Gender and Work in Lauri Lemberg's St. Croix Avenue and Paula Ivaska Robbins' Below Rollstone Hill

Abstract:St. Croix Avenue and Below Rollstone Hill portray a number of social, political and economic push factors that motivate some Finns to leave their homeland at the turn of the twentieth century. These historical fictions draw on the Finnish immigrant characters' success and/or failure in cultural and structural assimilation and incorporation into their host society. The novels also deal with a number of problems that some Finnish immigrant characters and their children face in their new environment and represent the race, class and gender inequities present in the US society.