My Antonia Summary
Willa Cather

Everything you need to understand or teach My Antonia by Willa Cather.

My Antonia Summary & Study Guide
11 Student Essays
1 Encyclopedia Article
1 Book Notes
...and more

30 My Antonia Lessons
20 Activities
180 Multiple Choice Questions
60 Short Essay Questions
20 Essay Questions
Pre-Made Tests and Quizzes
...and more

My Antonia Summary

Willa Cather's My Antonia (1918) is the story of both Antonia Shimerda, a Bohemian immigrant to the state of Nebraska in the 1880s, and the novel's American-born narrator, Jim Burden. The story is told as Jim relates his own image of Antonia in a nostalgic re-creation of his childhood and youth. Their wildly differing places in the social hierarchy account for their respective fortunes. Antonia survives her father's suicide, hires herself out as household...

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The My Antonia Study Pack contains:

My Antonia Study Guide

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Characters

Themes

Style

Criticism

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Topics for Further Study

Encyclopedia Articles (1)

My Antonia

6,682 words, approx. 23 pages

My Antonia by Willa Cather Willa Cather was born in 1873 and raised in Virginia, where her ancestors had farmed since the late eighteenth century. At the age of nine, she moved with her family to R... Read more

Willa Cather Biographies (7)

Willa Sibert Cather

647 words, approx. 3 pages

The American author Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947) is distinguished for her strong and sensitive evocations of prairie life in the twilight years of the midwestern frontier. Her poetic sensibility wa... Read more

Willa Sibert Cather

9,750 words, approx. 33 pages

Willa Cather is a splendid example of a writer whose work is deeply rooted in a sense of place and at the same time universal in its treatment of theme and character. The corner of earth that she is ... Read more

Willa Sibert Cather

2,268 words, approx. 8 pages

"I do not take myself seriously as a poet," said Willa Cather in a 1925 interview. Having by then published many short stories and six novels (of an eventual twelve) and having won a Pulitzer Prize fo... Read more

Willa Sibert Cather

4,008 words, approx. 14 pages

The literary reputation of Willa Cather has steadily risen since her first volume of short stories appeared in 1905, but her present stature as an important American writer rests largely on her twel... Read more

Willa Sibert Cather

7,822 words, approx. 27 pages

During the 1973 Willa Cather centennial seminar in Lincoln, Nebraska, Leon Edel--the Henry James biographer who collaborated with E. K. Brown on the first important biographical study of Cather--put h... Read more

Willa Sibert Cather

10,480 words, approx. 35 pages

Biography EssayWilla Cather is an outstanding example of a writer whose work is deeply rooted in a sense of place and at the same time universal in its treatment of theme and character. The corner of ... Read more

Willa Silbert Cather

4,804 words, approx. 17 pages

"The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman," Willa Cather observed in her second novel, O Pioneers!, but the same theme resonates throughout all of her work. Passionately in... Read more

Essays & Analysis (11)

The Sacrifices of a Woman

2,535 words, approx. 9 pages

A common trait for Willa Cather's characters is that they possess a certain talent or skill. This art usually controls the lives of these characters. According to critic Maxell Geismar, Cather's heroi... Read more

Human Character is Created and Defined by Living Conditions

1,891 words, approx. 7 pages

Human Character is Created and Defined by Living Conditions. Willa Cather's novel My Ántonia dramatizes the effect the frontier has on both native-born people and immigrants that come to the We... Read more

Shaped by the Environment

726 words, approx. 3 pages

People's personalities are affected by their surrounding environments. Those who were raised in the country possess a unique love for the land, which makes them feel at home, even after moving into... Read more

My Antonia

931 words, approx. 4 pages

In the book, "My Antonia", nostalgic views can be compared to those from narratives of Indians personal experiences. The experience that can be compared is the relation that they had regarding the wes... Read more

The Struggles of Ordinary Human Beings in "My Antonia" and an Old Western Movie

1,364 words, approx. 5 pages

Western frontier life in America marks one of the most exciting chapters in American history. The settlement of the West fulfilled the dreams of gold-hungry prospectors and of homesteaders whose bac... Read more

My Antonia

637 words, approx. 3 pages

Progress in My Antonia is write about three of the characters- Antonia Shimerda Cuzak, Jim Burden, and Lena Lingard. These three, who could be the most important characters in the book, all have th... Read more

My Antonia, A Character Study

1,100 words, approx. 4 pages

Much of our American culture is conceived through books and the numerous authors that write these books are part of our culture. Books have taught its readers lessons for life. They take their readers... Read more

A Review of My Antonia

1,115 words, approx. 4 pages

Antonia Shimerda is a Bohemian immigrant girl who moves, with her family, to the Great Plains of Nebraska where she lives in a dugout cut into the side of a hill. Many people lived in dugouts along th... Read more

My Antonia: A Gender Study

1,224 words, approx. 5 pages

I've chosen to write about the gender statement in Cather's "My Antonia." I'd like to first start out by saying that I don't believe that she was trying to make a statement about the men in this work.... Read more

Reading Response for My Antonia

608 words, approx. 3 pages

When recalling the female characters from My Antonia an anecdote about carrots, eggs, and coffee beans comes to mind. Each of the items on their own have good qualities however when the items are pla... Read more

My Antonia by Willa Cather

2,536 words, approx. 9 pages

My Antonia Final Assessment: The Reader's Guide Table of Contents Picture: The Struggle-Page 1 Synopsis of My Antonia-Page 2 thru 3 Literary Criticism A. Cather's Style-Page 4 B. ... Read more

Free Book Notes (1)

My Antonia

20,253 words, approx. 68 pages

My Antonia Book Notes is a free study guide on My Antonia by Willa Cather. Browse the summary below:   Author Biography / Context of the Work   One-Page Plot Summary   Character D... Read more

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