Cather's My Antonia
Willa Cather's My Antonia is a novel that is essentially about a place -- in this case the Nebraska prairie -- and all of the elements in it are mostly ways of exploring what this place meant to the narrator, Jim Burden. Willa Cather, herself, moved to Catherton, Nebraska, at the age of nine, so many of the stories and the general setting of the story itself are largely imbued with Cather's own memories. From the very beginning of the story, Cather's characters admit that the memory of the Nebraska prairie is in itself ineffable. You can only understand it if you've lived it, which is a strange opening indeed to a story that will attempt to explain prairie life to those who haven't lived it. The character of Antonia is essentially linked to Jim's memory of the prairie; she, in fact, embodies the whole of the prairie in her person. It is through her that Jim is most able to connect himself to his vivid past. In fact, Antonia represents all that is fertile and vigorous. Her lifelike force pervades the novel and provides a stark contrast to Jim, whose life since he left Nebraska is marred by loss, death, and infertility. Cather uses Antonia's character to illustrate the fertility of the Nebraska prairie and to contrast Jim's dilapidated life since he left Nebraska.
Place is of central importance in Cather's work. In My Antonia, especially, the Nebraska prairie is the central theme that everything else revolves around. One reviewer noted that, for Cather,...
Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather was born in Winchester, Virginia, in the year 1873. She lived in Virginia until she turned nine years old at which point she moved to the Nebraska prairie, to the borough of Catherton, which bore her familial namesake because so many members of Cather's family already lived here. This move to the prairie and her subsequent period of growing to adulthood on the prairie would be
Willa Cather About the Author The author Willa Cather Sibert born on 1873 is an American writer, and one of the country's leading novelists. Here vigilantly skilled prose express dramatic pictures of the American landscape along with those people who were molded. She was influenced by the writing style of the American regional writer Sarah Orne Jewett. However, she set many of her works in Nebraska and the American Southwest areas with which
Thus, while one character had a targetable aim, the other, Antonia, had a symbolic purpose for Jim's life. Antonia's role in the novel goes beyond that of encompassing the pure nature of childhood. It represents a clear window of strong powerful women. Better said, "This extremely influential character represents a positive compromise with feminist ideals. She is independent and strong while still living as a wife and mother" (Giglio, 2006).
Immigration in My Antonia IMMIGRATION AND MY ANTONIA With America gaining significant economic growth in the 19th and 20th centuries, its popularity among other nations of the world increased dramatically. There was a wave of immigrants entering the country during that period and especially after the Great wars when there were disturbances in the European countries many people left their homeland and entered United States in search of better jobs and a
Antonia, the main character of the novel My Antonia. My Antonia The magnum opus, My Antonia is a well-composed masterpiece by the eminent author Willa Cather who is well-known for her scholarly depiction of life in the frontiers (Back cover). The distinguished novelist in her masterwork My Antonia has portrayed the strong personality as well as the persisting qualities of a young Bohemian girl named Antonia who migrated from United States
Willa Cather's novel My Antonia (1918) the Nebraska prairie of Jim Burden's, Antonia' Shimerda's, and Lena Lingard's childhood and adolescence functions not just as a vivid, sometimes stark setting for the story. It is also as an extremely important psychological and symbolic reference point for the major characters. The setting of their Nebraska childhood is a reference point, psychologically and physically, from which friendships are forged, important experiences are
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