Antononia's Personality Of Antonia By Willa Cather

Antonia knows the struggle firsthand since she has faced the harsh conditions of starting off in a new country since she is a Shimerda. Antonia tells Jim,“’ If I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us’” (Cather 90). Antonia knows the racial difference between her and Jim. She has to work harder than the native speakers to be able to achieve what might come easily to them. Later on in the novel, Antonia goes off with a guy named Larry Donovan he informs her that his job has moved. This ended up being a lie. He leaves her whilst she's pregnant, so she becomes a single mom. Jim expresses his thoughts, “I was bitterly disappointed in her [Ántonia]. I could not forgive her for becoming an object of pity” (Cather 192). Jim expresses his dismay that Antonia has basically ruined her life by putting faith into a man of words. Antonia’s reputation fell drastically after this and it appears as though it would be hard to pick up. However, when Jim returns, he ends up being wrong. In the literary criticism, Anthony M. Dykema-VanderArk states, “She appears at the end of My Antonia as a figure who has tri­umphed over the hardships of her life through stal­wart struggle...ensuring an easier future for her children” (Dykema-VanderArk 211). Antonia has gone through a lot throughout her life. Her father’s death to ruining her reputation by being oblivious. Her race caused her to be inferior compared to the women that don't have to work in order to survive, but she still gives a good life to her children. Despite her hardships, she still kept to her strong attitude and doesn't sway away from it. That's success through the work she put

Another characteristic that Antonia exhibits that led to Cather's admiration of her is her willingness to learn. For example, Antonia wanted to learn English when she came to America and met Jim. One quote that shows this is "While we snuggled down there out of the wind, she learned a score of words". This quote shows that Antonia was eager to learn because she learned a lot of English words in one day. In conclusion, there are a few admirable traits that Antonia has.

In the novel My Antonia by Willa Cather is a book based upon the main characters memories. Many critics have criticized this novel, and have focused on such literary elements as setting,theme, tone and etc. However the strongest argument is the one that states that the foundation of every element in the book is based on the personal memories of Willa Cather. After researching Willa Cather you can discover many biographies that talk about her life. In many instances I found stories about her life that I found similar to Jim and Antonias. Since she used personal experiences and turned them into a story it adds a special touch to her writing.

Antonia, despite having an enormous warmth about her, is too simpleminded and preoccupied with manual labor in order to have time to reflect on the meaning of happiness; nevertheless, she is always dissolved in the moment which allows her to unconsciously live by Jim's definition of happiness. She often finds herself completely submerged in her joys which predominantly come in form of her work, personal freedoms, and family. She said once, "'I belong on a farm. I'm never lonesome here like I used to be in town... And I don't mind work a bit if I don't have to put up with sadness'"(Book 5, Section1). Here it is evident that her work on the farm allows Antonia to forget her troubles and keep her from being lost in her negative thoughts. She was also found bragging to Jim about the

Jim appears to be a very contemplative and thoughtful boy. In the first section of the book, Jim seems to like Antonia and seems interested in her and her old life. I noticed a weakness of Jim in this section. He can be a little shallow. One day when Antonia and her mother came over to visit the Burden's house, and Mrs. Shimerda was very envious of all the things they had in their house. Jim's grandmother then gave an iron pot to the Shimerdas. Jim was then very angry with the Shimerdas and after that, there was some friction between the two families. I think I would like to be Jim's friend if he could be less shallow. Antonia seems to be a very enthusiastic, happy, and friendly person. Antonia and Jim become friends in the first section of the book. I find Antonia's friendliness to be a strength for her. Everybody was very fond of Antonia in the first section of the book. I also found a weakness of Antonia. She can be very hostile and defensive when it comes to her family. For example, she got very hostile when Jim said her mother likes to take other people's things. The friction that came after this was a result of both Jim and Antonia's weaknesses. I think I would be Antonia's friend because she is very kind and friendly. Her weaknesses are not as much of a bad thing compared to Jim's because they only show when you accuse her family of something, whereas Jim's weaknesses would be apparent more often. I

In My Antonia, a classic coming of age novel, Jim is the main character. Jim is very accepting, intelligent, and strong. His good natured personality is a constant throughout the novel, making it an enjoyable tale. Jim used his tragic past to become a wonderful role model.

