How Does Cather Use Informal Dialogue 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.

Until I started this rhetorical analysis paper I wasn’t aware that the things I display in my room say things about me. I never thought about how they make me look as a person or what my audience would assume about me based on these items. When I started analyzing, all these questions started popping up. I was finally able to step back and see myself how others might see me. When asked by my teacher to pick 3 items that describe myself from my bedroom I didn’t have any trouble picking them out. When it came down to it, I 'd always choose the same 3 items: A wall of family pictures, a Pride flag and a mirror with notes and pictures all over it.

Starting this year, I thought English 102 was just going to be another general education requirement I needed to have in order to graduate. English has never been my favorite subject, so I guess it is safe to say that I was not super excited about this class. However, this class turned out to be different then I thought. It turned out to be more useful then I originally thought. English 102 was both helpful and fairly simple because of what what I learned, the effort I put in and how prepared I was.

How powerful is Mayella in certain situations? Mayela is white but she is poor and equal to the other race, but at trial, she is white, with a white jury, and in a building filled with mostly white people. Mayella is poor, lives behind the dump, at a pig farm, and in an abandoned slave cabin. Mayella is a woman, and when she is crying or being assaulted we feel sorry for her and she uses the sympathy as her advantage during the trial. How powerful is Mayella in class, race, and gender?

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.

The 13th amendment of 1865 made people consider the use of slavery as a legal form of punishment for criminals. The amendment raises concerns over if African Americans were ever actually free in the United States. Although it states that the institution of slavery is illegal, it also states that slave labor is legal if in the form of punishment for incarcerated criminals. In 13th, Ava DuVernay employs the use of ethos, logos, and pathos through a variety of ways. Through the use of these techniques, Ava DuVernay connects them with vivid imagery to really drive her point that the 13th amendment did not necessarily end slavery, it just added a loophole that enslavers were able to use.

Barbara Lazear Ascher, born 1946, Full time writer; argues why a person would show compassion and learn empathy.The man in the story is walking across the street past a mother. The mother sees him and shows compassion to give him money. The author explains the reason why she gave him money. “Was it fear or compassion that motivated the gift?” The poverty rate in new york was growing while the rich start to feel compassion and want to help the growing needy.The author states in order to improve yourself you must help someone else. That people want to feel better by giving. The author quotes”we cannot deny the existence of the helpless as their presence grows.” If you have enough and someone needs something you have more than

1800 by logic i chose this song because i feel that one of the important characters, Josie, would relate to this song a lot since in the song it’s about suicide and finding yourself. in the book Josie really struggles with finding herself and she has thoughts of suicide. it states “That some mornings, it was hard to get out of bed and put on someone else's smile; that she was standing on air, a fake who lasted all the right jokes and Whisper that all the right gossip and attracted the right guy, a fake one nearly forgotten what it felt like to be real... And who, when you got right down to it didn't want to remember, because it hurts even more than this.” (Picoult 8) in the song 1 800 by Logic it portrays the feeling of being left out yet not finding yourself.

Every speaker was humble even though they have this amazing world changing technology. If they went up there and were prideful there would be this disconnect and your message wouldn’t be heard. Danielle has this high up position and has tons of experience but states she still has more to learn. It put her and the audience on the same level.

The American West: Things Learned from My Antonia The story, My Antonia by Willa Cather holds many historically accurate information; especially about the way of life on the Nebraska frontier. Through the Adventures of Jim and Antonia there is much to be learned about the American West. Be it the hardships of winter, the monetary struggles of immigrants into the land, the trials of farming, or humble living of everyday citizens; the American West had plenty of learning opportunities.

Cather seems to admire Antonia’s impulsive nature. Willa Cather compares Antonia’s impulsive character to Jim’s fearful character. However, in this comparison, Antonia seems to be favored in each case. Also, Cather shows her admiration of Antonia through Jim. Jim says, “she was a rich mine of life” (71). He admires Antonia’s impulsiveness but also warns that character could be destructive in the long run. Jim, Antonia does not fear to take the risk. The author describes her carefree nature, “…she was a no longer a lovely girl, but a battered woman, there was something special that fired her imaginations” (104).

Before Cather was asked to teach Antonia, he laid in a meadow with her and taught her a few new words. She got along well with him and enjoyed each thing he taught her, even though it may have been simple it brought happiness to both Cather and Antonia. When Cather had free time he would ride his pony to the Shimerdas to visit Antonia, sometimes he would take her with him so they could go explore new places together.

In Marjane Satrapi's word-specific panel about refugees fleeing north on page 89, she indicates the perilous situation of the war through taxis escaping flaming iconography. The bombing of border towns in the Iran-Iraq war forces residents to abandon their homes and belongings in the hope of finding refuge in the northern cities. The foreboding, chaotic scene underscores a period of turmoil in Iranian history. The words of the panel state, “After Abadan, every border town was targeted by bombers. Most of the people living in those areas had to flee northward, far away from the Iraqi missiles.” Satrapi sets the backdrop of warfare with intense, slightly militaristic words such as “targeted,” “flee,” and “far away”. This being a word-specific panel, the graphic

Ántonia is a passionate girl, where Jim is a passive boy who, though not mindless in the least, seems more easygoing than Ántonia, and his life plan seems to fall into place rather easily where Ántonia fought everything that displeased her. Jim described in saying “I know so many women who have kept all the things that she had lost, but whose inner glow has faded. Whatever else was gone, Ántonia had not lost the fire of life.” (Cather 216) Jim’s narration style is one of relatively purposeful observance. Even his own emotions he lists in a distant sort of way, undoubtedly because he writes his book so many years after his childhood adventures with Ántonia. However, Ántonia would like write as though the events were just yesterday, and include a passionate description of what she felt, not what some third person would observe. Her fiery passion was what guided her to take the opportunities she was given, as shown when she spoke to Jim about quitting her job so she could continue going to dances, saying "a girl like me has got to take her good times when she can. Maybe there won't be any tent next year." (Cather 133)

Willa Cather’s My Ántonia tells the story of Jim Burden, a young, orphaned boy from Virginia, and his closest friend, Ántonia, an immigrant girl from Bohemia, living and growing up in Nebraska in the late 1800s. Throughout the entire novel, Jim befriends a slew of immigrants from different countries in Europe out on the prairie and in Black Hawk. Through these friendships, Cather does an excellent job of showing the drastic differences between immigrant life and the life of natural-born Americans. Despite the fact that foreigners were treated as second class citizens by others, some lucky few still prevailed and became even more successful than those who treated them poorly.