Mallory+My+antonia

"When I strike the open plains, something happens. I'm home. I breathe differently. That love of great spaces, of rolling open country like the sea-- it's the great passion of my life" – Willa Cather //My Antonia// Willa Cather (1873-1947) Willa Cather’s work made her one of the most important novelists of the first half of the twentieth century. From 1906 to 1912, Willa worked for McClure’s Magazine in New York. Soon after, Willa devoted herself to writing novels, mostly about her memories of growing up in rural Nebraska. Critics note that the themes of her work are intertwined with the universal story of the rise of civilizations in history. In 1923, Willa won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. After losing both his parents, ten year old Jim Burden finds himself traveling all the way across the country to live with his grandparents in Nebraska. On his long journey to Nebraska Jim meets a small Bohemian family who are going to the same town as him. It turns out that the Shimerdas had recently bought the property next to his grandparent’s house. The Shimerdas spoke very little English and so Jim began tutoring their oldest daughter Antonia. Antonia and Jim spent a lot of time together and soon became good friends. Jim’s family, the Burdens, and the Shimerdas became very close and later the Burdens help the Shimerdes after a family tragedy. Jim and his family move to a town called Black Hawk so that Jim can receive better schooling and Antonia also goes to Black Hawk to work for the Harlings. Antonia soon gets caught up in the dancing life of the city but is asked to quit so she does not acquire a bad reputation. For quite awhile Jim only focuses on his studies and Antonia in the hopes of going to college as soon as he can. When Jim goes to college, he and Antonia lose touch and do not see each other for many years. This book goes deep into the bonds of friendship and growing up in rural Nebraska. Cather really idealizes country living and the importance of a close family and of simple living. There are several instances where the Shimerades are in great need of help financially because they are not knowledgeable enough to ask for guidance on how to properly run a farm and the Burdens offer support. Throughout this book each character grows and learns how to adapt to what life throws on the table.
 * Cather’s //My Antonia// **

My Antonia's book trailer
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=Other books my Willa Cather:= Willa Cather wrote many other great novels during the first few decades of the nintenth century. Some of her most popular and well known novels included [|The Professor's house], [|O Pioneers!], [|Alexander's Bridge], [|The song of the lark], [|one of ours], and [|A lost lady].

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= = = Work cited: = =http://www.online-literature.com/willa-cather/ =