Though it has become less of an issue in recent times, distrust of foreigners has always been an issue. This can be easily observed in Willa Cather’s My Ántonia. Within the first few pages, a statement is made about ‘alienating foreigners’. Jake, a friend and fellow traveler, tells the main character, Jim, that while Ántonia Shimerda has “pretty brown eyes…”, he points out that you are “…likely to get diseases from foreigners.” Jim’s first impression of the Bohemians is that they are illiterate, uneducated, disease-carrying people. Even after Jim learns to accept the Bohemians’ culture, the society around him continues to look down upon the immigrants, proving throughout the book that a culture with outsiders will always scorn those outsiders until they accept the same values and morals.
For instance, on page 16, Otto Fuchs, an Austrian friend, tells Jim’s grandmother that due to politics, “Bohemians has a natural distrust of Austrians”, regarding, of course, the distinct conflict that began WWI. When the Burdens finally meet the Shimerdas at their run-down home, everyone is surprised by Ántonia’s eagerness and impulsiveness. While the Shimerdas are accepting of each other, the Nebraskan-Americans are taken aback by the strange culture with which they’re now living. Even Ántonia notices and tells Jim that while life will “be easy for [him]… [It] will be hard for us,” because the Shimerdas are immigrants. Ántonia even sees that as a young girl, people will not be accepting of her family or herself just because they come from a different culture.
As she ages, Tony Shimerda begins to accept more and more of the “American Way”, even going so far as to change her name from “Ántonia” to “Tony”, a less Czech-sounding name. I...
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...uld have sold organs on the black market. However, the fact that they were Jewish seemed to play a vital role in the story for many people. Although it isn’t fair to bring up religion or nationality when the topic at hand is regarding something completely different such as illegal activity or a fatherless baby, human nature seems to prey upon it.
That is, regardless of what people see, they can always find something to dislike in a foreigner solely because their idea of a model citizen is different than their own. When Tony works hard on a farm to help her family, people see her as a ‘man-like woman’. When she plays the part of a girl, people see her as unhelpful. Though she finally ends with an affectionate and happy family, her memories that she shares with Jim all show that the society she lives in has much different morals and values than her own heritage.
At age ten, Jim Burden was sent by his relatives to be raised by his grandparents in the Nebraska prairie after his parents died. When he arrived at his new home, he was introduced to a Bohemian family that just immigrated to America; the Shimerdas. Jim and Antonia, the Shimerda's daughter, quickly become friends. They traveled a great distance to meet each other. As immigrants, the Shimerdas were not very wealthy and getting on their feet was difficult. They were cheated into buying their home for more than it should have cost. The family got by on what they had, but ended up needing help from outside families. Mrs. Shimerda ended up getting many useful tools for their home from Mrs. Burden.
In the end, Tony plays the role of both hero and villain. His wife, Marcela, represents both the whore and the virgin Mexican-American. The both prove unfaithful: Tony to America and Marcela to Mexico. Herein lays the schizophrenic world in which good and bad coexist across the borders of two emerging world countries struggling for control of land and culture. There’s a price to be paid for such human greed and unrealistic expectations. Ultimately it proves to be a place where virtue doesn’t remain intact and villains abound, even among the good guys!
I’m convinced that much learning has occurred in this course, both on your part and on mine. So I’m most interested in your telling me what you have learned, rather than asking questions on this exam that require you to demonstrate your learning. So, look back over the course and compose a page each on what you have learned about each of these course objectives.
Throughout Anzia Yezierska’s novel “Bread Givers,” the character Sara Smolinsky goes through an elliptical journey from a rebellious youth appalled by the individual limitations of her cultural heritage to her gradual acceptance of her inability to escape her ancestry. At first rejecting her Orthodox Eastern European Jewish culture, Sara views the world in terms of a sole American identity. As ...
My Antonia took place in the late 19th century. Jim Burden narrated his recollections of Antonia's life and their childhood together, after a twenty-year absence. The novel began when the ten-year-old orphaned narrator moved from Virginia to the plains of Nebraska to live with his grandparents. He spent his childhood alongside his grandparents and a neighbor Bohemian on the prairies. This Russian girl, new to America, was Antonia. Jim and Antonia spent endless afternoons together. He taught her English and about America. Her lessons were of life and strength. His daily life on the farm changed when he moved with his grandparents into the nearest town, Black Hawk. Antonia found a job as a house hand in town, even though her family was still on a farm. Their adolescent years were occupied with dances and picnics. Jim went on to college after graduation. Antonia, never able to go to school, was courted but left with a child out of wedlock. However, soon after, she was married to a fellow Bohemian and they had eleven children. This book is the moving story of his friendship with Antonia, his Antonia.
