Introduction
Willa Cather’s My Antonia (1918) is the story of both Antonia Shimerda, a Bohemian immigrant to the state of Nebraska in the 1880s, and the […]
My Antonia
Willa Cather
Born in Virginia in 1873, Willa Cather spent the first decade of her life on her family’s farm in Back Creek Valley. In 1884, her […]
Plot Summary
A Introduction Willa Cather’s My Antonia begins in the voice of an unnamed narrator who “introduces” not only the novel but also Jim Burden, whose […]
Characters
A Jim Burden As narrator, Jim Burden is Cather’s persona-that is, he serves as a stand-in for the author. He comes to Nebraska at about […]
Themes
A Change and Transformation Willa Cather’s straightforward story of Antonia Shimerda, a Bohemian immigrant to Nebraska, parallels the change in the lives of the two […]
Construction
A Point of View My Antonia is at once the story of Antonia Shimerda, a Bohemian immigrant to the Great Plains in the 1880s, and […]
Historical Perspective
A Immigration Up until 1825, less than 10,000 new immigrants came to the United States each year. By the late 1840s, revolutions in Europe and […]
Compare and Contrast
IX COMPARE AND CONTRAST 1880s: The “new immigrants” who came from eastern and southern Europe in the 1880s are considered a potential threat to the […]