The Image Of Antonia Essay, Research Paper
The Image of Antonia
Since I ve been away, I think of you more often than of anyone else in this part of the world. I d have like to have you for a sweetheart, or a wife, or my mother or my sister anything that a woman can be to man (Cather 206). In Willa Cather s My Antonia, Jim Burden spoke those words to his life long love, Antonia Shimerda. Jim and Antonia were close friends, but were so far apart in other aspects; therefore, they never got a chance to be husband and wife.
One reason Jim and Antonia never married was because they viewed the value of the land differently. Throughout the story, Antonia was a representation of a life very different from Jim s and her strong bond with the land shows us Jim s fascination with Antonia. She was his counterpart. Antonia represented an alternative to Jim s life. Unlike Jim, she was able to move away from all the stereotypes and boundaries of her class and gender. Antonia was a lot less inhibited than Jim and she listened to her heart more. In the end, Jim s decisions were made according to social thumbs up or thumbs down. As much as he loved Nebraska and the farmland, Jim was able to give it up for the city whereas Antonia was the happiest there and was content with her life in Nebraska.
Jim had a lot of harmony with the land and loved it very much, but he never had to work it like Antonia did. She had to go through the pains of it more than Jim did. When winter would come, Jim was protected by his grandmother s house while Antonia had to wait it out in the cold. Jim was the type of person that whenever he saw the land, he thought of what use it could be, as in railroads and buildings. He looked at it as an instrument for progress. Antonia, on the other hand, thought of the land as a divine entity driven by its own force. She was a sister to the land while Jim was a master.
Another reason Jim and Antonia never married was because Antonia was prematurely given adult responsibilities and expected to act like an adult. The first major hardship the Shimerdas faced was the death of Mr. Shimerda. Because of this, Antonia was given the responsibilities that her father had and growing up for her changed in a matter of seconds. Her childhood fun was cut short. She could not join her fellow classmates in school because she had to tend to the work around the house. She became the head of the house.
While Antonia moved into adulthood, Jim stayed a child. Antonia was forced to mature, mentally and emotionally, quicker than Jim. As she became older, she became more independent. While Jim was in high school and still living with his grandparents, Antonia was on her own and working for the Harling family. The movement from a rural to an urban area made Antonia mature quicker so she would be able to survive in the city.
Jim eventually left to go to college and toiled on the prospect of adult love with Lena Lingard while Antonia moved into a marriage and birth. Finally, Jim moves into marriage and then goes back to the farm to see Antonia and her children. She was a battered woman now, not a lovely girl; but she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one s breath for a movement by a look or gesture that somehow revealed the meaning in common things (Cather 261). In this, Jim s feeling of incompleteness can be seen; on the other hand, Antonia is an adult with a worn body and a spirit that is there unlike that of Jim s spirit that, by the end of the story, appeared to be lost even though his body looked new and young.
While Jim was visiting Antonia, he told her how important she was to him. The idea of you is a part of my mind; you influence my likes and dislikes, all my tastes, hundreds of time when I don t realize it. You really are a part of me (Cather 206).
Jim and Antonia were never exactly the same; they were always notably different socially and attitude wise. Her difference helped him to define himself. The story was titled My Antonia because Jim took in his image of her so much that it was a part of him. The idea was part of him. Antonia and Jim both represented their respective people, class and native wise. When one does not have much in life, money and status wise, one must take what life gives him and make that everything. The land was all Antonia had and the image of Antonia was all Jim had. Because they were so different, he was only able to have the idea of her. He was never able to marry his Antonia.
Works Cited
Cather, Willa. My Antonia. Boston: Houghton Miffli