passes away in the cold winter. Alexandra takes on the burden of family with her young shoulders. Then three year
15、s of drought leads to no crops in the field which makes the family despaired. Alexandra, the 19-year-old girl holds up the family once again with her strong determination to. She does not wait for the opportunity of harvest but she learns to grow crops from others. In addition, Alexandra is good at
16、thinking and has the foresight which is also the advantages a successful frontier should possess. In the family meeting, Alexandra puts forward her own claims - the land here has great potential to be increased in value. So Alexandra leads her family to sell the cattle and corn and buy her neighbors
17、 fields by borrowing money with half homestead mortgage with great determination. A 5few years later, the barren land presents the vitality and the fertile land grows abundant harvest and Alexandra becomes a local rich farmer. Without Alexandras strong will, the determination not lowing the head to
18、difficultly, her profound insight of things and courage of making reasonable decision the barren land can not become fertile land. A strong, optimistic, simple, smart, clever appears in front of us vividly. The pioneering womans enthusiasm is for life, the deep affection for land, the light of human
19、 nature and the forces of conquest of nature. 2. The Pioneering Spirit Deriving from land As is known to all, the United States is a country with a long history of immigration. A variety of reasons explain an influx of European immigrants. After the middle of the 18th century, the industrial revolut
20、ion broke up in European countries headed by Britain. Rapid economic development strongly impacted the traditional small peasant economy and lead to a large number of surplus laborers who were forced to look for their new life abroad. The religious persecution in the first half of the 19th century i
21、n European countries make many people seek refuge in the United States. In addition, the United States is a large country with beautiful natural environment, sparse population and abundant natural resources, 6which attracted immigrants from Europe. They dreamed of in the United States finding a piec
22、e of paradise. Immigrants came here to get their own land, and they consider the land as an indispensable part of people. Therefore the land is so important for pioneers. In the 19th century a writer wrote in the diary, “Around me people talk about land, land. everyones voice quivered in hope and th
23、eir eyes were all flashing a successful expect.“ 3 P238 At that time even some people said: Over the Appalachian mountains the mainland, a nice land extend along the Mississippi coast. Alexandra and Antonias families who seek development in the United States will naturally regard the land as the sou
24、rce of happiness. Therefore, in order to conquer the land and obtain ideal life, the pioneering women make great efforts. Alexandra and Antonia always show their deep love of the land. After Alexandras father died, the whole family works hard. In order to learn the experience of growing crops from o
25、thers Alexandra goes to the farm along river and then in the way back home, she cant help showing her deep feelings for the land. The novel describes in this way, “she feels that this land is too beautiful, rich, healthy, strong and bright. She has a great view of the vast land with deep love until
26、the 7tears stream down her cheeks.“ 4 P37 Obviously Alexandra has adopted the infinite affection and deep desire to the land so that she and the land have been an organic whole in harmony and both of them are inseparable. The combination of deep love of the land and the determination of pursuing hap
27、piness contribute to the positive spirit of characters. Of course, in the process of pioneering, the heroine experiences all kinds of sufferings. For example, natural disasters lead to no harvest, hunger and coldness. It is in the test of difficulties that Alexandra overcomes obstacles repeatedly, g
28、oes beyond herself, matures step by step and finally become respectable pioneering women. Similarly, Antonia also shows her deep love for this piece of desolate land containing infinite power and she at last develops new life in the deserted land. After she is cheated by the conductor in the city, A
29、ntonia realizes that she is one part of the land so she decides to return to the prairie with the heartfelt affection for the land. With this intense love Antonia returns to the vast prairie to start a new life. After ten years of hard work, Antonia experiences sorrows of life, but she never decreas
30、es her passion to the land with the passage of time. As Jimmy knows about Antonia, “she still has a 8quality which can rouse others imagination and she still makes others shocked with her eyes or gestures which make people almost stop breathing for a moment.“ 5 P390 Antonia talks to Jimmy about star
31、ting her own business,“ The trees here are planted by me. In my eyes they are my children. At many nights, I get up and go out to water these poor guys.“ 6 P382 How kind simple woman she is! She is charming and full of infinite strength like land. She is one part of the land because the land witness
32、es Antonias hard work, painful memories and happy ending. Antonia realizes the value of life in the broad land, and also presents us the great determination to conquer nature and pursue happiness, and this positive attitude is admirable. It is because of profound connection of between pioneering wom
33、en and land, the deep love for this piece of desolate land containing infinite vitality and strength that they finally develop their own happy life in the deserted land. So, what kind of relationship the human and the nature should keep? Of course, we have to love nature, love everything in nature.
34、3. The Guidance for Modern Life At the end of the 19th century in American prairie, immigrants traveled across the oceans to get to the ideal land with good wishes. There is no exaggeration to say that 9immigration influenced and changed the United States and furthermore immigrants strong characters
35、 make up a national soul. This self-reliance power and constant struggle is of great guiding significance for our present life. First of all, our country is in the high-speed economic development and reform and opening up road is also a new creative way so we also need “pioneers“ who are never afrai
36、d of hardship and have the courage to struggle with the difficulties. Through reforming the old things with their imagination, they enjoy the pleasure of life in the process of creating something. No matter in which field, we should all learn pioneering spirit and strive to develop a piece of vitali
37、ty in the job. Secondly, the contemporary college graduates are faced with intense competition in employment. In most industries, we can see a situation of supply exceeding demand. So request of improving the college students overall quality and ability is necessary. If college graduates can fully l
38、earn to cultivate pioneering spirit to solve his employment through the venture, and also they may provide some positions for other people to. College students exert their own imagination, make use of knowledge, learn experience from the successful people and improve the comprehensive ability, in th
39、is way they will a 10piece of land in the career. The spirit of self-improvement of the pioneers is our humans priceless treasure sparkling forever. This attitude of being passionate for life and not afraid of difficulties should be the great power for humans and even it will influence the following
40、 generations. 4. Acknowledgments The heading should be treated as a 3rd level heading and should not be assigned a number. References 1. Willa Cather. My Antonia ( translated by Zi, Zhong-yun and Zhou, Wei-liMBeijing: Foreign Literature Press, 1983: 192 2. Li, Gong-zhao Theories of American Literatu
41、re of the 20th CenturyM Xian：Xian JiaoTong University Press:18 3. Hamlin Garland Bayard Steele: The Documentary of American Western Exploitation，Guangming Daily Press，1988: 238 4. Willa Cather. My Antonia ( translated by Zi, Zhong-yun and Zhou, Wei-liMBeijing: Foreign Literature Press, 1983: 37 5. Willa Cather. My Antonia ( translated by Zi, Zhong-yun and Zhou, Wei-liMBeijing: Foreign Literature Press, 1983: 390 6. Willa Cather. My Antonia ( translated by Zi, Zhong-yun and Zhou, Wei-liMBeijing: Foreign Literature Press, 1983: 382
