In the book “My Antonia” by Willa Cather, the character Jim describes happiness as, “. . . to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.”. Antonia, a blissfully innocent foriegn girl, would agree with this thought. In the beginning of the book Antonia and Jim are introduced, they can’t speak one word to each other however they get along just fine. They run along and upon a hill they, “could see the gold tree-tops, [Jim] pointed toward them, and Ántonia laughed and squeezed [his] hand as if to tell... how glad she was [he] had come”. Two children of different cultures put together for the first time find happiness together in the surrounding scenery. It is this scene that shows that
This creates a positive tone, as Antonia is thriving in her new country. However, the mood shifts abruptly from joyful to somber with a harsh winter and the death of Antonia’s father. These events cause the two kids to drift apart, and the effects on Antonia are evident as she withdraws from Jim and his family. Jim notes that “before the spring was
Mr. Shimerda once begged Jim to do something for his daughter’s sake. He had begged him to do the following. He begged him to ‘Te-e-ach, te-e-ach my Antonia’. I believe that the one person that got more out of their friendship is Jim. There are multiple details throughout this book that helped me realize my decision.
After Antonia made the statement about making the land a good farm, there is a silence between her and Jim and then Antonia cries. She cries because she realizes that she has been put in a position to have to work almost like a slave just to get by. She realizes she must sacrifice all of her opportunities to learn and go to the schoolhouse just so her family can
“You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” ~ Joni Mitchell James from the story “Your Move” starts off taking Isaac for granted and prioritizing the gang more than his own brother. After his brother is hurt, James realizes the importance of his brother and how Isaac looks up to him. This all leads me to believe that James came from prioritizing the gang, to prioritizing his brother Isaac because he didn’t know how important his family was until he was gone. James, from the story “Your Move”, tries to fit in with the K-Bones gang. His little brother Isaac disapproves of this idea.
A common theme towards the end of book one was the experience of pioneer men versus women. Although the roles of the characters throughout in the book suggested that men were supposed to do the labor and bring home food, while women cooked and took care of the home, the death of Antonia’s father reveals how ingrained these stereotypes were. As Antonia works in the fields more, Jim notices a change in Antonia as she begins to behave more like her brother, and this is about the time the two start to grow apart. The change in Antonia’s personality reflects the vast difference in the experiences and values of pioneer men and pioneer women, as her personally drastically changed when she began participating in typically male activities. It also reveals
"Happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep. " This is Jim 's representation of happiness at a young age, back when he barely knew Antonia. He had enjoyed her company and was glad to help her learn English. But he can 't teach her everything in his mind and make it stick in hers.
The suffering and starvation of her first winter on the prairie, ending in her father’s suicide, never diminished Antonia’s love for the country. And now Jim could see the literal fruits of her labor. Her life exhibited “the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last” (Cather, 127). Antonia planted seeds of kindness, freedom, and hope everywhere she went. “Tireless in serving generous emotions” (Cather, 127), Antonia freely gave her love, attention, and self to everyone she met.
Courage is an attribute that everyone wishes to have. It is an attribute of good character that makes us worthy of respect. One attribute of courage is feeling fear, yet choosing to act. Jan and Antonia is a perfect example of this. Her husband, Jan was recruited to be a soldier shortly after the conflict in Poland started.
On page 45 Ántonia confides in Jim, “‘My papa sad for the old country. He not look good’” (Cather, 45). Later Jim explains that he knew what killed Mr. Shimerda, “’ I knew it was homesickness that had killed Mr. Shimerda…’” (Cather,50).
Chris Cox A Brave New World John is an interesting character in Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World. In a way, he never truly had a home.
In “The Happy Man”, Mahfouz skillfully introduces the happy man’s inner altercation. “He felt slightly worried... It occurred to him that he might recall the tragedies of his life so that he could test their effect on his happiness. Perhaps they would be able to bring back some idea of balance or security, at least until his happiness began to flag a little.” (412)
Some people also gain happiness by simply having authority over someone. Bonnie, the overweight mother is one of those people. She gets happiness from sitting on the couch eating food and watching TV, while telling Gilbert how to raise Ernie, because she is too overweight to do so herself. The catch with
Challenges of Immigration: The Shimerda’s Struggle Willa Cather’s novel, My Ántonia sheds light on the topic of immigration. Immigrants have many different reasons for why they might migrate to the United States. Some were trying to escape something from their old country such as avoiding a war, trouble with the law, or shame as is the case of the Russians Pavel and Peter. Reasons for immigrating could also relate to chasing the American dream as is the case with the Shimerdas.
On the prairie Jim and Antonia’s friendship is uncomplicated and filled with innocence. Both don’t realise their contrasting ethnic background and social class, and the worries of gender, social problems, and work does not burden their spirits like it does the adults. This ignorance shows the reader the amount of innocence the characters have during their childhood years. “Yet the summer which was to change everything was coming nearer every day… and they have to grow up, whether they will or
Towards the end of book one, section 2 of the book “My Antonia” by WIlla Cather, Jim displays happiness as “to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.” I do believe that Antonia agree with Jim’s definition of happiness. I get this assumption from a few things that are portrayed in this section of the book. Throughout this book I depicted Antonia as a free spirited girl.