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In depth analysis of my antonia
What are the impressions of my antonia
Analysis of My Antonia
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The Growth of Jim Burden in My Antonia "The movement from possession to loss, from union to separation, is the deep and central pattern of Jim Burden's experience in My Antonia." (Fisher-Wirth) I believe that this quote given by the critic Fisher-Wirth somewhat explains the life of Jim Burden and that although he went through both gains and losses throughout his life; he learned the meaning and purpose of his life with Antonia. In the beginning of the novel, Jim had a family but was soon abandoned by them do to both of their deaths. He was then on his way to his grandparents house in Nebraska to begin a new and different life. At this point, he began a union with both his grandparents as well as Antonia. Antonia and Jim became very close friends and went through many childhood experiences together. Their friendship was soon torn apart when Ambrosch and Jake engaged in a quarrel which separated the two families for quite some time. But once again, the families resolve their differences and become close again. (Chapter 1) When Chapter 2 begins, Jim and his family are separated from Antonia's because of their new move to town. After this separation, Jim and Antonia were brought together again when Antonia came to work in town. This pattern repeats once again as the result of Jim going off to college. He loses touch with Antonia but then, through Lena, becomes connected to Antonia again. As a result of this, Jim goes back home to visit for a short time and then leaves for New York. Finally, twenty years later, Jim travels back to see Antonia and her new, "enlarged" family. He was glad to see that Antonia was finally happy again and enjoyed meeting all her children as well as her husband. With Jim's trip back to Black Hawk, he was able to tie his whole life together. After leaving Antonia's home, Jim felt that his life had made a circle. He realized that through all his gains and losses, the past that he shared with Antonia was so precious.
Mrs. Burden gets Antonia a temporary job helping her neighbors around the house. Antonia learned English much faster and Jim met many new people. This is where we meet Lena. Lena was a Norwegian girl who later became a dressmaker, but distracted men with her flirtatious act and planned never to marry. As Jim met new people and attended the dances put together in the city, he noticed the segregation and the generalizations made about specific people.
Jim was also impacted by the death of Mr. Shimerda. He was not so much impacted emotionally but he was impacted in a way that he felt he had to keep an eye on Antonia and make sure she didn’t lose her way. Jim is in possession of Mr. Shimerdas gun and in a way this hold Jim responsible to keeping the memory of him alive in Antonia. Jim didn’t want Antonia to stray from the gentle teachings of her father. He begins to see this when she starts working with Ambrosch and even worries that she is becoming like her mother. A boastful and insistent
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...
When she was done at the bar, she went back to the motel and passed out on the floor. So when Antonia got home, nobody was there. About half an hour later, her brother called and said that their mom had passed out and that they were at a motel. Her brother didn't know the name of the motel, so he looked around and remembered the bar. He told his sister the name of the bar that their mom had gone to, and then she knew right where they were.
He is apprehensive about seeing Antonia, fearing that she will no longer be the idealized person who exists in his memory. Jim is not let down when they meet, as even though she is now a “battered woman … but she still had that something that fires the imagination, could stop one’s breath for a moment” (226). Age has not dampened the spirit that Jim was drawn to throughout his youth and now his adulthood. He speaks about her through a lens of true love and respect, telling her children that he “couldn’t stand it if you boys were inconsiderate [towards Antonia] … I was very much in love with your mother once, and I know there’s nobody like her” (222). Jim refers to Antonia as a “rich mine of life,” and it is clear that Antonia’s type of richness is more valuable in Jim’s eyes. Through her, he is able to realize that tangible fiscal wealth is far less precious than the impalpable beauty of emotional connection and
Cather sets the tone of the story at the very beginning; a young Jim Burden's parents have died leaving him to go to Nebraska to live with his grandparents. Right from the start Cather plants the seeds of abandonment, with the finality of death, in Jim's life. When he arrives in Nebraska he is very numb to life, but he is soon caught up in daily life on his grandparents' farm. He is blissfully happy when he first meets Antonia. They become great friends and share numerous adventures. Cather uses brief, beautifully descriptive and nostalgic recollections of situations and feelings to increase the pain and sadness of the separations that she places throughout the book. An excellent example of this is the way Cather builds up to Mr. Shimerda's suicide.
