Conflict Shapes Character in Willa Cather's My Antonia

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Conflict Shapes Character in Willa Cather's My Antonia The conflict in ones life will shape their character in the future. This is especially true in the novel My Antonia, 1918. The author Willa Cather takes you through the life of a young Bohemian immigrant, Antonia Shimerda, as seen through the eyes of her good friend Jim Burden. At age ten, Jim Burden lost both of his parents and was sent to live with his grandparents on their Nebraska farm. He first meets Antonia when his grandmother and one of the farm hands take the Shimerdas some provisions. When they reach the Shimerdas farm, they find the family living in a cave dug out of the side of the hill. There are six people living in this little dugout. There are four children, the youngest daughter Yulka, the oldest daughter Antonia, the two boys are Ambrosch the eldest child and Marek. Marek is different from the other children; "Even from a distance one could see that there was something strange about this boy." (14). Jim Burden says this when he first sees the boy emerge from the barn. After the children there was Mr. an...

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