Rohan Lewis writes:
In My Antonia, by Willa Cather, Jim’s grandmother is an interesting character. She serves as a model and mother to both Antonia and Jim, as well as a contrast to Antonia’s own mother. She is originally from Virginia and is not an immigrant. We see that she has adapted more easily to life on the prairie than Mrs. Shimerda. The grandmother has worked several years with her husband to achieve a comfortable lifestyle and the readers can’t imagine Mrs. Shimerda ever being the same.
From the very start, we see the contrast between the grandmother and Mrs. Shimerda. One of the first things Jim notices about his grandmother is that she is youthful and “a strong woman of unusual endurance.” When his meets Mrs. Shimerda, he observes that she is “certainly not young.” The differences in their attitudes as well are apparent in the first exchange between the grandmother and Mrs. Shimerda. As soon as they meet, Mrs. Shimerda says to the grandmother, “house no good, house no good!” The grandmother is calm and compassionate and replies, “You’ll get fixed up comfortable after while, Mrs. Shimerda; make good house.” The grandmother’s optimism and lack of complaint has probably been greatly responsible for her success on the prairie.
Antonia often takes refuge at the grandmother’s house, which is warm and welcoming, as opposed to her own dark cave. Grandmother enjoys rescuing Antonia from her hard life while teaching sewing, cooking, and housekeeping. According to Jim, “grandmother was in high spirits during the weeks that Antonia worked for us.” Jim and the grandmother are highly doubtful about Mrs. Shimerda’s domestic skills. Jim recalls, “I remember how horrified we were at the sour, ashy-gray bread she gave her family to eat.” Antonia is at the Burden house whenever she can be because it is a better place for her than her own home. At this point in the story, we can predict that Antonia will be successful as a result of the efforts of the Burden family in which the grandmother is a positive model for survival and happiness as a pioneer on the isolated and lonely Nebraska prairie.
Marshall responds in the comments!
Yes I agree that Mrs. Burden is a huge part of Antonia’s success. However I do not believe we have the evidence to claim that she adapted to farming life more quickly or easier than Mrs. Shimerda did. Just because she is successful now, after many years of training, does it mean she didn’t struggle just as much in order to get to her position now as she did Mrs. Shimerda. I also believe that we can’t really compare their experiences due to the fact that there are so many other factors that could factor in to suggest that Mrs. Shimerda SHOULD have had more trouble adapting to this life style. Remember, the Shimerdas are from a whole different country and moved here not knowing English and with a very reluctant husband as well as handicapped son. However we know that the Burdens moved from Virginia so at least they didn’t need to learn a new language to adapt.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very enlightening idea of how Grandmother could have played such a huge role in helping Antonia out. I really like the concept of how much we could change another person’s life without giving up “too” much ourselves even. I do think that we can never truly know how to what extent or whether these actions actually did help Antonia. The actions definitely are intended to help and seemed to have helped but we will never know for sure without actually experiencing the other possibility.
Your quote on how “house no good, house no good!” is one that relates very much to my own essay on how we as human beings could really forget all our manners or courtesy when we are in times of desperation such as those that Mrs. Shimerda and her family was facing at that time. Even though I never experienced this, but I could really imagine how difficult it would be for them to adjust so abruptly to this new life style. I myself can imagine times when I forgot my manners in less dramatic incidences.
Andrew Chan
I find the connections you make between the family members very interesting. You make the argument that the leadership or lack there of of a matrimonial figure is extremely important for the growth of families in rural Nebraska. I agree with that statement, because especially in times of great duress a powerful matrimonial figure is able to give leadership and guidance. As you said, the most important distinction between Mrs. Shimerda and Jim's grandmother is Jim's grandmother's positive outlook. This gives them a sense of hope and a reason to wake up the next morning
ReplyDeleteMarshall means a "matriarchal" or "maternal" figure, not a "matrimonial" figure. "Matrimonial" means having to do with marriage (matrimony).
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