My Ántonia 265of helping Robert “see” what a cathedral is, the nar-
rator opens himself up to a different view of human-
ity and the world. Indeed, the blind man helps the
narrator experience first empathy and then profound
insight when, after allowing the narrator to draw a
cathedral for/with him, he instructs the narrator to
close his eyes. This act, one of empathetic blindness,
helps the narrator transcend his own small vision of
life and instead experience a vision that recognizes
and embraces a common humanity. Indeed, in the
last moments of the story, when the liquor supply is
dry and the television has gone to snow, the narrator
moves from blindness to insight, from the individual
to the collective, from nothing to the last spoken
word in the story: “something.” Ultimately, we can-
not know if the narrator’s epiphany is the result of
real human connection or copious amounts of alco-
hol; we cannot know if the narrator’s vision will be
a temporary one or a lasting, meaningful one. But
in the final moments of the story, we can see that
the geography of the narrator’s life now includes a
spiritual terrain.
Cara McClintock-Walsh
CATHER, WILLA My Ántonia (1918)
Published in 1918, My Ántonia was one of two nov-
els that established Willa Cather (1873–1947) as a
major American novelist of the 20th century; the
other was o pioneers! Set in southern Nebraska,
the novel draws on the author’s memories of an ideal
life on the prairie. The novel’s protagonist, Ánto-
nia, is an immigrant from Bohemia; she represents
the values of innocence, hard work, integrity, and
generosity.
Ántonia Shimerda Cusak and Jim Burden, the
narrator, become friends because Ántonia’s parents
and Jim’s grandparents are neighbors. As a 14-year-
old, Ántonia emigrates from Bohemia with her
family; Jim, a 10-year-old, comes from Virginia to
live with his grandparents after his parents die. One
family is striving while the other is well-established.
Jim becomes a successful lawyer and moves to
New York, yet he keeps his childhood memories of
Ántonia alive. Indeed, their friendship thrives even
though their backgrounds are different, and when
they see each other again after 20 years, their feel-
ings of love and mutual admiration are stronger
than ever.
My Ántonia depicts the day-to-day life of the
early pioneers—their hardships, traditions, suc-
cesses, and social assumptions. Narrated as a succes-
sion of stories within stories, tied by the universal
theme of children coming of age and discovering
themselves as they experience the joys and sorrows
of life, the novel celebrates friendship as the most
noble of human qualities. My Ántonia, among its
other themes, is about the healing powers of past
memories and the awesome sense of freedom and
beauty created by the forces of nature.
This pastoral novel successfully combines realis-
tic vignettes of prairie life, the connection between
nature and human struggle, and the romantic ideal-
ism of a young man.
Maria Ornella TregliamemOr y in My Ántonia
The power of memory to keep relationships alive
and to make up for the disappointments of life is
a central theme in My Ántonia. Willa Cather, the
author, supposedly runs into an old friend, Jim
Burden, on a train crossing Iowa. Jim recounts to
her his memories of a Bohemian immigrant girl,
Ántonia, with whom Jim and Cather grew up on
the Nebraskan prairie. Jim is an accomplished law-
yer who is apparently unhappily married, and he
enjoys writing down what he remembers of Ántonia.
Cather expresses interest in reading his recollections,
and a few months later, Jim brings his portfolio of
memories to the author’s apartment in New York.
The title on the portfolio is Ántonia, but he is not
satisfied with it and makes it My Ántonia. This
introduction prepares the reader for Jim’s subjective
recollection of growing up on the prairie and of his
encounter with Ántonia 20 years later. The novel is
divided into five books, and each one could stand
by itself. The connecting thread is the narrator’s
nostalgic tone.
Although the love between Ántonia and Jim
does not develop beyond that of a platonic friend-
ship, it is nevertheless a profoundly loving relation-
ship that enriches their childhood and adult lives.
Jim cherishes the memories of a childhood spent
on the prairie with Ántonia as his playmate. He is