My Antonia (40-126)

My Antonia (pg 40-126)

Willa Cather (http://www.uic.edu/depts/quic/history/willa_cather.html)

• 1873-1947
• lived in pioneer Nebraska, tomboy
• attended University of Nebraska; showed up there as her twin William Cather
• fell in love with Louise Pound, lived with Edith Lewis for 40 years
• published My Antonia  in 1918

Appendix A vs Intro

• in A, Jim brings up writing bout Antonia, but in the book it's her idea and they both write
• more about Jim's wife in Intro; makes him seem a lot less happy
• Why does she harp on his unhappy marriage? 
• This intro was cut from a later-published revised version... How would that have affected the reading of the book?
• Why did she set it up this way? It's like a flashback now, and she makes it seem as if it isn't her work because Jim wrote it; I feel like she separates herself from the book... What might the purpose behind distancing the author from the narrator have?
• Is the intro fact or fiction?

Land as a character

• the land adds a lot to the story; it kind of determines their lives
• the colors of the seasons set the mood for what happens
• snow/ grey when Mr. Shimerda dies
• everything is red when he is a child and everything is hazy, social norms are blurred in childhood
• "As far as we could see, the miles of copper-red grass were drenched in sunlight that was stronger and fiercer than at any other time of the day. The blond cornfields were red gold, the haystacks turned rosy and threw long shadows. The whole prairie was like the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed" (71). 
• What does the setting bring or add to the story?

Relationship with Antonia

• It's weird that Jim hangs out with Antonia and not with the Shimerda boys, sort of goes along with the 'breaking social norms' theme of the last few books
• He seems to be sort of conflicted though; he only wants to spend time with her and gets sad when she doesn't want to hang out with him anymore "by making comrades of [schoolmates] I was getting even with Antonia for her indifference" (118)
• At the same time he didn't want her to be "superior" - "Much as I liked Antonia, I hated a superior tone that she sometimes took with me. She was four years older than I, to be sure, and had seen more of the world; but I was a boy and she was a girl" (73).

Immigrants

• What is Cather trying to say about immigrants in general? Does it seem like she has an opinion?
• There are a lot of times when I have hated the Bohemians: when Mrs. Shimerda basically steals things and insults Grandmother while doing it, their disrespect of the things they borrow, there are some times when they are portrayed as wild/savage
• "The great fresh open, after the stupefying warmth indoors, made them behave like wild things" (84).
• "We hears squeals, and looking up saw Antonia and her mother coming on the run. They did not take the path around the pond, but plunged through the muddy water, without even lifting their skirts. They came on, screaming and clawing the air" (119).
• But, the Mr. Shimerda is really nice and put together, they're friends and like each other (except for the short-lived feud thing)
• Also compared to the Russians (and Krajiek) they're really great... The Russians suck (Krajiek might suck more)

• "If I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us" (126). What other problems could come to the Bohemians? They've already lost their dad and gotten over the worst part of immigrating. Is she anticipating a kind of treatment?