My Ántonia By willa cather

My Ántonia

Once Jim begins high school, he moves off the farm and into the town of Black Hawk, NE. Ántonia soon follows, getting a job as a maid in the town to support her family. Since Jim and Ántonia are busy with their own priorities, they begin to grow apart and their friendship weakens, but Jim's unrequited love for Ántonia still shines. However, he fails to express any of his feelings to her.

Jim goes off to college at University of NE & Harvard and continues to grow apart from Ántonia. Eventually, he returns to Black Hawk, hoping to see Ántonia, but will he finally tell her how he really feels?

1880s - Nebraska

Farm

• miles and miles of fertile farmland
• small population
• little houses scattered in between farms

Town

• Black Hawk, NE (based off of Red Cloud, NE)
• more populated
• slightly higher-class/wealthier

Farm vs. Town

• childhood vs. adulthood
• setting shift signifies shift in novel

Social Setting

• many immigrants from Russia, Austria, Sweden, & Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic)
• faced prejudices

"Presently we saw a curious thing: There were no clouds, the sun was going down in a limpid, gold-washed sky. Just as the lower edge of the red disc rested on the high fields against the horizon, a great black figure suddenly appeared on the face of the sun. We sprang to our feet, straining our eyes toward it. In a moment we realized what it was. On some upland farm, a plough had been left standing in the field. The sun was sinking just behind it. Magnified across the distance by the horizontal light, it stood out against the sun, was exactly contained within the circle of the disk; the handles, the tongue, the share—black against the molten red. There it was, heroic in size, a picture writing on the sun.

Even while we whispered about it, our vision disappeared; the ball dropped and dropped until the red tip went beneath the earth. The fields below us were dark, the sky was growing pale, and that forgotten plough had sunk back to its own littleness somewhere on the prairie."

JIM BURDEN

• begins as orphaned 10 year old
• naive --> immigrants?
• as he grows up, he changes
• passive & indecisive
• emotional & caring
• intelligent
• nostalgic
• observant
• attends U of NE & Harvard

Jim and Ántonia

• Jim moves to the town
• Jim goes to college
• relationship digresses
• internal conflict - follow head or heart?

The Shimerdas

• difficult adjustment
• Mr. Shimerda's suicide
• money was scarce
• struggle to survive
• initial discrimination

“Why aren’t you always nice like this, Tony?” -Jim

“How nice?” -Ántonia

“Why, just like this; like yourself. Why do you all the time try to be like Ambrosch?” -Jim

She put her arms under her head and lay back, looking up at the sky. “If I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us.” -Ántonia

This quote is extremely significant because it highlights the difficult life on the Midwestern frontier during the 19th century for many families. In addition, it evokes Jim's innocence and truly illustrates the maturity gap between him and Ántonia.

• Born on December 7, 1873 in Virginia
• At age 10, Willa and her family moved to Red Cloud, Nebraska
• She defied the "norm" of girls her age --> cut her hair short and wore trousers
• Attended the University of Nebraska where her passion for medicine soon became a passion for writing
• Became a high school English teacher after graduating
• Moved to New York at age 33 to work for most popular magazine of the day, McClure's Magazine
• in 1913, Cather wrote her other popular novel, O Pioneers!
• In 1923, she received the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours
• believed that civilizations that live in harmony with nature are sources of inspiration
• despised materialism

Positives

• enjoyed the book overall
• interesting
• life for immigrants and Americans in the Midwest during the late 1800s
• different kind of life that people experienced in our nation's history
• Ántonia serves as a role model for women - independence & determination to succeed

Negatives

• no one true climactic point or conflict
• monotonous at times - no plot
• Jim's passiveness at times

Presentation by:

Reilly Edmonds & Emma Zimmerman

By Willa Cather

Synopsis part 2

Works Cited

Novel Information

http://novelinks.org/uploads/Novels/MyAntonia/Concept%20Analysis.pdf

http://www.shmoop.com/my-antonia/setting.html

http://www.gradesaver.com/author/willa-cather/

Pages: 232

Genre: Historical Fiction

Reading Level: Grades 10-12

Setting

REcommendation

The novel begins with an unnamed author (presumably Willa Cather) describing a chance meeting with an old acquaintance, Jim Burden, on a train traveling through Iowa. The two reminisce on their similar Nebraskan childhoods and reflect on a woman named Ántonia. They then challenge each other to write about their memories of Ántonia. Thus, Jim Burden's memoir becomes the text of My Ántonia.

Jim Burden, a young boy, is orphaned at age 10, and thus travels from Virginia to a small town in Nebraska to live with his grandparents. Along the way, he meets the Shimerdas, an immigrant family from Bohemia that are settling on the neighboring farm of Jim's grandparents. One of the Shimerda daughters, Ántonia, soon becomes good friends with Jim, and they strike up a friendship full of adventure and potential romance.

Synopsis

works cited

"Biography of Willa Cather (1873-1947)." Biography of Willa Cather. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://www.gradesaver.com/author/willa-cather/>.

My Ántonia by Willa Cather

Willa Cather

conflict

Most significant Passage