Why does Antonia hold onto the old ways in My Antonia?

The way in which Antonia has held on to the "old ways" and
the original pioneer spirit is made evident by the way she is described at the end of
this excellent novel when the narrator visits her out at her farm. She is clearly living
the kind of life that she lived as a child when she first came with her parents to make
a living off the land, and although it is a hard life, that has meant she has lost
something of her original beauty, it is one that makes her happy. It is clear from what
Cuzak says to the narrator that it is Antonia who wants them to stay working out on the
land. Note what he says:

readability="15">

"It was a pretty hard job, breaking up this
place and making the first crops grow," he said, pushing back his hat and scratching his
grizzled hair. "Sometimes I git awful sore on this place and want to quit, but my wife
she always say we better stick it out. The babies come along pretty fast, so it look
like it be hard to move, anyhow. I guess she was right, all right. We got this place
clear now."

Antonia is
therefore clearly the driving force behind their living out in the countryside, and
working the land. After experiencing the corruption of city life and the kind of moral
compromises that many of her friends and herself were forced into, Antonia presumably
feels that there is a kind of innocence in the "old ways" of living off the land and
being self-sufficient that is appealing and attractive.