Immigrant Family In My Antonia

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In Willa Cathers novel My Antonia she uses juxtaposition numerous amounts of time to let us compare the lives of a poor immigrant family to the life a wealthy family living on a farm house in Nebraska. The two families were obviously different in so many ways, but also helped each other in ways that neither knew. The shimerdas were hit in the face with hardships, new lives, and a new country lifestyle they were not use to. I will be talking about the coming to age Antonia developed and the different ways she compared the families throughout the novel. Although the shimerdas struggled with the new life style it helped them develop a better life for themselves and their families in the long run. The shimerda family came to America for a better …show more content…
The hired girls are all immigrants who work in black hawk to help support their families in America. To the men of black hawk they see it attractive and something new. The girls are all dedicated, upbeat, and also very dismal. They were wild and a different experience for the men compared to the women of black hawk. To Jim they are the most fascinating women who live in Black Hawk. The narrator states, “ there was a curious social situation in Black Hawk. All the young men felt the attraction of the fine, well-set-up country girls who came to town to earn a living..” (107) which was a very true statement. The respectful women of black hawk were exhausting and unsurprising to them. They lived a day to day routine that the black hawk men were used to being around. They wanted a new feeling something they had never been around there. It is not like they were looking to settle down with the immigrant girls just looking to have a little fun with them. They would play with the immigrant women for some time, but when they were ready to settle down they would pick a respectable black hawk lady to marry. The narrator even mentions in the book, “.. But anxious mothers need have felt no alarm. They mistook the mettle of their sons. The respect for respectability was stronger than any desire in Black Hawk youth” (109). Their mothers did not like their sons …show more content…
Shimerda had died. Antonia had to take the row over and become a support for her family. She was given the responsibilities that her father had and growing up for her changed in a matter of seconds. Tragedy can either make or break a person but for Antonia it was both. Jim points out earlier in the book, “How much older she had grown in eight months! She had come to us a child, and now she was a tall, strong young girl..”(80). Antonina had to grow up faster than most her age due to the tragedy. She had to take on the role of a man instead of going to school like most kids. She had to miss out on that opportunity to what was best for her family. She took on the role of helping her mother sew all day on sundays because Mr. Shimerda is no longer with them to help make their clothing. Jim reflects back on the time he had first seen antonia, “eyes were big and warm and full of light, like the sun shining on brown pools in the wood. Her skin brown, too, her cheeks she had a glow of rich, dark color”(44). Back then she was so full of life, happy, energetic, and played roles as a normal little girl. Jim states now when seeing Antonia, “Whenever i saw her come up the furrow, shouting to her beasts, sunburned, sweaty her dress open at the neck, and her throat and chest dust-plasterer..”(82). She is now just maintaining day to day routine which rips her from childhood. This is a great example of the quote “Optima dies..Prima fugit” the best
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