She successfully hides her pregnancy from her family but garners harsh criticism when her daughter is born. While Jim is thus preoccupied, Àntonia becomes engaged to a selfish man who leaves her right before the wedding. After spending two years at the university, he decides to finish his degree at Harvard, leaving Lena, Àntonia, and the past 10 years of his life behind. Jim jumps head first into his studies and pursues a relationship with Lena Lingard, a former childhood sweetheart and friend of both Jim and Àntonia. Jim's departure to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln represents his ultimate separation from Àntonia. Àntonia gets her first job, and Jim completes high school and looks forward to a college education. Consequently, the Shimerdas look to the Burdens for support, and tension grows between the two friends and their families.Īs the novel progresses, we follow Àntonia and Jim to the nearby town of Black Hawk, where their friendship is reestablished. In the dead of winter, the unthinkable happens when Àntonia's father commits suicide. They are close to each other in age and their friendship develops naturally: Jim teaches Àntonia to speak English, and Antonia explores the surrounding countryside with Jim. Àntonia's family are Bohemian immigrants whose farm is near that of Jim's family. Jim meets Antonia when he is 10 years old and a recent arrival in Nebraska from Virginia. He tells of his childhood and the people who affected him the most.

The story is 'written' by Jim Burden, Antonia's childhood friend and neighbor, who is a successful lawyer in New York City. In this early-20th-century novel, Cather provides a biographical narrative of Antonia Shimerda, a character based upon Annie Pavelka, a real-life childhood friend of Cather's. MY ÀNTONIA, by Willa Cather, is a story about friendship, love, and immigration. American Masters | Prairie to Paris | Thirteen Ed Online

Ántonia shimerda