Independence and Belonging in My AntoniaIn My Antonia, there are two types of women, those who want to have a man and those who don't. The key word is desire, at no point does a woman need a man in the entire course of the novel. From Hired Girls to Tiny Soderball and Lena Lingard, women are capable of self-sufficiency and happiness. The majority of truly satisfied people are single or live without the opposite sex. Antonia and Cuzak are the only example of a "normal" happy couple, everyone else has problems that prevent a normal relationship. In Hired Girls, Antonia and Lena are portrayed as strong, independent women who work to support themselves and their families and have fun as they see fit. ³...Girls from the countryside who came to the city to earn a living and, in almost all cases, to help the father with his debts or to enable the younger children of the family to go to school .²(My Antonia, Willa Cather p.172) In this case, it is the father who needs the daughter as opposed to the more traditional father....