They learn that she values her independence and ability to socialize.
It is an example of how women in Cather's day had no voice of their own.
Jim returns to find that Antonia has married, is financially poor, but has a large family.
The theme of My Antonia is the relationship between Jim and Antonia and how it changes. For example,
· "Nowadays Tony could talk of nothing but the prices of things, or how much she could lift and endure. She was too proud of her strength… I saw her come up the furrow, shouting to her beasts, sunburned, sweaty, her dress open at the neck, and her throat and chest dust-plastered…" (Cather 78)
means that
Ántonia drastically (physically and mentally) because of the tough prairie farm work, led to distanced relationship between Jim changed and Ántonia
Pioneers & immigrants have to work hard to survive
in addition,
· "'Why do you all the time try to be like Ambrosch?' 'If I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us.'" (Cather 86)
is
Jim asking Ántonia a question; more difficult for foreigners, so they must act rude/tough to seem less inferior
Ántonia and Jim's different social classes and Ántonia's altered mindset affect their relationship
In the novel My Ántonia by Willa Cather, Ántonia marries Anton Cuzak.
they both are young people
Willa Cather firmly established a dominant place for herself in the early feminist movement with her ode to the brave and sturdy pioneer women in â??My Antoniaâ??. Not only did the book bring to the forefront the contributions of these women, but also included comments on women rights as well as slightly hidden sexual metaphors throughout the text.
The lives of homesteaders and immigrants
Women had never been able to vote in the United States.
In My Antonia, Tiny Soderball opens a hotel for miners in Alaska and inherits a claim from a Swede who made a fortune.