il y a dix ans things were not this way she said holding a cigarette to her lips the boy coughed but no one thought twice he just kept doing his homework legs swinging off the chair and his grandmother and mother talked about how the economy was in shambles no use in trying to […]
Newsreel MMXVIII (2018 Edition)
The 73 words Larry Nassar spoke Deaths and Funerals for Saturday, February 3, 2018 Man arrested outside Lana Del Rey concert, while Eagles fans storm Philly, The fourth fatal Amtrak crash in two months. STORIES THAT SHOCK (14 VIDEOS) Trump’s unrelenting war with More winter says puxatawny […]
William and Me: Cather, Sexuality, and Gender
While discussing Cather’s life in class, we have touched upon two areas that have particularly grabbed my interest: her relationships with gender and sexuality. With these to aspects still under much discussion in our modern present, I cannot help but take Cather’s subtle yet radical past into consideration while considering her characterization throughout the novel. […]
I, Ántonia
“Jim tried and kissed me tonight. He offered to walk me home so I didn’t think much of it, but when he did it it ain’t what I was expecting at all. I always knew he was fond of me, and I’m awful fond of him too, but not that way. Then he accused me […]
Not a Preacher, a Professor, or a Doctor; Just Jim
An important part of any novel is the character development of any number of the main protagonists. In My Antonia, we see a number of characters develop over the course of the novel but I found a passage in which I would like to analyze in order to truly understand the character of Jim Burden. […]
Peter and Pavel’s Story: Foreignness and Americanness
My Antonia is steeped in tragedy as it relates to immigrants living in the Nebraskan plains. Around each corner readers are greeted with death and trial. We see this particularly in chapter eight when Jim tells the story of Peter and Pavel. Outside of the satisfaction that comes with the drama and mystery of the tale told […]
Her Land of the Free: My Antonia as Cather’s Love Letter to America
In the midst of reading Willa Cather’s most beloved novel, My Antonia, first published in 1918, it becomes immediately clear why this piece of fiction is so often selected as a representative sampling of the Great American Novel. The author draws on her own childhood experience to conjure up life in the stunning, waving Midwest […]
My Ámerica!
This isn’t my story to tell, but one I can conduce about a boy who met a girl and since then she has been his muse so much she sits like a brand on his brain that he felt the need to write until the story was told and brought to light: He was […]
Community and it’s role in survival
The beautiful but harsh landscapes displayed in My Antonia prove challenging for all that want to live in Black Hawk, Nebraska – especially the Shimerdas. However, a constant theme that keeps recurring to help make life a little bit sweeter, or at least a little bit easier to deal with is the sense of community […]
Influence of history and global events in the early portrayal of foreigners in My Antonia
While reading the introduction as well as the first twenty or thirty pages into the book, I noticed the way Anatolia and her family are viewed. While there are positive or neutral descriptions used to describe the Shimeradas there are also some negative descriptions. As a history major, I view this in the historical context […]