How Does Jim Burden Buy Happiness In My Antonia

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Mia Cuda My Antonia In Class Essay “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” Most children learn this proverb and immediately try to disprove it, or simply do not believe it. However, age allows one to see the truth in this phrase. In My Antonia, a novel by Willa Cather, the protagonist, Jim Burden, reflects on his childhood in the American frontier. Despite having achieved wealth and an elevated social position, benefits most associate with attaining the American Dream, Jim Burden still longs for the happy days of his youth. From a young age, members of the Black Hawk, Nebraska community were instilled with the idea that daughters of merchants “were ‘refined’ and that the country girls, who ‘worked out’ were not” (Cather, pg. 80) Even though the …show more content…

He is apprehensive about seeing Antonia, fearing that she will no longer be the idealized person who exists in his memory. “I did not want to find her aged and broken; I really dreaded it” (pg. 127). Jim is not let down when they meet, as even though she is now a “battered woman” (pg. 137), she possess the wonderful spirit that Jim adores. In contrast to Jim’s material prosperity and lacking personal life, Antonia has chosen to live the labor-intensive farmer and has a devoted husband and children. While some may view Antonia’s life as a failure, as she never integrates herself into American society and remains impoverished, she is content with her lifestyle. Jim’s visit to Antonia allows him to rediscover “the precious, the incommunicable past” (pg. 144). The times that existed in the past are now gone, and Jim realizes this. However, he still is able to feel great happiness when he looks back on the day of his youth. This relationship with the past is very American. We, like Jim, sometimes lose our way and focus only on material acquisition. However, this can lead one to an empty life filled with the feeling of loss for something cherished. It is only when we chose to live in the present, and put effort into our most important relationships, that we feel

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