Discussion Questions On My Antonia By Willa Cather

1006 Words3 Pages

Answer: Writing Assignment #1:
1.) My Ántonia written by Willa Cather is overflowing with symbolization, from land to animals to pieces of furniture. There are three though that have deep roots and meaning, both in the book and in the reader's interpretation of the scenario surrounding it.
The first being Mr. Shimerda’s grave. After Mr. Shimerda commits suicide, he is buried in the prairie on what later becomes a crossroads. Jim expresses how "in all that country [the gravesite] was the spot most dear to me"(pg.115). His reasoning is that even though “the red grass had been plowed under...until it had almost disappeared”(pg.114) had been plowed for farming, Mr. Shimerda’s grave is the only place where the tall prairie grass still grows, …show more content…

There was many thing Áantonia already knew. Jim even acknowledged how Ántonia had “a superior tone that she sometimes took with [him]”(pg.63). After all she was four years older and was far more cultured. The lessons that Ántonia taught Jim though were far more important. She gave him real life lessons. From when she exclaimed “you are so brave Jim...you is just like big man”(pg.65), after he has killed a monstrous sized snake. Showing him that bravery comes from within, not from age or stature. Then as Jim was in the heart of his teen years, and his decisions became questionable, and his actions became more embolden. However when Jim tries to give more than a simple kiss to Ántonia, he was in shock and awe when she scold him for his craziness. She explains to him then that even though other boys act that way, he can’t, because “[he’s] not going to sit around here and whittle store-boxes and tell stories all [his] life. [He’s] going away to school and make something of [himself]”(pg.190). Finally towards the end of the novel, as Jim sees Ántonia for the first time in over 12 years. He notices that for a women with such a tough and labour filled life, both physically and emotionally, a woman whose skin, “so brown and hardened, had not that look of flabbiness”(pg. 264), and she “had not lost the fire of life”(pg. 264). At this moment Ántonia

Open Document