My Antonia
Willa Cather's My 聲tonia was about the life and struggles of an immigrant's life from a very early age. Her trials: her beloved father's suicide, having to work for her family to survive, being hired out as a maid, working for the despicable Cutters, almost being raped, being cheated out of marriage, and being left with an illegitimate child all changed her life dramatically. Her life was hard, but she was strong-willed and lived a happy life, learning from her experiences and ended up exactly where she wanted to be in the first place. Jim's relationship with 聲tonia was the theme of the story and obviously the most important event. To Jim, 聲tonia was exotic, beautiful and desirable even when they were very young. After he met her family, Mr. Shimerda asked Jim to teach 聲tonia English and so, they began their lessons together. He greatly admired her and spent a lot of time with her not only during their lessons, but also playing together on the prairie and occasionally visiting the Russians. Jim acted only as a friend and confidant, but never a lover to 聲tonia during all of the years they knew each other. 聲tonia's character was stronger than any other in the book in mind, spirit and body; she didn't complain about
moves into town next door to him after she grew away from him with all of her responsibility. She doesn't seem to view him as much of a companion in this period of her life. I think that it was because of both of their ages, she would have been 18 or so and he was around 14, so the difference in their ages was more apparent. She treats him as someone she deeply cares about and must look after, like a sibling. She become protective and I think maybe slightly jealous of Lena when she tries "some of her foolishness" on Jim. Jim also protects her against Wick Cutter, if not by his own choice. As he goes to college in Lincoln and then to New York he grows farther and farther away from 聲tonia. His relationship with Lena in college meant a lot to him, but he realized that it wasn't the best thing for him through advice from his teacher. The death of 聲tonia's father was devastating to all those touched by it. Mr. Shimerda was very influential to both 聲tonia and Jim in his quiet, gracious mannerisms and in his love for his country. Jim had a deep admiration for his love for his family and the respect that he showed to his grandparents. 聲tonia's father's suicide affected her life in more ways than one. Their family was torn because of this, especially her because of her closeness with him. Her mother became more sour and boastful than ever and Ambrosch never stopped working. Ambrosch expected her to take the place of another man in as many
Some common words found in the essay are:
Russians Jim, Lena Tiny, Willa Cather's, Willa Cather, Tiny Soderball, Jim Burden, Lincoln York, Shimerda Jim, Wick Cutter, father's suicide, Jim Jim,
Approximate Word count = 982
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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