My Antonia is about how a very independent woman of the 1900s influenced the life of Jim Burden. In this book, by Willa Cather, there are several self-sufficient women in the story line. Antonia Shimerda, Lena Lingard, and Tiny Soderball were very independent women for the 1900s. .
Antonia Shimerda became independent at an early age due to her father committing suicide. She had to help work the farm. When she was a couple years older she moved to the city of Black Hawk to be a servant girl. She fell in love and planned to marry, but her fiancé left her alone and pregnant. Instead of getting rid of the baby she took care of it all by herself: "She loved if from the first as dearly as if she'd had a ring on her finger, and was never ashamed of it.""(Cather 204). This was rarely seen in the early 1900s, you either got married or gave the baby away.
Lena Lingard had to become independent early because she had to help raise a large family. Her father was not a skilled farmer and could not manage well. She herded cattle and took care of her sisters and brothers. She later came to Black Hawk and worked as a seamstress apprentice. When she had enough experience she moved to Lincoln, Nebraska and opened up her own dress shop. She said she was never going to get married: " I'm not going to marry anybody."" (Cather 186). She believed that women who get married don't have enough freedom to be themselves. She was a free spirited woman who valued her independence and her ability to take care of herself. She later moved to San Francisco and opened another dress shop.
Tiny Soderball came to Black Hawk to work at the Boys' Home Hotel for Mrs. Gardner. She had to be a strong and assertive woman to waitress at this hotel because the male clientele was brash and unruly. However, they soon came to respect and in some cases, to fear her. She then went to Seattle and opened a sailor's lodging house.