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My antonia literary analysis
My antonia criticism
My antonia literary analysis
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My Antonia by Willa Cather Author: Willa Sibert Cather, Nebraska's most noted author was born in Virginia. At the age of ten she moved with her family to Webster County, Nebraska. Many of Cather's acquaintances and Red Cloud area scenes can be recognized in her writings. Cather wrote poetry, short stories, essays and novels, winning many awards. In 1920 she won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel One of Ours, about a Nebraska farm boy who went off to World War I. Willa Cather's reputation as one of America's finest novelists rests on her novels about Nebraska and the American Southwest. These novels express her deep love of the land and her distaste for the materialism and conformism of modern life. Devoted to values such as the importance of family and the need for human courage and dignity, she created strong female characters whose sort of strength and determination had previously been attributed to only men. My Antonia, one of Cather's best works, is an unconventional, romantic novel of prairie life. It tells the story of a remarkable woman whose strength and passion epitomize the pioneer spirit. Characters: Jim Burden - The man narrating the story. Antonia Shimerda -The daughter of Bohemian immigrants and the heroine of the story. Ambrosch Shimerda - Antonia's mean brother Marek Shimerda -Antonia's mentally disabled brother. Yulka Shimerda - Antonia's younger sister. Mr. and Mrs. Shimerda - Antonia's gently father who committed suicide, and her bitter, complaining mother. Larry Donovan - The man Antonia thought was going to marry her. Lena Lingard - A girl that Jim grew up with and was successful. Anton Cuzak - Antonia's husband. The Book The book begins with an introduction. In the introduction it tells about James Quale Burden (Jim Burden) and how the story came to be written. The introduction is written by a woman who is an old friend to Jim and who grew up in the same Nebraska town as he did. They are both now living in New York where Jim is a successful lawyer. She tells about Jim's wife, Genevieve, who she does not like, and doesn't think she is well suited for Jim. They start talking about Antonia, who they both knew and admired, and wondering why something wasn't written about her. Months later, Jim brings her what he had written and She writes the narrative as Jim had written it. The story begins with ten year old Jim Burden traveling from Virginia to Nebraska to live with his grandparents after losing his parents.
At age ten, Jim Burden was sent by his relatives to be raised by his grandparents in the Nebraska prairie after his parents died. When he arrived at his new home, he was introduced to a Bohemian family that just immigrated to America; the Shimerdas. Jim and Antonia, the Shimerda's daughter, quickly become friends. They traveled a great distance to meet each other. As immigrants, the Shimerdas were not very wealthy and getting on their feet was difficult. They were cheated into buying their home for more than it should have cost. The family got by on what they had, but ended up needing help from outside families. Mrs. Shimerda ended up getting many useful tools for their home from Mrs. Burden.
involved troubling situations. Look at how she grew up. The book starts off during a time of Jim
Willa Cather is the author of the award winning novel Death Comes For The Archbishop written in 1927. She was born in 1873 near Winchester, Virginia and soon moved to Nebraska (Cather, 1927). During her childhood she was surrounded by foreign languages and customs. Even at her young age she felt a connection to the immigrants in Nebraska and was intrigued with their connection to the land. Willa also loved writing about the vanished past of the American Southwest where nature and Christianity is opposed to the modern urban life and society (http://fp.image.dk). She was raised Episcopalian and later in life she joined the Protestant Church in search for spirituality while still being captivated with the grandeur of ceremonies performed in the Catholic Church. These fascinations were projected directly into to her writings, as seen in her book Death Comes For The Archbishop. This book was awarded the Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1930 (http://www.geocities.com).
Willa Cather's My Antonia is a novel of heroic success to some and of disappointment to others. It is perceived differently by its audiences, as all things in life. It is an excellent piece of work none the less.
Mrs. Cather's carefully drawn parallels in the story that build up to Antonia and Jim's separation was a truly effective method of pointing out its tragedy. However she also used other tools, such as imagery and short anecdotes to further convey her message. All together these elements, plus a good story and plot make My Antonia an excellent all around book, worthy of being called a classic.
The landscape and the environment in Willa Cather's, My Ántonia, plays several roles. It creates both a character and protagonist, while it also reflects Cather's main characters, Jim and Ántonia, as well as forming the structure of the novel. Additionally, it evokes several themes that existed on the prairie during the time in which the story takes place. Some of these themes that directly relate to the novel, which are worth exploring, are endurance, hardship, and spirituality. Additionally, the symbolism of the "hot and cold" climate will be examined, revealing the significance it has on the novel in an overall manner. The analyses will further explain Cather's construction of the novel, which is based on three cycles: the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of life and physical development and lastly, the cultural cycle.
