Essay on Jim Burden's Romanticism in My Antonia

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

Thanks to his strong personality and nature, Jim develops into a wonderful man by the end of the novel, despite having gone through many difficult times. He used these tragedies to form himself into a strong person, instead of allowing it to break him down. When he was very young, he was orphaned, and sent to live in a new state, ‘I was ten years old then; I had lost both my father

As fate may have it, Jim does indeed return to Black Hawk twenty years later to find that while he feels like he’s living an unfulfilled life, drifting around, Antonia has settled down and had many children with Anton Cuzak, a fellow native Bohemian. Jim listens to Ántonia happily tell stories about her children and the two spend the day looking at old photographs and telling stories. Jim feels like he knows all members of the family because Ántonia describes their lives so well.

Jim’s memories and feelings of Ántonia make up a majority of the novel. He admires her in such a way that his memories of her have been burned

Even though Jim departs the region, he is always bonded to it. “As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running. (10)” Jim was always seen as a humble and intelligent man, he never really showed any signs of anger or frustration throughout this novel. The Nebraska landscape could be seen as a metaphor to Jim, as the land is both humble and calm; and so is Jim. To relate to a specific part of the Nebraska landscape, Jim is seemingly symbolized by the river, as he never wants to leave the river, but eventually does. “For the first time it occurred to me that I should be homesick for that river after I left it.” (113) Cather uses this quote to explain how man must move on from their past and look to their future, describing Jim as the river, and how the water must continuously move.

The central narrative of My Antonia could be a check upon the interests, and tho' in his fib Jim seldom says something directly concerning the concept of the past, the general tone of the novel is very unhappy. Jim’s motive for writing his story is to do to change some association between his gift as a high-powered any professional person and his nonexistent past on the NE grassland ; in re-creating that past, the novel represent each Jim’s retention and his feelings concerning his recollections. in addition, inside the narrative itself, persona usually look rachis yearningly toward the past that they need losing, particularly when Book I. Life in blackness Hawk, Jim and Ántonia recall their Day on the farm Lena appearance back toward her spirit together with her family; the Shimerdas and therefore the Russian mirror on their lives in their several home countries before they immigrated to the United Country .

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

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.

This dialogue Ántonia says to Jim brings upon a huge change in his character. Until now, Ántonia has always treated Jim in a patronizing manner, which is based purely on age. He tries not to acknowledge or believe that he is inferior, and tirelessly tries to prove to her and consequently himself that he is her equal. However, now that he has demonstrated his strength and valor in a time of peril, she thinks of him highly rather than looking down upon him condescendingly. Jim “longed for this opportunity”, and now that he receives it, he feels pleased about this incident with the snake and “hails it with joy”, instead of feeling quite the contrary which is typical in such situations (Cather 35). Therefore, this leads him to gain some of the past self-esteem he has lost in the previous months, leading him to his development in such character. From this point on in the novel, Jim has more confidence and carries himself with pride, all due to how he overcomes one of his deepest internal struggles with himself. Although this incident is a time of great danger to his life, it further develops him into a mature young man and “a big fellow” (Cather 37).

‘Optima dies…prima fugit’” (171). This quote directly connects to Jim Burden, as it is for the innocent, euphoric, and blissful memories of his childhood that often disappear the quickest. The fond memories of spending time with Ántonia faded once her father died and she began to work the farm. All the events, whether it be the killing of the snake or simple time together, fleeted quickly. Going to the Russian house, and the times of eating watermelons, ended quickly as well. The lifestyle of living in the country faded away as he moved to Black Hawk, leaving all of nature’s beauty behind. It seems that for Jim, no matter how far he goes or how old he becomes, his mind always reverts back to his past and childhood. This is a major motif throughout the novel, and the allusion in this passage adds to it as well. As said by Jim on the previous page in the novel about his old comrades, “They [early friends] were so much alive in me that I scarcely stopped to wonder whether they were alive anywhere else, or how” (170). All of these ethereal, fleeting moments of his childhood are what molded Jim Burden into the man he is set to become. These exultant moments, though temporary, last in his consciousness for a long time. As he said about a childhood experience, “It floated before me on the page like a picture, and underneath

Why do many immigrants make the long and usually costly move to America? Is it the largely idolized notion that Americans are wealthier with better opportunities? Moreover, is the price some pay worth the risk? In Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, Ántonia faces struggles as a young child, including language barriers, poverty, harsh living conditions, and her beloved father’s death. However, as Ántonia grows into a woman, she must face struggles of a social nature, such as the division of social and economic classes, as well as social opprobrium. While immigration to America may open many doors for immigrants, it is equally fraught with obstacles. Likewise, Ántonia must face many adversities after her emigration from Bohemia to Nebraska, which

Hector Menzies helps Jim’s character to develop because of the information Jim receives from him. Hector gives jim hope in the form of information. Jim learns about the fire in 1972, he also learns that Father Fisher is found near the spot where Hub is before he disappears. “He had not told Ruth Rose he was going to the Expositor. He wasn’t sure he would help her…[He had] Some kind of burning need to know” (72). Showing desire is showing character. The burning need to know, Jim has it. Hector helped him satisfy his lust for knowledge about his father’s past. Hector giving the newspapers allowed Jim to move on with his thoughts on Hub and Father. Jim’s desire for knowledge shows, his thought process. At the start of the novel, Jim is depressed, hopeless. He now has a goal because of the information. Hector gives Jim a reason. “But he wasn’t lost for the first time in a year he felt he saw the faintest trace of a trail opening up for him” (73). Feeling is what makes humans, human. Characters, character. Jim is feeling hope, as the author refers to it as a “Trail opening”. Jim at the beginning of the novel depressed, hopeless because of his father's disappearance. He now has hope,

Jim’s relationship with Antonia shapes him as a character and provides him with the tools to grow from a child to a young adult.

world and does not care to return to it. At this point, the reader begins to pity Jim,