How does this passage support the theme "following
social rules leads people to avoid risk"?
Read this excerpt from My Antonia.
The country girls were considered a menace to
the social order. Their beauty shone out too boldly
against a conventional background. But anxious
mothers need have felt no alarm. They mistook the
mettle of their sons. The respect for respectability
was stronger than any desire in Black Hawk youth.
The country girls learn the American ways of life
through their contacts with the Black Hawk men and
their mothers.
The country girls are portrayed as vibrant and
beautiful, while the Black Hawk men are portrayed
as conventional and afraid of risks.
The country girls are portrayed as dangerous, which
is why the men and their mothers are afraid of them.
The Black Hawk men learn to take risks and go
against convention by meeting the country girls.