Book: My Antonia

Author:  Willa Cather

-XISU-MWZ-

A Song for Antonia

This story is told from Jim Burden’s point of view.

Jim was sent to live with his grandparents after his parents both died. In Nebraska, he came to know a Bohemian family. He soon developed a close relationship with the Bohemian girl, Antonia. She was four years older than him. They used to run along the red grass prairie happily and explore the Wild West countryside. Jim and Antonia witnessed the death of a Russian fellow Pavel’s death in misery. They also heard about Peter and Pavel’s scary and frightening story that happened back in the old world.

Back in her old country, Antonia’s family was respected. Her father played violin. They were respected and prosperous. Her mother urged his husband to come to Armorica because she thought their sons and daughters could get better future. Away from old friends and honor, lonely Mr. Shimerda was depressed. He found no use of his fiddle. He was not a good farm-hand. However, he managed to keep his dignity and never let bitterness beat his pride. He begged Jim’s grandma to teach his Antonia English. Finally, unable to stay up with the hardness, he peacefully shot himself in a stormy winter night. He escaped from miseries.

After her father’s death, Antonia was made to work harder in the fields. She could do works that were meant to be done by a grown man. Jim found her lose her previous beauty and gentleness in laboring. She was always proud of her strength and muscles. When she was helping out with Jim’s grandma, she claimed that she loved working outside.

After Jim’s family moved to town, they heard little from Antonia. It was said that she worked here and there, leading a hard life. Jim’s grandma made her a maid in her neighbor’s house, the Harlings. The family enjoyed her company. Jim could spent time together with her and the Harling girls with great joy. However, after Antonia developed her crazy fond in dancing, she quitted her job to get full freedom. When she worked in Cutter’s, Wick Cutter tried to sexually harass her.

Then Jim went to college, he lived in the city. He had a good time with Lena, who was once a country girl but now had her own dressing shop in the city.

After Jim completed his courses at Harvard University, he went home for his summer vacation. He decided to pay a visit to Antonia after so many years’ separation. He thought Antonia threw her life to a total mess, compared with Lena’s and Nina’s successful career.

It was said that Antonia was deserted by her fiancé. She went back home, pregnant. On a snowy night, she gave birth to a girl without any groan. To everyone’s surprise, she was very proud of her little girl.

Antonia told her story to Jim when he visited. She said if everyone was put to this world for something, hers was to see her girl have a better chance than ever she had had. She liked to live in the country where she had her papa and inches of lands that she knew very well. She couldn’t stand a lonely life in the city.

Antonia was married to Anton. Anton was once a city boy. It was Antonia who persuaded him to hold on when they first on to settle down on the new farm. Tony built the garden and field with sweat. She used to water the apple trees regardless of the worn out body after a day’s work. Ten years later, it was time to enjoy the products.

The same was with Antonia’s family. They were a big one. Elder kids helped out, while little ones were naïve and lonely. They proudly showed Jim to their parlor and fruit cave. Jim found out although they were poor to some extent, they had a close relationship with each other. They were proud for what they had got. They loved and respected each other. Jim felt real happy for Antonia to find her happiness.

Antonia is a representative as a pioneer woman in the New World.

She treasured her life and memory back in her motherland, while she also had the courage to make a living on the new land. She had both adultness and innocence. She was not disappointed after her dear father’s death. Without her father’s care and love, she struggle with her persistence and perseverance to be a bread earner. Even with heavy burden of life, she was open-hearted, and joyful. She never lost the fire of life. She played with Harling’s kids when she worked; she became the best dancer. After so many sufferings and events in her life, she kept her house within style and cleanness. Although Antonia could not compete with Lena or Nina with their wealth or make-ups, she was the only one who remained her inner beauty. The other two had long ago lost their interests in life, except in money.

Jim loved Antonia with great respect. To him, Antonia was more than a girl, or a woman. She was closely related with Jim’s wonderful childhood in the country. She was as broad as the golden sky and prairie in the Wild West. She survived in storms and tight heat. Her toughness seized Jim as well as the readers of the novel. She was a real heroine.  

As a reader, I often lost myself in the description of the great prairie of the West. I imagined the sky, the extensive red grass, and idyllic country life. The grasses were swelling in warm wide, like a huge blanket. Jim and Antonia were running around the dog-towns, and Jim killed a giant snake; Tony put the little singing creature in her hair to give him warm in a late autumn; Antonia was herding the cattle; on a snowy day, neighbors crowed at Antonia’s father’s grave to give him the last goodbye; there, Antonia was happily dancing in the club; her kids were streaming out a cave, like a stream of life…As Jim had said that what Antonia had left on him were all picturesque, after reading the novel, I came up with a vivid picture of Antonia. She had dark air and dark eyes. Her hands were rough and brown with so many years of hard work. Her skins were also brown with sunburns. They were all her badges.

This novel was filled with distinct characters. They all served as a foil to Antonia’s image as a woman pioneer in the Wild West. This novel was a song for Antonia, who faced life with courage and forever lasting “fire of life”.