My Antonia Finish

-       What are the main themes of books III and IV?

-       Lena Lingard

o   Pg. 191 “I watched Lena sitting there so smooth and sunny and well cared for, and the thought of how she used to run barefoot over the prairie until after the snow began to fly, and how Crazy Mark chased her round and round the cornfields. It seemed to me wonderful that she should have got on to well in the world. Certainly she had no one but herself to thank for it.”

o   What news dies Lena bring of Antonia?

-       Harvard

o    Pg. 202 “You wont do anything here now. You should either quit school and go to work, or change you college and begin again in earnest. You wont recover yourself while you are playing about with this handsome Norwegian.”

o   How will going to Harvard affect Jim’s life?

-       What happens in the time from Jim promising to visit Antonia again and when he actually sees her? How does it affect their relationship and standings?

o   “I tried to shut Antonia out of my mind. I was bitterly disappointed in her. I could not forgive her for becoming an object of pity.” 206

o   “The first things that troubled her was when he wrote that his run had been changed, and they would likely have to live in Denver. ‘I’m a country girl,’ she said, ‘and I doubt if I’ll be able to manage so well for him in a city.’” 212

-       How does coming back to Nebraska make him come full circle with his childhood?

o   “I lay awake and watched the moonlight shining over the barn and the stacks and the pond, the windmill making its old dark shadow again the blue sky.” 217

-       How did Antonia affect his childhood?

o   “We reached the edge of the field, where out ways parted. I took her hands and held them against my breast, feeling over more how strong and warm and goof they were, those brown hands, and remembering how many kind things they had done for me.” 219

-       “My day in Black Hawk was disappointing. Most of my old friends were dead or had moved away. Strange children, who menat nothing to me, were playing in the Harlings’ big yard when I passed.” 242

-       Could Jim and Antonia have married? Would they have been happy if they did? What stopped them from trying?