One event is in Chapter II of Book III. Jim decides to write about his youth in Nebraska as Vergil has just done. As he is thinking about this, Lena Lingard comes to the door and he is excited to see her. Once again he begins to think about the past. Even after she left, just her presence had impacted his life, which adds to the importance of the past in this novel. Earlier in the chapter Jim is studying Latin and reads the line "Optima dies...prima fugit." Translated as the best days flee first, Jim begins to think of the past. This is the main theme of the novel, and Jim is just beginning to realize how important his past was.
A storm waiting to happen when this man gets home to his wife, and during The Glass Menagerie, a similar storm most likely (Did it go down?) went down between Jim and his fiancé. Jim should have a similar response to his time with Laura, where he regrets the things that he has done. On his walk home he should realize that he is coming from somewhere that he never should have been in the first place.
In an attempt to reconnect to a time of satisfaction and fulfillment in his life, Jim Burden records his childhood memoirs which revolve around his relationship with Antonia Shimerda. By the fifth and final book, Jim has grown to middle age and lost touch with the home of his youth and his oldest childhood companion, Antonia. He finally brings himself to visit Antonia and her large family after a span of twenty years. Jim is hesitant because he fears his memories will be tainted by the reality of Antonia's circumstances. He believes that "Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again."
On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was held in an Alabama prison cell as a result of participating in a non-violent protest. Martin Luther King Jr. would use this time in solitude to construct a letter that until this day remains one of the most profound documents which display the effect that rhetorical analysis could have on a nation. What began as a letter response to the clergyman who criticized his actions, eventually transformed into a document that would influence a much wider audience to spread a universal message? King ensured his message would be received by embedding rhetoric perspectives in his document revealing the strengths and potholes in widely accepted beliefs. Mating Luther King Jr. will always be acknowledged as
Martin Luther King Jr. uses many rhetorical devices to make his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” a masterpiece. He uses ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the Clergymen in a credible and trustworthy manner, appealing to the logic and reasoning behind his arguments, and to appeal the Clergymen's emotions. King uses other rhetorical devices that support his appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos that add effects to the letter. Other devices he uses include: allusions, parallelism, illness and health contrast, irony, imagery, anaphora, and personification. He creates a complex writing that respectfully, but critically corrects the Clergymen's statements from their letter to King entitled “Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen”.
Dr. King effectively expresses why his critics are wrong in a passionate tone. He is extremely zealous about the rights that African-Americans have been neglected to have and should have, as well as everyone else. Mr. King was criticized for his “untimely” actions in Birmingham. “This wait has almost always meant ‘never.’” (King 264) Martin Luther King isn’t just a bystander witnessing the injustice; he is a victim and one of the few who is willing to fight for justice well deserved. His tone also evokes similar passion in the audience. The reader will feel that strong passion and by doing so they will realize that Dr. King does know what he is doing. Since Dr. King is directly affected and is relatable, his writing is able to effortlessly capture his determination and courage. All while having a passionate tone he is able to remain a respectable and calm tone throughout his letter. Dr. King’s tone shifts from brusque to a conciliatory manner. His non-aggressive tone benefits Dr. King’s argument and makes it more effective. If Dr. King had written in an hostile tone, the clergymen would feel attacked and would not want to support his cause....
Jim perceive the past with nostalgia, through nature, symbols, and Antonia. As the narrator in My Antonia, Jim presents a loving and affectionate mood towards his family, the immigrants and nature, which convinces the reader that this novel is a romance, one between Jim and life. Jim sees through the lens of nostalgia; the eyes that can see to the past through all of the components discussed. Life is memory, so live every second of every memory to its highest potential.
In My Antonia, Cather writes that Mr. Shimerda implores Jim to “Te-e-ach, tee-e-ach my Án-tonia” (book one: chapter three), though it is Jim who learns more. Jim is introduced as an orphan who has yet to discover who he is. Due to the loss of his parents, Jim travels to Black Hawk, Nebraska to live with his grandparents. After meeting the Schimerdas, an immigrant family, Jim begins teaching Ántonia English. Over the course of this friendship, Cather writes how Jim observes/admires Ántonia, leading to a new perspective on life and self-discovery.
is dead and he shows up scaring Jim to the point of carrying out a conversation