Cather wrote poetry, short stories, essays and novels, winning many awards. In 1920 she won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel One of Ours, about a Nebraska farm boy who went off to World War I.

Willa Cather's reputation as one of America's finest novelists rests on her novels about Nebraska and the American Southwest. These novels express her deep love of the land and her distaste for the materialism and conformism of modern life.

Devoted to values such as the importance of family and the need for human courage and dignity, she created strong female characters whose sort of strength and determination had previously been attributed to only men.

My Antonia, one of Cather's best works, is an unconventional, romantic novel of prairie life. It tells the story of a remarkable woman whose strength and passion epitomize the pioneer spirit.

Jim Burden - The man narrating the story.

Antonia Shimerda -The daughter of Bohemian immigrants and

'Antonia's life was a difficult one. The burdens that she had to carry were not meant for her shoulders. All through her life's difficulties she remained devoted to whatever family she had. Thoughts of her family always came before thoughts of herself.

Mr. and Mrs. Shimerda - Antonia's gently father who committed suicide, and her

As soon as her father is buried, Antonia realizes that she now has a heavy burden on her shoulders. Since she is one of the eldest in the family, she must now work to put food on their table. Her mother is a complainer and can't speak English, her oldest brother, Ambrosch, is strong, mean and not well liked, the second oldest brother, Marek, is mentally and physically disabled and her sister, Yulka, is still a youngster. With the help of their neighbors, the Burdens, 'Antonia is able to establish a meager living for her family. She does this by working on her farm as well as the other farms in the area. While this work is very beneficial for the family, 'Antonia is turned into a rough and wild creature.

Yulka Shimerda - Antonia's younger sister.

He soon met the Bohemian immigrants, the Shimerdas, who had come out on the same train as he had. He soon became friends with their daughter, Antonia, whom he thought was very pretty. "I remember what the conductor said about her eyes. They were big and brown and full of light, like the sun shining on brown pools in the wood. Her skin was brown too, and in her cheeks she had a glow of rich, dark color."

When she is old enough, 'Antonia leaves the prairies and goes in to town to find work. She becomes what we would call today, a live-in housekeeper. She works hard and

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1498
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)