Advocacy of Female’s Freedom: Feminist Reading of Willa Cather’s Sapphira and the Slave Girl

Abstract

The Novel Sapphira and the Slave Girlby Willa Cather with the theme of advocacy of female’s freedom Sapphira and the Slave Girlwas Published in 1940. It is her last novel of her literary career . This novel deals with Advocacy of female’s freedom. In this novel the main character Sapphira, the grandmother wants the innocent slave girl either to be killed or raped by the evil rapist due to her jealousy that her husband might be having an affair with this slave girls . On the contrary, her own daughter Rachel Black opposes slavery and plans to take her away from the cruel intentions of her mother. As a representative woman of new generation the daughter Rachel not only defies slavery but by ensuring freedom of the slave, she also advocates for female's selfhood, freedom and identity. The novel is based on two treatments of a slave girl by two generations, old exercising authority and domination where as young advocating for freedom and struggling against the old where the voice of freedom looks strong and time demanded.