In the book, My Ántonia, by Willa Cather, the main character of Jim Burden comes to learn many lessons about life in this coming of age story. The dramatic tale of Jim and his relationships with his family and friends weaves a unique depiction of frontier life that is rarely seen. The lessons that the main character learn throughout his time on the Nebraska plains are powerful values and characteristics that help Jim become the man he is. Jim never comes to the conclusion that his story is about his maturation, as he see the tales as reminiscence of his friend Ántonia. The lessons of education and loyalty are all throughout the novel, but one lesson is at the center of My Ántonia. The idea that people must love others for who they are and not for who they wish they would be is a life altering lesson that makes Jim a dynamic character. The story details the timeline of Jim’s life as he grows up, and then as he is older, his journey of discovering how he can always find his way back to loving the best in people. This lesson can be no more apparent than in Jim and Ántonia’s relationship.
The hard-working middle class, with an educated upper class is one of key characteristics of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Likewise, an emphasis on the middle class and socioeconomic discrepancies between classes are central traits of realism. My Antonia, a realist novel by Willa Cather, chronicles the life and development of Jim Burden. Jim is an upper class, well-educated young boy who grows into a Harvard graduate and successful lawyer. His journey and development is constantly assisted by others, whether it is Antonia Shimerda, a poor Bohemian immigrant that Jim befriends, or Gaston Cleric, a college professor and comrade of Jim. It is not until the end of the novel that Jim can exist as a free character, independent of others. Willa Cather’s My Antonia is a tale of the development of Jim Burden, which can be seen through the suicide of Mr. Shimerda, his attempt to kiss Antonia, and his reconciliation with Antonia at the end of “The Pioneer Women’s Story.”
Willa Cather was greatly influenced by America’s wild natural scenes. In her first 20 years, she grew up near a small city in Nebraska called Red Cloud. This city was surrounded by prairies and stood at the border of America’s wild frontier of the west and the progress and modernization from the east.
My Ántonia is a good book to read, it has a good message and the different characters work well together and against each other. In My Ántonia, the two characters that work both with and against each other are Jim and Ántonia.
The warm blackness of summer nights, settling over your lawn and drifting down familiar street signs, over coffee shops closed for the night and broken down asphalt. Dust, collecting on creaking wooden floorboards and swirling through age-old sunlight. A song forgotten, notes away from your ears. Nostalgia is an emotion that all human beings experience and know well. Willa Cather expands on this fact, infusing her award-winning novel, My Ántonia, with sentimentalism and melancholy. Cather tells a tale of home, drawing from the idealistic “American dream” that all Americans know well. Jim Burden, a young orphan, moves to the countryside, spending his days watching men work in the dusty fields and find community amongst themselves. He adores
Willa Cather used her own experiences to start the plot and give the story background. Both she and Jim Burden were born in Virginia, and moved to Nebraska. In the beginning of the novel, Antonia is the crutch that supports Jim through his slow early development. Later, she just becoms a catalyst that continues jim's development as a character. My Antonia is about the character development and struggle for Jim to overcome his sense of Nostalgia after modeling himself after a Bohemian immigrant who was unable to bear the pressures of emigrating to America.
The way Cather describes the scenery and takes the time to paint a backdrop for the characters seems out of touch with the other Modernists who seem to focus on anything but cheer. Cather offers detailed description of lush nature, vibrant red grasses, wildflowers, and beautiful, bountiful wheat fields. But while Cather also focuses on the happy romantic ideas of the beauty of nature, she also offers a full view of the human experience on the Plains. She also displays hardship, loss, violence, and despair, especially with the suicide of Antonia’s father. She pairs utopia and civilization against the dystopia of prairie life. She highlights the dangers and violence in both types of society. She contrasts the struggle between old and young generations. She offers a panoramic view of life, personal fortitude, and the pioneer spirit. Cather pits the old world immigrants against the new American culture which is so strange and
Willa Cather began her career in 1895 as an editor for the Home Monthly magazine in Pittsburgh. To forward her career, she left the magazine and found a job as a music and drama critic for the Pittsburgh Daily Leader in 1896. During this time, Cather found her most notable and lifelong friend Isabelle McClung. “Isabelle inspired, encouraged and
Willa Cather’s 1918 novel My Ántonia is often celebrated for its complimentary depiction of the immigrants that flocked to America at the turn of the twentieth century and hailed for its progressive approach to the ever-relevant immigrant debate. Despite the novel’s superficial benevolence towards foreigners, Janis Stout questions the authenticity of the book’s (and, by extension, Cather’s) kindnesses in her critical article “Coming to America/Escaping to Europe.” Stout argues that Cather’s ethnic characters (or lack thereof) reflect the popular, discriminatory views of her time, and extracts evidence from both the novel and the author’s personal life to buttress this claim. Stout’s criticism inspired my own interpretation-- that Cather’s treatment