My Antonia

Willa Cather in her novel My Antonia offers her view of life during the pioneer time by telling the story of Jim Burton and his experiences with Antonia and his life. If "My Antonia" was told from Antonia's point of view the story would have been very different. Antonia would have told her opinion a lot more and the reader would have been told what all had happened to her a lot faster than the way it is already written from Jim's point of view. When I read  the book "My Antonia" there are some parts in the novel that I can tell that Cather was using a little more women style of thinking. Jim was a little bit more emotional than what a regular man would be back in the time depicted. I think the reason why Jim made the name of the book My Antonia and not just Antonia is because of the fact that he was so close to Antonia that he wanted to make it known to the reader before they even opened the book. These are some of my ideas that I wanted to share with you about the book, My Antonia.

"As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running."

"The grave, with its tall red grass that was never mowed, was like a little island."

"Winter comes down savagely over a little town on the prairie. The wind that sweeps in from the open country strips away all the leafy screens that hide one yard from another in summer, and the houses seem to draw closer together. The roofs, that looked so far away across the green treetops, now stare you in the face, and they are so much uglier than when their angles were softened by vines and shrubs.


Chunk #1: Comment the effect of the setting on the characters within the novel.

The setting has an amazing effect on the characters. Antonia is impacted because of the events happening to her. When she is faced with challenges she has to work hard to overcome them. She has to prove to herself that she is capable of doing anything.



Chunk #2: discuss the effect a setting on you, including imagery (lots of adjectives) and a simile or a metaphor as you describe the land.
My front yard symbolizes my sanctuary, calling to me, pulling me in, saying, "come on home." There is no other place like home. When you have had a long day, you just come home and its like a sign of relief. Seeing the leaves on the ground, like ripples on top of the water. Its almost like never ending happiness.