My Antonia Figurative Language

This passage takes place when Jim is heading back to the country-side, to his old house, to meet Widow Steavens to discuss what happened to Ántonia and her baby. In this text, Jim is reflecting on changes he observes in the environment, in a compare and contrast way. He employs literary devices such as imagery and figurative language to bring these changes and their meaning to light. For example, he observes, “…the whole face of the country was changing. There were wooden houses where the old sod dwellings used to be, and little orchards, and big red barns…the changes seemed beautiful and harmonious to me; it was like watching the growth of a great man or of a great idea” (198-199). By using vivid and detailed words and similes, Jim conveys the magnitude of which everything was changing. Not only

Everything else, from people to the landscape are changing, yet the one person who barely has changed is Ántonia. From the start of the book, her life was difficult and demanding. She was an immigrant girl, with poor English, and a mother and brother who would make her do backbreaking work on the farm. Now, in this section of the book, she is back to square one again. As said in the novel, “All that spring and summer she did the work of a man on the farm…” (203). Furthermore, pain and suffering has not yet departed Ántonia as her husband-to-be, Larry Donovan, left her stranded with their future child. This is similar to the start of the book because another man also departed her as a child, her father. It seems Ántonia is the only girl who has not barely changed; Lena Lingard became a staunch businesswoman and dressmaker and Tiny Soderball ventured around the country while procuring a fortune. So, while the passage clearly demonstrates the positive of change that was occurring, on the other hand, someone was not seeing any change at