Moody Landscape

A detailed Summary of Moody Landscape

In the book, My Antonia (First Vintage Classics Edition, 1994), the landscape along with Jim's reactions to it helps us to feel all the emotions of the scene. His feelings of loneliness, sadness, awe and happiness are felt through his words and we can form a picture from the descriptions, adding to what we already know. He feels these emotions in the first few scenes. All because he wants a place to call home.

The feelings we get when Jim arrives are awe with hints if loneliness. He pulls into town and is being taken to his grandparent's house. He is riding in a wagon and since he is having trouble sleeping and tries to look at the land and sees nothing. This can be seen in the lines:

"There was nothing but land: not a country at all but the material out of which countries are made...I had the feeling that the world was left behind, that we had got over the edge of it, and were outside man's jurisdiction. I had never before looked up and at the sky when there was not a familiar mountain ridge against it...I did not believe that my father and mother were watching me from up there; they would still be looking for me at the sheepfold down by the creek, ... I had left their spirits behind me... I did

He also believes that the spirits of his parents will not be there for him. I'm sure the fact that his parents died upset Jim, but he also think that they will no longer be there for him since he has left. As far as Jim is concerned they are back at his old home, looking for him. He feels so alone and upset that he thinks that God will not be there for him. He stops saying his prayers and agrees to accept whatever hand fate deals him. These are some deep emotions to feel as an adult, but to see them through a child's eyes adds another degree and makes the reader feel pity for Jim.

The next morning, Jim descides to go outside and view his new home. He looks out and is pleasantly surprised by what he sees. The scene serves to totally throw away the dark and cold of the prior night. You can feel his emotions in the lines:

"I had not been told that ours was the only wooden house west of Black Hawk ... Our white frame house, with a storey and half-storey, above the basement, stood at the east end of what I might call the farmland, with the windmill close by the kitchen door ... The road from the post-office came directly by our door, crossed the farmland, and curved round this little pond, beyond which it began to climb the gentle swell of unbroken prairie to the west... Everywhere, as far as the eye could reach, there was nothing but rough, shaggy, red grass, most of it as tall as I." (Pg. 16-17)

Jim finally finds what he is looking for. He has his beacon in this vast field, be it darkness or red grass, that he can hold on to. He is no longer alone, tha

Some common words found in the essay are:
Classics Edition, Black Hawk, Jim Jim, red grass, Moody Landscape, hold onto, loneliness sadness awe, feel emotions, sadness awe happiness, sadness awe, family friends, loneliness sadness, grandparent's house, awe happiness, call home, black hawk,

Approximate Word count = 1065
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English