Mr. Shimerda Begs Jim To Te-E-Ach My Antonia

My Antonia, by Willa Cather, is a novel about Jim Burden and his relationship and experiences growing up with Antonia Shimerda in Nebraska. Throughout the book Jim reflects on his memories of Nebraska and the Shimerda family, often times in a sad and depressing tone. One of the main ways Cather is able to provoke these sad emotions within the reader is through the suicide of Antonia’s father, Mr. Shimerda. His death was unexpected by everyone and it is thought that homesickness is what drove him to take his own life. Homesickness was surely felt by Mr. Shimerda, as it was by many, but it was the failure to adequately find a way to provide for his family that sent Mr. Shimerda into a

In “My Antonia”, Cather uses symbols from nature to express the essential aspects of the characters. According to Cather, ones’ environment symbolizes ones’ psychology. This may even mold one’s emotional condition by giving emotions a tangible form. For example, the river is used as a symbol of freedom. In the story, the river makes Jim feel free, and he comes to admire freedom.

My Ántonia by Willa Cather is a story of the coming of age of Jim Burden and Ántonia Shimerda. The recently orphaned Jim moves to Blackhawk Nebraska to live with his grandparents. On his trip from Virginia to Nebraska, Jim first catches glimpse of the Bohemian immigrant family who happen to be moving in near the Burdens. Because she Shimerda’s speak no english, they are quickly cheated out of their money and have moved into a small lean-to on the side of a hill. Jim’s grandmother is a very kind woman and agrees to have Jim help Ántonia learn English. The two spend much time together and go on many adventures with Jim’s pony, Dude.

Antonia is seen as a cheerful and ecstatic girl who loves to be around people, as she is also a reason that the landscape relates to the characters in the novel. “As Antonia said, the whole world was changed by the snow. (33)” When Jim leaves for New York, Antonia changes and becomes a different person, reflecting herself as the changes in season and how people

Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda form a special connection/friendship and they both learn from one another as they are essentially opposites. Jim Burden is very materialistic in how he views the world. An example of this is how he thinks that the women of Black Hawk are not deserving of marriage, but instead just intimate relations. His views seemingly changed as he was previously condemning this attitude. He changes because he was very easily discouraged, when learning that the world works differently than he had imagined. Antonia Shimerda is a free spirited person who believes that are many ways to go about bringing success into one’s life, whereas Jim and others, believe there is one rigid path that must be followed. A quote that captures Antonia’s beliefs is; “That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.” However, her base convictions stay consistent throughout the entirety of the story.

“There in the shelter draw-bottom the wind did not blow very hard, but I could hear it singing its humming tune up on a level, and I could see the tall grasses wave.”pg. 14 This quote tells readers how even small things such as the soft blow of the wind can cause many things to happen, such as the humming of the wind and the grass’s movements.It also symbolizes how the world is at peace right now. The tone of this quote is in a describing manner by the details they provide in this quote. These all contribute to helping the reader understand the scene in Jim’s point of view.

As Antonia and Jim grow apart, there is a good amount of time that pass both characters. Both Antonia and Jim took different paths that were overshadowed by the past events of their childhood, it could be said that Jim had a much easier life than Antonia had, as Antonia said “Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us.” (Cather 159) Jim departs to go to college and to a high paying job, while Antonia remains in the prairie where there will continue to be difficulties for her and her family to survive and overcome the challenges. The Bohemian immigrant family has many hardship they must overcome. From homesickness to language barriers, the family seems to adjust accordingly and end up overcoming these hardships in their lives. After twenty years of not seeing Antonia, Jim is afraid she has changed and no longer is the vivid young girl she once was. When they reunite, Jim now gets to know Antonia as a grown up and is pleased to find out that she is still the vivid spirit he once remembered. Instead of having Antonia as a symbol of his pass, Jim creates a relationship with her new-found husband and children, and is happy with

Jim meets Antonia’s family and leaves the next day after catching yp with Antonia’s life. Jim realizes that a man’s life goes in a circle and, “ 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.” (Cather 238) Jim and Antonia after catching up discovered that they both went in two different life paths. Jim wen to school and got married but had no kids, while Antonia did not go to school but got married and has eleven kids. Jim and Antonia are physically in different paths but destiny draws them together at the end. They will also meet up at the end when they have not met each other in twenty years. Jim and Antonia’s relationship is fate and is another reason why they have a strong bond.

Prejudices is found virtually everywhere, and will be continually found, if we can’t rise above our own opinions and just listen to what others have to say. It’s not everyone’s fault, it’s the people that encompass one’s life. Therefore, if ones around people that have a negative thought process, one will soon also have the same thought process even though it’s wrong. The only way out of it would be ones self-perseverance in achieving goals in life.

Unfortunately, Antonia is nostalgic about Bohemia, not Nebraska. Ultimately, Jim and Antonia are separate for some time because it is how they grow as characters. They don’t understand that they want different results to come of their lives, and this pulls them

Prejudice is something which has affected everyone at one time or another. It is like looking out a frosted window and not seeing a clear picture. When people look through a frosted window they sometimes see a blurred vision of the world outside. Sometimes we see people as very different from ourselves when really they are just a very little bit different from us. We can even see someone as an enemy instead of for who they really are. These narrow minded views in our society are prevalent, even though most of the time they are

After meeting Jim and the grandmother, Antonia is able to start learning some new

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible. (Maya Angelou) By definition prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. Prejudice to others is hate, judgement, and evil. The effects of prejudice are shown in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the play The Merchant of Venice, and the tragedy known as the Holocaust. Prejudice affected all people differently, but one thing is true for all; prejudice is crippling and disables those who experience it from being who they truly are and doing as they please.

1.My opinion for this question would be that Jim learns more from the relationship that he has with Antonia. The reason why I believe this is because Jim learns more from watching what Antonia does, as well as other people. Jim learns from his own experiences as well, and most of the time learns from the people who are around him. Antonia mostly learns on her own she really likes to explore and do her own thing. I believe that you look up to people who are older than you and that is exactly what Jim was doing with Antonia.

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.