MY ÁNTONIA Flashcards
In what ways does Cather make the Harlings significant in the novel?
- represent what people in Black Hawk are like- “Quick at understanding grandmothers who spoke no english”, “a farmer’s daughter who was to be married could count on a present from Frances Harling”
- Jim’s opinion of Mr Harling and Charley- “I was jealous of Antonia’s admiration of Charley Harling… seemed to think him a sort of prince”, “next to Charley I think she loved Nina best”, “seemed to me an arrogant shadow”, “his wife made him coffee at any hour of the night he happened to want it”, “nobles of whom Antonia was always talking seemed to me very much like Christian Harling”, “like a man who felt he had power”
- Mrs Harling and Antonia’s relationship- “there was a basic harmony between Antonia and her mistress, they had strong independent natures, both of them”, “quit going to these dances or you can hunt another place” “but my own father couldn’t make me stop”, “Mrs Harling declares bitterly that she wished she’d never let herself get fond of Antonia”
How does Cather present the passing of time in the novel?
- whole book is a collection of memories- jim’s outsiders perspective- “grandfather’s prayer was fantastic”, “grandmother watched anxiously through the black fingers of her glove”
- Time speeds up- “as he was telling it, Antonia took my hand under the table and held it tight” vs. “I decided to go to Harvard with Gaston Cleric”
- Although time passes- little changes- “Antonia seemed to me that day exactly like the little girl who used to come to our house with Mr Shimerda”, “I could hardly believe that i had been away at all”, “what a circle man’s experience is”
- Coming of age- “yet the summer which was to change everything was coming nearer everyday. When boys and girls are growing up, time can’t just stand still, not even in the quietest of country towns; they have to grow up, whether they will it or not”
Explore the ways in which Cather portrays the natural world in the novel
-AGRICULTURE VS. CULTURE- (Blind d’Arnault, The tramp, Mr Shimerda- “knew nothing about farming”, Dance Tent- “created a middle ground between the town boys and the country girls”, Mr Ordinsky, Jim- both- made for culture but drawn to agriculture through Antonia)
— Antonia- doesn’t give up- she is made to support others in an agricultural life
-how important the landscape is for Jim- “the image of the plough against the sun”, “escaped from the curious depression that hangs over little towns and my mind full of pleasant things”, “what a circle man’s experience is”, “the wind had a burning taste”, “grew stronger and began to howl”
How does Cather portray the impressions of the Burden’s life in Black Hawk?
- less exciting and interesting- “he and grandmother were getting old for the heavy work of a farm”, “Jake and Otto served us to the last… i tried to dissuade them”, “four white churches”, “white fences and good green yards”
- they are anomalous- “grandmother often said that if she had to live in town, she thanked God she lived next to the Harlings. They had been farming people like ourselves”, “suddenly put down by boys among my own age”
- they are likeable and sociable- “grandmother was busy which church suppers and missionary societies”, “we saw more of our country neighbours now than when we lived on the farm. Our house was a convenient stopping place for them”
How does Cather portray the ways Jim has changed by his time at university in Lincoln?
- forgotten about home- “i did not go home for my first summer vacation, but stayed in Lincol, working off a year’s greek”, “i shall always look back on that time of mental awakening as one of the happiest in my life”
- doesn’t want to think of home- “i begrudged the room Jake and Otto and Russian Peter took up in my memory, which i wanted to crowd with other things”, “in some strange ways they accompanied me through all my new experiences”
- Lena not Antonia- “quietly conventionalised by city clothes”, “you were always pretty enough”, doesn’t mention Tony till end “i think i’d better go home and look after Antonia”
- become over-studious- “optima dies prima fugit”, “brushed by the wing of a great feeling”
