In My Antonia, Willa Cather pens a nostalgic story focused on a two people with a unique connection. Jim Burden narrates the story of Antonia Shimerda, the girl next door who happens to be a Bohemian emigrant. Jim moves to his grandparents’ house after his parents die; Antonia arrives in the United States with her family and little else. The two are vastly different, but bond quickly on the Nebraska prairie. Most people who study the novel acknowledge the obvious impact that Antonia has on Jim and see Antonia as “in one way or another, the center of the novel” (Lucenti). With this interpretation, the focus is Antonia’s lasting effect on Jim- with not as much thought of how the latter affects his older neighbor. Throughout My Antonia, Antonia’s life is shaped by her relationship with Jim. When the Shimerdas first move to the Nebraskan prairies, Jim has just moved in with his grandparents. Jim and Antonia become friends immediately, and it seems as though all will go well for the young girl. Along with being a friend, Jim fulfills Mr. Shimerda’s request of being a teacher to his new neighbor, helping Antonia learn English. This creates a positive tone, as Antonia is thriving in her new country. However, the mood shifts abruptly from joyful to somber with a harsh winter and the death of Antonia’s father. These events cause the two kids to drift apart, and the effects on Antonia are evident as she withdraws from Jim and his family. Jim notes that “before the spring was
Sonya Givens is nurse to the First Lady, Mrs. Macaulay, who has been struck by a degenerative disease. Wade and Brant are undercover agents with Wildcats, Inc. When Brant drives Sonya to town, their car is nearly driven off the road. They take shelter in a hotel, and they have sex. After he takes them back to the house, Brant’s breed partner Wade and they become breedmates.
In her novel “My Antonia,” Willa Cather shows the impact the Hired Girls have on Jim is the way they offer him a nostalgic connection to his past by using the works of Virgil, and from this connection Jim is able to reach deep intellectual and personal understanding. After being away from his childhood home for many years, and in the midst of pursuing his studies, Jim is reunited with Lena Lingard. The effect she has on him is immediate and lasting, and after seeing her for the first time Jim finds himself thinking of the past. “When I closed my eyes I could hear them all laughing - the Danish laundry girls and the three Bohemian Marys.
In Willa Cather’s essay she unfolds Sarah Jewett’s ability to express her feeling for writing through her diction to form art. In Sarah Jewett’s novel, her feeling for writing is shown through her main character who came to New England to write her own novel. Jewett shows the struggles she feels when writing her own novels through her character. In one of the passages she writes, “Literary employments are so vexed and uncertainties at best and and it was not until the voice of conscience sounded louder in my ears than the sea on the nearest pebble beach that I said unkind words of withdrawal to Mrs. Todd”(18). Miss.
The suffering and starvation of her first winter on the prairie, ending in her father’s suicide, never diminished Antonia’s love for the country. And now Jim could see the literal fruits of her labor. Her life exhibited “the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last” (Cather, 127). Antonia planted seeds of kindness, freedom, and hope everywhere she went. “Tireless in serving generous emotions” (Cather, 127), Antonia freely gave her love, attention, and self to everyone she met.
The horror is that he had to die to achieve his. The beauty is that I’m living to achieve mine” page 240. Overall Josie’s interactions with John contributed to mould Josie into the young woman she as seen at the end of the novel. John helps Josie to grow and mature by sharing with her new experiences and expanding her knowledge of the world. Through John she learns to let go of her insecurities and to be proud of her culture and background as it is a part of the identity she is still yet
n "My Ántonia", Written by Willa Cather. In the first book at the end of the second section the character Jim Burden the main protagonist as well as the friend and teacher of the character Ántonia Shimerda. Describes happiness as such,"At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." quote from the book "My Ántonia" written by Willa Cather.
Deborah Tannen, a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, is a popular author in the United States of America. Mostly of her focus in her articles and books is on the expression of interpersonal relationships in contentious interaction. Tannen became well known after her book You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation was published. However, this was not her only claim to fame. Along with this book, she also wrote many other essays and articles including the popular article “Marked Women, Unmarked Men.”
Antonia transltes Mr. Shimerdas words to Jim’s grandmother after recieving help from the Burdens, “he wanted us to know they were not beggars in the old country”(50). The Shimerdas were a well respected and self-sustaining family in Bohemia, but America has been tough on them. The Shimerdas are somewhat reliant on the generosity of their neighbours who also build the
In My Ántonia, Jim Burden’s misfortune of losing his parents lead him to Nebraska, where he met the people that would change his perspective on life. If that tragedy would never have happened, Jim would not have gained a deeper understanding of everyday people, such as Ántonia and her family. One of the first people Jim meets, his grandmother, shows him how generosity and kindness can make a significant impact in someone’s life. The reader initially recognizes how thoughtful Emmaline Burden is when she goes to greet the neighbors with bread, butter, and pies (Walton 21). This was the first, but definitely not the last time she showed such hospitality to the Shimerdas.
In the book My Antonia, the characters developed a lot throughout the story, but one character development that stood out to me was Antonia Shimerda. Antonia's character developed so much in this novel, she becomes a more independent character, but that's only because of the challenges she faced when she moved from Bohemia, her dad committed suicide, she had to work as a servant girl and when her fiancé left her. In the beginning of the novel, Antonia and her family are welcomed into Nebraska. They stay next to Jim Burden and his grandparents, they are the ones who welcomed them.
To briefly state, the storyline begins with a seemingly innocent start with a mother attempts into persuading her son to visit her beloved state of Tennessee instead of the trip to Florida. Yet furthering into the story the reader begins to notice how the grandmother carries herself and abides by the way she believes a good woman should dress and act. Thus furthering on into the plot the reader becomes aware of an underlying sense of foreshadowing when the grandmother leads the family to the wrong plantation and ultimately they end up confronting the misfit himself. The reader is able to feel this foreshadowing by the grandmother belief in being a lady to be moral, the actions of the grandmother to keep her safe from the misfit, and the way
During Cather's childhood she knew of a young girl, who was the inspiration of the creation of "My Antonia". Antonia was like Annie, she was a hired girl in town. Antonia's father committed suicide, as did Annie's father. Cather wanted to use some qualities of Annie for Antonia. While she was giving Antonia qualities
After reading the given articles and watching the video of Elizabeth Loftus, I do not agree that repressed and recovered memory should be allowed in court to prosecute an alleged suspect. First of all, it is easy for human mind to just create new memory especially if the person went through a traumatic experience. We always want to lift the burden and try to find a solution to our problems quickly. Because of these reasons, we end up making stories in our head to satisfy and solve our problems. Using someone’s repressed then recovered memory is not enough to prosecute a person.
With that purpose in mind, she revises some aspects of women’s place/absence in history, society, and literature and mixed it with some fiction in order to explain how she came to adopt that thesis. For example, she asks herself what would have happened if Shakespeare had had a sister
Kathleen Raine , the author of “Passion” ,manages to convey and portray her journey of thoughts towards happiness using certain phrases and meanings . Overcoming the heartbreak that unrequited love brings ,which she clearly suffered from . But eventually manages to overcome her feelings of depression and realizes throughout the poem that her happiness connects strongly to nature . Firstly , Raine describes her misery before anything else .