Antonia believed that becoming great would come as natural as sleep. Antonia is a reliable and independent young girl who is proud of working on the farm with her family. Antonia is a selfless human being, and she shows that countless times throughout the book. One example of Antonia’s kind heartedness in the book is , “Ántonia loved to help grandmother in the kitchen and to learn about cooking and housekeeping. She would stand beside her, watching her every movement.” This quote from the book gives a glimpse of Antonia’s character and how kind and selfless she really was. Another quote from section 5 of the book says, “After Ántonia had said the new words over and over, she wanted to give me a little-chased silver ring she wore on her middle finger. When she coaxed and insisted, I repulsed her quite sternly.” This quote helps readers understand the type of things Antonia would do. It helps readers understand the type of person Antonia was. Her good nature and helpful attitude played a role in why Antonia believes that being complete would come as natural as sleep. Throughout the whole story she had been helpful to other characters in the book. Antonia is so generous because she has hope in the future that she becomes complete and successful. In Book 1 section 3 it says“ Ántonia came up to me and held out her hand coaxingly. In a moment we were running up the steep draw side together, Yulka trotting after us.” This represents how caring and sincere Antonia was to most

Although Antonia faces severe hardship, she remains strong and responding to her simple life that focuses on kid raising and family comforts. When Jim visits her after so many years, he realizes that she established a very happy life, a good marriage, and has a large family. Antonia bravery has qualified her to develop self-esteem and become a complete female of pride.Although Antonia faces severe hardship, she remains strong and responding to her simple life that focuses on kid raising and family comforts. When Jim visits her after so many years, he realizes that she established a very happy life, a good marriage, and has a large family. Antonia bravery has qualified her to develop self-esteem and become a complete female of

My Ántonia is a novel written by Author Willa Cather. Throughout the development of the novel there are two characters that have a predominant push and pull relationship, Jim Burden and Ántonia Shimerda. The question is never really answered concerning their relationship and as to weather he is in love with her, or if they are just friends. The story specifically focused on Ántonia and what she meant to Jim. Although at the end of the novel we come to find that Jims feeling for her appearances do not matter. Jim sees people for who they are as a person. Jim has always enjoyed people and has had a particular interest in who they are morally. That is how resolves Ántonia at the end of the novel, despite his conflicted emotions and her weathered appearance. It was almost a spiritual assessment of Ántonia and his morale feelings for her and who she is. In the end who a person is in there “true inner self” is more important to Jim than visual appearance. My Ántonia gives you that message by how Jim sees the world and the people in it specifically Ántonia.

Cather’s work, My Antonia, is a memoir told from Jim Burden’s perspective, as he recollects his youth moving from Virginia to life on the plains of Black Hawk, Nebraska. Upon moving in with his grandparents, Jim begins to admire Antonia Shimerda, a Bohemian immigrant who moved to Black Hawk alongside the rest of her family, the Shimerdas. As Jim spends more time in Black Hawk, he bears witness to the many hardships which the Shimerdas faced, such as their limited proficiency with English, their horrible financial situation, and the death of the father, Mr. Shimerda. Later in the novel, Jim moves into town to further his education, while Antonia moves into town to find work. In town, Jim finds more hard-working immigrants, known as the “Hired

