Independence and Belonging in My Antonia In my Antonia there are two types of women, those who want to have a man and those who don't. The key word is want, at no point does a woman need a man throughout the course of the novel. From Hire Girls to Tiny Soderball and Lena Lingard, women are capable of self-sufficiency and happiness. Most truly satisfied people are alone or live without the opposite sex. Antonia and Cuzak are the only example of a ³normal² happy couple, all the others have some problems that prevent a normal relationship. In Hired Girls Antonia and Lena are depicted as strong, independent women who work to support themselves and their families and have fun as they see fit. ³...Country girls who had come to the city to earn a living and, almost always, to help their father get out of debt or to allow the family's youngest children to go to school.²( My Antonia, Willa Cather p.172) In this case it is the father who needs the daughter unlike the more traditional one...