Character Evolution in My Antonia

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The author, Willa Cather, wrote,“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm,” the characters in My Antonia are dynamic as they change and grow over the course of the book. The characters live very different lives and have very different experiences while all living in the same small patch of rural land in the new state of Nebraska. Willa Cather’s My Antonia tells a story of Antonia Shimerda’s life after she and her family immigrate to the United States and on to Nebraska from Bohemia; her story is told through the eyes of her friend, Jim Burden.
The story begins an adult Jim, one of the main characters reminisces with an old friend about their time together in Nebraska with their mutual friend, Antonia. They plan to each write their personal memories of their childhood with their friend, Antonia. My Antonia is told through the eyes of Jim as he remembers his and Antonia’s childhoods.
As the book opens, Jim is ten years and recently orphaned; he begins a …show more content…

With this I can relate since where I come from the winters are brutal and often seem to relate to calamity. However, once you pass the numb fingers, frostbit ears, near-hypothermia, and overall severity of the storm, you can notice just how beautiful and halcyon the land looks. Around here, winters can be unkind to people and the land, but like the winter of the story it truly is beautiful to see. In conclusion, My Antonia is a story of how a friendship builds between Antonia and Jim through the narrator Jim’s eyes. Throughout the story Antonia’s English and Jim’s knowledge of Antonia’s culture, both improve and grow. Along with this, these two characters’ friendship grows in extreme ways. In relation to where I live, the land and weather of this story are both easy to compare. Overall, this story was incredibly impacting and easy to relate to my own life and

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