Comments on: My Antonia

By: Lacey Babekuhl

Lacey Babekuhl — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:58:39 +0000

I think it’s interesting to see how Cather uses memory in this novel to tell the story. It is intriguing to me because the story is completely one sided, as one person remembers it, we (the readers) don’t get a sense for what Antonia was truly thinking nor what provoked her actions.

By: Hannah Prentice

Hannah Prentice — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:05:16 +0000

My Antonia was a great example of how memory works. Early on in the story Jim couldn’t believe that Antonia was proud to be able to work as hard as her brother. But as he remembers the “old days” he is nostalgic. He only remembers the good times, He was proud of the girls for being such hard workers. This is how memories work. When people think back on their past they have these feelings of nostalgia for what used to be. Even if they hated what had happened once it is the past they have only good feelings toward it. This story also showed a great deal of what it is really like to live in the midwest. It showed the difficulties of living on the prairie but also how great it was to succeed and actually survive out here.

By: Sam Matzke

Sam Matzke — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:17:11 +0000

I think looking into the pioneer past of the midwest through this book gives people a light of what it really took to settle in this area and survive. most people think that since they live in the midwest that they know what it is like to rough it out on the prairie. when we have dust storms or blizzards we just go into our warm insulated houses and wait it out while in the days of the pioneers they had poorly insulated homes and wood for fire could be very scarce at times. I think this book looks into the nostalgia of not only of the west but of America.

By: Patrick.Boustead

Patrick.Boustead — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:38:10 +0000

I think nostalgia plays a huge role during this novel with all of the characters. Reading it, you as the reader can’t help but think of your past. I will look back at my childhood and remember it as being simple and carefree. I think you also have to consider that your memory of something of the past might be a little wharped due to time. Good things form the past always seem to be better then they probably were at the time. Maybe this a half empty glass kind of thing on my part but I think you see Jim consistently going back because things seemed more pure and innocent compared to everyday reality.

By: Amy Jarding

Amy Jarding — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:01:49 +0000

My Antonia may be about living in the rural Midwest, but I understood the novel as being deeper than just the aesthetic of an open prairie. I think calling Cather a lesbian is kind of pushing it. The story would be entirely different if it was written by a man, and just because a woman is conveying the relationship between a boy and his friend does not mean that she secretly wants to make fish salad. The section I enjoyed most in the novel was the first; I enjoyed the nostalgia of a young child. I think that the novel was well written and evoked emotions worthy of its content. I was at the library when I read about Antonia’s father dying, and starting crying, right there on the second floor. I really enjoy reading things that have the power to tear you from mood to mood.

By: Emily Finley

Emily Finley — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:33:08 +0000

Reading Jim’s experience of living on a farm is something I can relate to, growing up on a farm myself. I didn’t experience a lot of things like they did while I was growing up on a farm, thank God. However, I wasn’t much of an outdoors kid growing up, and didn’t help my dad out a lot with farming or ranching. If I had been out in the elements I would probably think growing up on a farm is harder than what I think now. Everyone in the situation has their own biased opinion, and most of the readers will sympathasize with the characters, reading about the hardships they went through.

By: Wanda Plaatje

Wanda Plaatje — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:33:15 +0000

Sadly, I found myself at a disadvantage when it came to this story and the rest of the class. Apparently, a large percentage of the class was required to read this in High School … me? I had never heard of it. “Little House on the Prairie” is probably the closest thing I can thing to compare to it. Anyway, I do believe there is a flavor of nostalgia to the story line, but not much in the beginning. I think this mostly because the length of the first book; the length alone shows his love for his childhood home and his remembrance and long for it. Yet, that isn’t the only pointer of nostalgia. In fact, I think it’s over the expansion of all the novels. What I’m referencing too is the end, when he returns to Nebraska to speak to Antonia.

By: Katherine Wielechowski

Katherine Wielechowski — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:45:38 +0000

I’m from Nebraska and actually grew up not far from Red Cloud. My Antonia was required reading for all students in public schools and I got to read it in seventh grade. When I sat down to look through it for this class, I was surprised to find out how much of it I didn’t remember.
Growing up in Nebraska today defiantly is different from Jim and Antonia’s childhood. There were a lot of similarities, the scenery, the dust storms, the blizzards, the rattlesnakes, but we’ve had over a hundred years of people taming the prairie that Jim and Antonia’s families didn’t have. They were the ones to break the sod and lead the way for modern Nebraskans.

By: Kevin G. Myrmoe

Kevin G. Myrmoe — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:59:29 +0000

Willa Cather’s, “My Antonia”, is intriguing because she is from Nebraska, and the story takes place in Nebraska. Because Nebraska is similar to South Dakota, the setting of the story is easy to imagine for readers from the Midwest. The issue of assimilation can be tied into My Antonia, as it was in the cases of Oskison’s, The Problem of Old Harjo, and Zitkala Sa’s stories that we read prior to My Antonia. In My Anotinia, immigrants from different parts of the world are living among Americans. Their differences in culture play a factor in the immigrants everyday lives. The Shimerdas are Bohemian, Peter and Paval are Russian, and Lena is Norweigan. My Antonia symbolizes the hardships that immigrants faced in America. As in the case of Oskison and Zitkala Sa, Cather portrays hardships such as being home sick and differences in language and religious beliefs.
As I stated before, people who have lived in the Midwest can relate to the landscape in Nebraska, where My Antonia takes place. Cather does not merely use Nebraska as a setting for the story, but as a symbol. In My Antonia, Jim misses the landscape of Nebraska after being gone to New York for two decades. When thinking of Nebraska, Jim thinks about the enviornment that surrounded him. Jim’s interaction with the landscape symbolizes and describes his interactions with the people of Nebraska as well as who Jim is and his past. I believe his trip back to Nebraska symbolizes that his life is not complete without his past, which is Nebraska and the enviornment that he grew up with.

By: Ashley Pearson

Ashley Pearson — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:38:40 +0000

Jims memories of the past definately show the sense of nostalgia that people have for the memories of their childhood. My memories of my childhood are some of the most vivid memories that i have. I have really enjoyed reading this novel because it reminds me alot of some of the stories my parents and grandparents have told me about their childhoods as well. I also think its interesting that when i remember my childhood i just think of it as being very happy…i dont really associate any negative feelings with it which is kind of what Jim does as well.