Introduction to My Antonia

About Willa Cather

Since childhood, Willa Cather had the ability to see her own brand of art in the people, situations, and emotions of everyday life. Her unique perspective on ordinary life can be found in her celebrated novels, short stories, and essays. Cather is best known as the voice of frontier life on the American plains, where she spent the years of her youth and young adulthood. According to Cather, these were the years during which she unconsciously gathered the rich material that would inspire her to write when she was an adult. She says:

Every story I have written since then has been the recollection of some childhood experience, of something that touched me while a youngster. You must know a subject as a child, before you ever had any idea of writing, to instill into it . . . the true feeling.

Cather was born on December 7, 1873, the eldest child of Charles and Mary Virginia Cather. When she was ten years old, her family moved from Virginia to a small settlement west of Red Cloud, Nebraska. Cather was at first homesick and had difficulty adjusting to the rough, open landscape of the Nebraska prairie. However, she found that her diverse collection of neighbors was a striking and welcome contrast to the flat, drab countryside. At that time, immigrants came from all over Europe to farm in Nebraska. Young Cather was befriended by some of the older immigrant women, and their unique experiences made a strong impression on her. Later, Cather relates:

I have never found any intellectual excitement any more intense than I used to feel when spent a morning with one of these old women at her baking or butter making. . . . I always felt . . . as if I had actually got inside another person’s skin.

About My Ántonia

            Willa Cather’s My Ántonia is written as a young man’s reflections on the people and places of his youth. The narrator, Jim Burden, is a New York City lawyer who grew up on the Nebraska frontier. His memories show his affection for the past and his connection to his childhood friend, and paint a vivid portrait of life in Nebraska in the late 1800s and early 1900s. From its first pages, My Ántonia depicts the ethnically diverse, hardworking people who came to the American plains. The novel also powerfully depicts the open landscape of the prairie and the rugged lifestyle of its settlers. In 1920, H. L. Mencken, a famous literary critic and essayist, wrote:

I know of no novel that makes the remote folk of the western farmlands more real than My Ántonia makes them, and I know of none that makes them seem better worth knowing. The primary focus of the novel is Ántonia.

            The novel is set mainly in the Nebraska Divide, a rural farming area in southern Nebraska, and in Black Hawk, a town just east of the Divide.  Cather grew up in this area and based the fictional town of Black Hawk on the real town of Red Cloud, which sits on the Republican River. Another setting described in the novel is Lincoln, Nebraska, where narrator Jim Burden attends school for a brief period. 

The Homestead Act

            The novel begins in the late 1880s and covers a period of about thirty years of the narrator’s life.  This was an eventful time in the actual history of Nebraska. In 1862 Congress passed the first Homestead Act, which granted 160 acres of free land in the West to anyone at least twenty-one years old who promised to settle it. The concept of providing free land to hardworking settlers was first suggested by western pioneers who were struggling to build farms on undeveloped land. They argued that, because the land was worthless until developed, Congress should give them parcels of land as a reward for helping to improve the country. Close to a million people requested homestead applications between 1863 and 1890. More farms were created in this time period than any other in U.S. history. The Homestead Act was also a key factor in the United States’ expansion westward.

            The Homestead Act created opportunities for many struggling American citizens and immigrants to the United States. Between 1881 and 1920, southern and eastern Europeans, including Bohemians, were part of a major immigration movement to the United States. Many of these immigrants, like the Shimerdas in My Ántonia, came to the United States to take advantage of available prairie land.

            In 1865 the Union Pacific Railroad began building its line farther into Nebraska territory. They advertised Nebraska farmland in the East as well as in Europe. From 1869 to 1879 Kansas and Nebraska attracted a large number of settlers. Between 1874 and 1877, however, swarms of grasshoppers invaded the area and damaged much of the crops. Many settlers left their farms and returned east. Drought, bad credit policies, and low prices on agricultural products caused further distress to Nebraska farmers. In My Ántonia, Cather captures the hardships facing pioneers as they tried to build new lives to in unfamiliar territory.

Immigrant Families

            In the settling of frontier land, immigrant families often faced greater challenges than U.S.-born settlers. Because many immigrants left their countries under difficult circumstances, they often did not have a great deal of money with which to begin their new lives. Once in the United States, some struggled with a language barrier that made meeting people and conducting business difficult. Many immigrants also experienced prejudice against their customs and religious practices. Some U.S.-born settlers were resentful of having to compete with immigrants for land or work.

Rural Nebraska

            Setting, particularly the landscape surrounding Jim’s grandparents’ farm, plays a crucial role in the development of My Ántonia. Cather takes great care in detailing the natural environment that surrounds her characters. For example, to illustrate the movement of prairie grass, she writes, “I felt motion in the landscape; in the fresh, easy-blowing morning wind, and in the earth itself, as if the shaggy grass were a sort of loose hide, and underneath it herds of wild buffalo were  galloping, galloping. . . .” As you read, notice how the setting reflects the characters and influences their moods.

My Ántonia and Latin

            In Book II, Sections I – VII (p. 70 – 94), Jim’s Latin homework introduces him to the work of Virgil, a poet who lived in ancient Rome. Virgil wrote pastoral poems that idealize and celebrate rural environments. Literary works that are pastoral often contrast the innocence and simplicity of country life with the corruption of urban environments. Jim is reading Georgics, a work that deals with issues of farming and rural life in Italy. He finds two quotations from the selection particularly moving. As you read, think about why Jim finds these ideas moving and why the work of Virgil is thematically fitting for this novel.

Repetition

            Though My Ántonia is a collection of memories that do not follow a conventional plotline, Cather ties the events of the novel together in a variety of ways. One method is her use of repetition. For example, in this section, images of nature and farming move the narrator and Ántonia to reflect on their pasts and repeat stories about what happened. There is also repetition of characters that are important to the theme. As you read this section, pay attention to how Cather reintroduces Mr. Shimerda to the story through the characters of Jim and Ántonia. Then think about why Cather brings Ántonia’s father back into the story.

Elegiac or Nostalgic?

            My Ántonia has been labeled by critics as both elegiac and nostalgic. An elegy is a sad poem that laments death or loss. Nostalgia is a longing for one’s home or past. Characters throughout the novel refer to their pasts, both to celebrate and to express regret or resentment. Their pasts either draw them back or make them want to move forward. For example, Jim and Ántonia are continually looking back at their happy childhood experiences and wondering if they can ever find that happiness again, while Lena Lingard’s unhappy memories of farming motivate her to change her way of life completely. Ántonia clings to her Bohemian heritage, while other immigrant workers try to adopt the language and customs of the United States. After finishing the novel, think about whether the novel is more an elegiac or a nostalgic literary work.

Characterization

            Writers use specific techniques to create characters. These include direct description, showing characters’ behavior, showing how others react to characters, and showing characters’ thoughts. Writers use these methods not only to give readers insight into individuals, but sometimes to characterize groups of people.  As you read, notice Cather’s techniques of characterization, and draw conclusions about the family.