Use of the Environment, Landscape, and Cycles, in My Ántonia
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.
It is important to first note the general symbolism the Nebraskan land represents. As Altieri suggests, while the land is a "powerful protagonist in the conflict to survive and prosper," it also represents the great hardships and rewards that result because of it (1). Common knowledge tells us everything that serves to sustain life comes from the land, and this information serves to illustrate the general impact that the land and environment can have on life. However, because land is so important to society, it also represents hard work, sacrifice, and hardship. If the land is dry, frozen or starving, so are those people who depend on it. Nevertheless, Altieri notes, "the Nebraskan country in My Ántonia symbolized permanence, endurance, hardship, freedom of spirit, and personal creativity" (1). Ántonia's family, the Shimerdas, come t...
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...eview of My Antonia." Murphy's Critical Essays 145-147.
Dyck, Reginald. "The Feminist Critique of Willa Cather's Fiction: A Review Essay." Women's Studies 22 (1993): 263-279.
Ferguson, Mary Anne. "My Antonia in Women's Studies: Pioneer Women and Men-- The Myth and the Reality." Rosowski's Approaches to Teaching 95-100.
Helmick, Evelyn. "The Mysteries of Antonia." Bloom's Willa Cather's . . . , 109-119.
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Rosowski, Susan J., ed. Approaches to Teaching Cather's My Antonia. New York: The Modern Language Association of America. 1989.
Trilling, Lionel. "Willa Cather." Bloom's Modern Critical Views 7-15.
Woodress, James. Willa Cather: Her Life and Art. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1970.
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.
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.
James, Edward, Janet James, and Paul Boyer. Notable American Women, 1607-1950. Volume III: P-Z. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. Print.
Brown M. & Crone R. Willa Cather the Woman and Her Works. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1970.
My Antonia, by Willa Cather, is a book tracing the story of a young man, Jim Burden, and his relationship with a young woman, Antonia Shimerda. Jim narrates the entire story in first person, relating accounts and memories of his childhood with Antonia. He traces his journey to the Nebraska where he and Antonia meet and grow up. Jim looks back on all of his childhood scenes with Antonia with nearly heartbreaking nostalgia. My Antonia, is a book that makes many parallels to the sadness and frailty, but also the quiet beauty in life, and leaves the reader with a sense of profound sorrow. One of the main ways Cather is able to invoke these emotions in the reader is through the ongoing theme of separation. Willa Cather develops her theme of separation through death, the changing seasons, characters leaving and the process of growing apart.
My Antonia, Jim's nostalgia for the past is represented by nature, symbolic elements, and above all Antonia. The Nebraskan prairies are beautiful and picturesque and set the scene for a memorable story. Big farm houses and windmills placed throughout the graceful flowing golden yellow grass become a nostalgic aspect of Jim as he leaves his childhood life behind. The frontier includes destructive and depressing winters and luscious summers that
Rosowski, Susan J., ed. Approaches to Teaching Cather's My Antonia. New York: The Modern Language Association of America. 1989.
...Own: Attitudes Toward Women in Willa Cather's Short Fiction." Modern Fiction Studies 36:1 (Spring 1990): 81-89.
The setting of the story has tremendous impact on the characters and themes in the novel "My Antonia" by Willa Cather. Cather's delicately crafted naturalistic style is evident not only in her colorfully detailed depictions of the Nebraska frontier, but also in her characters’ relationship with the land on which they live. The common naturalist theme of man being controlled by nature appears many times throughout the novel, particularly in the chapters containing the first winter.
Pomeroy, Sarah B. Women’s History & Ancient History. The University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
of the tooth) is adopted in the Old Testament: "An eye for an eye, and
help. Shylock goes on to say why he hates Antonio, "I hate him for he
Abrams 1604 - 1606. Peterson, Linda H. "What Is Feminist Criticism?" Wuthering Heights. Ed. Linda H. Peterson, Ph.D. Boston: Bedford Books, 1992.
The phrase “an eye for an eye’ has been around for some time now. When someone hits you, you hit them back. Many people live their life by this, they strive to get their revenge. When does taking that “eye” become unnecessary or too harsh? It becomes too harsh when lives are being taken. The death penalty is one of the most controversial topics in our history. Capital punishment is wrong and ineffective. The price of the operation cost more than life in prison, and it is morally unjust.
The Alembic of Art is the chapter of My Antonia The Road Home that will be discussed. This chapter suggests that Willa Cather uses references from the arts in creating the novel My Antonia. Much of Willa Cather's background came from her childhood in Nebraska. It even uprooted the character Annie Sadilek, from Red Cloud, a town Cather lived in during her adolescence ("Classic Notes", 1). Despite her background, John J. Murphy believes "My Antonia is a novel in which vision and arrangement create character" (Murphy, 37) and Cather created this by using inspiration from such things as the Bible and paintings. There are many specific and non-specific biblical borrowings and echoes in the novel, My Antonia. One example is when Grandfather Burden reads from the Bible, first from Psalm 47 and then the first two chapters from Matthew, the account of Christ's birth. Then when the Burdens go to the Shimerdas after the suicide "they looked very biblical as they set off" (Cather, 100). The Christmas Story of Matthew and Luke echoes in Widow Steaven's account of the birth of Antonia's child. Also, Jim's goodbye scene with Antonia, illuminated by the sun and moon, reflects Revelation 12:1. "Cather's biblical subtext is an unusual one for an American western in that it incorporates Antonia's Catholic tradition and Jim's Protestant one to make events notable" (Murphy, 40). Murphy also suggests that Cather was influenced by paintings that she saw while visiting Barbizon in 1902. Many of the paintings Cather saw were reminiscences of Nebraska in the primitive huts of mud and stone, wheat fields, and peasant women.