I agree that non-whites possess little to no ethnic options. If you are half white and half Mexican, you are most likely going to be categorized as Mexican, regardless of which ethnic option you would prefer to identify as, you are always going to be categorized as whatever ethnicity you physically match the most.
In Book I of My Ántonia, Jim is introduced to Ántonia Shimerda and find himself quickly smitten with the bohemian teenager. It would be easy to assume that young Mr. Burden’s acceptance of Ántonia is based solely on the romantic feelings that he is developing for her, but a deeper sense of love is coming about as their relationship grows over the years. Jim connects this girl to so much of his life and how he sees the world, “More than any other person we remembered, this girl seemed to mean to us the country, the conditions, the whole adventure of our childhood” (Cather, 1217). Yet, for Jim it went beyond the recalling memories of years ...
...which have been learned and developed from the Americans. At first the behavior and reactions of the American citizens towards the “foreigners” was pure hatred but then they started to realize that the immigrants were there for a purpose. Gradually they learned to accept them in the American society as time passed on through the 1920s.
Many first and second generation Canadians are struggling to balance their ethnicity and nationality. Once one may embrace who they are, they can express and be who they truly are. David Suzuki, Amy Tan, and Jhumpa Lahiri’s have demonstrated that no matter how much a person changes themselves on the outside, they will always remain the same on the inside.
...allowed to reach her American Dream without being frowned upon by others. Materialism, and the fears of judgment, are restrictions for these characters that keep them from reaching their true happiness and American Dreams.
I agree that non-whites possess no ethnic options. If you are half white and half Mexican, you are most likely going to be categorized as Mexican, regardless of which ethnic option you would prefer to identify as, you are always going to be categorized as whatever ethnicity you physically match the most.
Colonialism was when Europe took over most of Africa and Asia, and then Post-Colonialism followed. During Post-Colonialism people from Europe began to question the way European literature talked about people of color (Africans, Asians). This lens allows people to see the racism behind what they are reading, that it be intentional or unintentional. It questions poetic ideas like (darkness = evil) and (light = goodness, purity). It all gives you a different perspective on parts of the book to realize what is happening. OMAN tells the story of two friends during the Great Depression who go to a farm to fulfill their wish of owning a farm. Lennie has makes the whole dream harder because he must always watch out to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble. He has already gotten in to trouble in the past, and now he is too in this new farm.
In the same way, Jim recognizes that it is the "hired girls" like Antonia who will form the backbone of the society when the next generation comes: "the girls who once worked in Black Hawk kitchens are to-day [sic] managing big farms and fine families of their own; their children are better off than the children of the women they used to serve" (150-1). These assertions--of the women's direct involvement of the development of the region, both agriculturally and socially--highlight an important point: "it is insufficient to think of nationalism affecting gender in a one-way relationship" (Walby 237). In other words,...
At a young age children believe almost everything that they hear. Parents and teachers need to be very careful and selective with what they talk about around children. One challenge that teachers and parents face is choosing the appropriate books to read for their young ones. One book genre that has caused a good amount of chaos and controversy are multicultural books. Adults are afraid of exposing their children to these kinds of books because they do not want them to be influenced by the negative stereotypes that many of these books contain. However multicultural books can help children to empathize with others and learn about different cultures, the right books just need to be selected. Parents and teachers need to find books that
“A Tale Intended to be After the Fact…” is how Stephan Crane introduced his harrowing story, “The Open Boat,” but this statement also shows that history influences American Literature. Throughout history, there has been a connection among literary works from different periods. The connection is that History, current events, and social events have influenced American Literature. Authors, their literary works, and the specific writing styles; are affected and influenced by the world around them. Authors have long used experiences they have lived through and/or taken out of history to help shape and express in their works. Writing styles are also affected by the current trends and opinions of the period they represent. By reading American Literature, we have seen the inhumane treatment of slaves, we have seen the destruction caused by wars, and we have seen the devastation of eras such as The Great Depression.