My Antonia Relationship Essay

As the American writer Willa Cather once said, “There is some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” The characters in the story all have different kinds of ways and learn life lessons throughout the book. The story, My Antonia written by Willa Cather, tells a story of what Antonia through the eyes of her friend Jim Burden. The inception of the story features, Jim meeting Antonia and at first it is difficult for the two to communicate due to their language barrier. Throughout the story the two became great friends to one another and do almost everything together. The winters in the story show similarity to those of my life. Overall, this captured my attention and an portrays an extraordinary storyline for the reader to read and as the reader I could relate.

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

In my writing assignment I chose two of the essay questions about the novel “My Antonia” by Willa Cather. I chose question number three and question number four to write my essay. And question number three the author uses symbols from nature to express essential aspects of the lives of the characters. I chose three symbols and discussed how they convey information about the daily lives of the characters, and how the characters relate to each other and how the author views life. The fourth question that I chose to write about is how the author admires the character, Antonia. I wrote about the three characteristics that the author admires and added quotes from the book and also the reading about the author.

In My Antonia, Cather symbolizes feminism by using homes. What is a home? A home is a place where one lives permanently, especially a member of a family. A home is where everyone gathers and share ideas, beliefs, and it is a place where children are born. Therefore, it no surprise if a home is to be compared to a womb. Another great observation made in this book is that since the houses are isolated in the prairie, they show the loneliness side of women in keeping themselves together in a male-dominating region. Cather uses the size of a single house to show the rising roles of women.

A psychoanalytical look at the characters of My Antonia provides a better understanding of action vs. intent of each individual, particularly Jim Burden.  The introduction prepares the reader by laying out a profile of Jim.  Without the understanding of the origin of the novel the reader would not be able to assess the true meaning of the novel nor would they really grasp the concepts and issues that are being discussed through the story itself.  So, with this essay I will bring together the importance of the introduction and how it correlates to Jim's search for a parental role.

Antonia is walking through the tall green grass on her way home from Jim’s house. Once she approaches her little house on the prairie and she walk into her home. Antonia sees her mama lost in her thoughts.

In My Ántonia, by Willa Cather, one reads the intriguing life story of Ántonia Shimerda, a young Bohemian immigrant living in the harsh lands of Nebraska. She possessed a great strength and a strong character, which enabled her to overcome the turbulences of her new life. The theme demonstrated throughout the story is that people with a firm character and spirit can overcome great difficulties. One example of the theme occurs with the death of Ántonia’s father. The family is crushed by this suicide, but Ántonia bravely bears her suffering for the good of her family, and takes up the extremely difficult work of plowing with her brother Ambrosch. She does this for her family’s sake, even if it means giving up her dream of receiving an education.

In her novel My Antonia, Willa Cather remarkably illustrates the unsettled lifestyle of several pioneer families living in the prairies. Through the protagonist’s character, she emphasizes on spirit, tenacity and courage. Antonia is at the heart of almost every human condition that the book effortlessly unravels. The story smoothly unfolds around the life a bohemian family, the Shimerdas and their winsome daughter — Antonia.

My Antonia, by Willa Cather, is a book tracing the story of a young man, Jim Burden, and his relationship with a young woman, Antonia Shimerda. Jim narrates the entire story in first person, relating accounts and memories of his childhood with Antonia. He traces his journey to the Nebraska where he and Antonia meet and grow up. Jim looks back on all of his childhood scenes with Antonia with nearly heartbreaking nostalgia. My Antonia, is a book that makes many parallels to the sadness and frailty, but also the quiet beauty in life, and leaves the reader with a sense of profound sorrow. One of the main ways Cather is able to invoke these emotions in the reader is through the ongoing theme of

Renowned American literature author Willa Cather, author of the work My Antonia, included many central themes from her lifetime in her novel. Cather, born December 7th, 1873 in Gore, Virginia. As a young child, Cather struggled from an identity crisis. Cather often shortened or changed her name to sound masculine. “Her given name was Wilella but it was later shortened to Willa. She was also known by the nicknames "Willie" and "Billy" during her youth.” (Martin). Her novel My Antonia reflects the theme of gender roles because of her identity crisis, and because of the fluctuating change of gender roles in the early twentieth century. Cather’s novel includes many other pieces of her life, including a desire to defy stereotypes that developed through her love of doing things considered “unladylike” in

In Catullus 2, it does not seem like Catullus and Lesbia have any kind of relationship at this point, he seems to be admiring her from afar. This poem gives the impression that Catullus is stalking Lesbia. He wishes to be the sparrow on Lesbia’s lap as she is loving and affectionate towards the sparrow. He wishes he could be with her and play with her like she does with the sparrow. Catullus clearly desires Lesbia’s affections and holds her in high regard at this point in time.

Although the novel is set during the war it is not the main focus of the novel. In fact the book is about the relationship between Catherine and Henry. Helen Ferguson’s character is a key component to the couple’s relationship, even though she is only in a handful of scenes throughout the book, and although she is skeptical when it comes to Henry she does understand that her friend is happy with him and therefore she is happy for her. Towards the beginning of the novel Helen’s involvement in the couple’s relationship is very basic. She is with Catherine when they first meet Henry, and when the couple are supposed to see each other by themselves for the first time and Catherine gets sick Helen is the one to let Henry know “Catherine asked me to tell you she was sorry she couldn’t see you this evening.”

Jim says after seeing Antonia for the first time in eight months, "She had come to us as a child, and now she was a tall, strong girl...She wore the boots her father had so thoughtfully taken off before her shot himself, and his old fur cap."(pg.79) This is what Jim said she looked like. He really accentuates that Antonia was wearing her fathers clothes, masculine of course. Jim says, "She kept her sleeves rolled up all day, and her arms a throat were burned as brown as a sailor's. Her neck came up strongly out of her shoulders, like the bole of a tree out of the turf. One sees that draught horse neck among the peasant women in all the old countries."(pg.79) The reader begins to see the changes in Antonia as well when she speaks. She starts to talk of things that only men in those days were known to do. For example she says to Jim, "Jim, you ask Jake how much he ploughed to-day. I don't want that Jake get more done in one day than me. I want we have very much corn this fall."(pg.79) Jim says that, "Tony could talk of nothing but the prices of things, or how much she could lift and endure. She was too proud of her strength."(pg.81) We see the changing of places between Antonia and Jim once again. We see Jim going to school and Antonia staying and doing farm work. This scene represents a

Analyse how a relationship was destructive or supportive within a visual text, for a particular purpose.

Throughout the books of My Ántonia, society and class played an increasingly prevalent part in Jim’s life as he grew old. The timeline of the book portrays the social tensions between the immigrants and the white families as Jim’s perspective on the world steadily expands. On the farm, there is a common theme of simplicity and natural setting, in town Jim is able to comprehend the underlying contempt the merchant families have for the foreigners, and further on as an adult the harsh reality of society’s impact on reputation.