Jim loves the feeling of showing new things to Antinia and showing off her talents to the people of the town. He takes pride in her advancements and loves to show off her unique abilities. He describes Antinia to be “his” he doesn't think of Antonia as an object but he does like to have possession over her. “They were growing prettier every day, but as they passed us, I used to think with pride that Ántonia, like Snow-White in the fairy tale, was still 'fairest of them all” (Cather 244). This is an observation that Jim states when he sees the hired girls and Antonia on the block. His mind immediately shifts to how Antinia possesses more beauty than any of the other hired girls. Not only this but he's already taking a sort of ownership over Ántonia. He feels pride in thinking that she is the prettiest of the hired girls; not attraction. It's almost like she's his sister. Antonia is able to gain comfort and confidence as jims support is unconditional throughout her childhood. Though Antonia faces struggles she overcomes them and Jim is a witness of her happinesses.Their friendship helps Antonia not only adjust to a new country but helps her adjust to her true beauty and hidden

Julia Norris conveys, “No romantic novel ever written in America, by man or woman, is one half so beautiful as My Antonia.” Love is a very strong force that cannot be muffled, but it can be ignored. In My Antonia, love was always bringing Jim and Antonia together. Cather says in My Antonia, “I had a sense of coming home to myself, and of having found out what a little circle man’s experience is. For Antonia and for me, this had been the road of Destiny; had taken us to those early accidents of fortune which predetermined for us all that we can ever be. Now I understood that the same road was to bring us together again. Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past.” So Jim and Antonia were in love a person could say. This love was often ignored throughout the book though. Jim many times moved away seeking new opportunities instead of staying and loving

Willa Cather’s My Antonia is the story of a lifelong friendship that began between Jim and Antonia, two people who became friends when they were young and lived on the Nebraska prairie. Jim and Antonia encountered a large rattlesnake and a startled and, rather than yell out in English, Antonia speaks in her native Bohemian language. Antonia’s father, depressed and sad over missing his homeland, committed suicide and left the family to fend for themselves in a strange country. Jim’s grandparents decide that they are too old to run a ranch daily so they move to the closest town, Black Hawk.

Throughout My Antonia, the difference between immigrants and native lifestyles are shown. While neither Jim not Antonia is rich, Jim is definitely more well off than her. He knows the language and has enough that he can have more opportunities. Antonia realizes that her life is going to be more difficult and that she will have to work more because of her mother’s decision to move to America. She tells Jim that “if I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us,” (90) and knows that her gentle personality might be at stake. This also foreshadows future events where Antonia struggles as an immigrant farmer. It adds obstacles to her life which might lead to them drifting apart in their friendship, even complete separation. This relates to the world in how immigrants had a harder time getting going in life. Antonia’s mother has already become changed because of poverty. She is grasping, selfish, and believes everyone should help her family. Jim’s grandmother defends her, knowing that, “a body never knows what traits poverty might bring out in them,” (60), though it is socially unacceptable. The pressures of helping her family led Antonia to not be educated and become a farmer. She is happy, but this leads to Jim being away, “twenty years before I kept my promise,” (211) as he is a successful lawyer and travels. They still have old connections, though being from Bohemia did change Antonia’s life and where it could have gone.

My Antonia is a philosophical story, with dream-like ideas left and right. Even so, the book’s main theme was clearly the transition or journey from childhood to adulthood. This theme applied to both the main characters, Jim and Antonia, who were children when the story begins and adults when it ends. At ten years old, Jim Burden moved to the plains of Black Hawk, Nebraska. His parents had died in an epidemic, and Jim was sent to live with his father’s parents on their Nebraska farm. In his new home, he met a Bohemian girl named Antonia, a free-spirited, lively, unique personality. He fell in love with her, and although his feelings were not returned, he and Antonia became great friends. The book has numerous examples of traditional obstacles that people their ages go through, along with additional hardships such as poverty and death of close family members. Antonia developed a sense of independence that became her most prominent trait throughout the book. The characters found activities and places where they felt like they belonged, and they began to discover who they were. As Jim (the narrator) states, “The new country lay open before me: there were no fences in those days, and I could choose my own way over the grass uplands, trusting the pony to get me home again.” Jim was speaking of a place