Anothe Homesickness

Language is a barrier for immigrants. Language is the basis of communication which facilitates asking for help and expressing feelings. Moving from another country is not an easy task and adjusting to the new environment is even more difficult. The Shimerdas are an example of the struggle immigrants face when going to a new country. Not knowing English put them at a distance from others which resulted in an arduous year, but also made them easy targets for people to take advantage of naive immigrants. One of these people is Krajiek, “And I hear he’s made them pay twenty dollars for his old cook stove that ain’t worth ten”(Cather, p.16). This illustrates the mindset of Americans: taking the opportunity of ignorant immigrants and making a profit off of it. This also explains why when arriving in Nebraska they had very little money left.

Being homesick means feeling nostalgic for familiar things such as family, landscape, or house. A case of this occurs to Mr. Shimerda. Seeing that putting food on the table was a daily struggle for his family, and having little friends caused remorse knowing that he put his family through this and missed the old days in Bohemia. He finally decided to end his life and Jim notes that “ I knew it was homesickness that had killed Mr. Shimerda (Cather, p. 66). Knowing that his family and friends were an ocean away depressed Mr. Shimerda and the fear of never seeing them again emptied his soul. Throughout the book, immigrants have a tendency to always refer back to their “their old country”. Despite them living the American dream, they miss their homeland, their families, friends, and the landscape they left behind. Simple things can evoke memories of the past, “ We have this flower very much at home, in the old country” (Cather, p. 150). Flowers bring back memories of the past to Antonia, the scenery there is still vivid in her mind. Homesickness is a compromise that immigrants must