Jim makes an intense friendship with Antonia, whose family has just moved to the prairie from Bohemia (the Czech Republic today). His grandparents are good, gentle Christian folk and encourage Jim to treat people with dignity. In Book One, Jim adjusts to his new life on the prairie after losing his parents. Each period shows Jim at a different phase of thinking. My Antonia is told in five parts, or books, each covering a period in Jim's life. Jake: Farmhand from Jim's hometown, friend to Jim. Grandmother & Grandfather: Jim's grandparents, who've adopted him. An orphan and a romantic, he narrates story.Īntonia: A beautiful girl from Bohemia, the Platonic (non-sexual) love of Jim's life. In this, as in many of her other works, Cather is able to show the great American spirit through nature and the mindset of the pioneers. While describing his relationship with Antonia and others, Jim also depicts the immigrant farm families on the Great Plains. Jim meets Antonia, a girl whom he loves in the deepest way (like a sister, a lover, a mother and a Goddess) for the rest of his life. My Antonia is the story of a young man's growth upon the prairies of Nebraska. Willa Cather's novels are famous for showing the American landscape and its intense social, psychological and spiritual impact upon its inhabitants.
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