Annotations over "My Antonia"

Dahl, Curtis. "An American Georgic: Willa Cather's "My Antonia"." Comperative Literature 7.1 (1955): 41-53. JSTOR. Web. 15 Nov 2012.

            Dahl states that “My Antonia” embodies the main themes found in most Cather novels. The most prominent are Cather’s desire illustrate her own Nebraska background and use and understanding of themes found in the poet Virgil’s works.  Like Virgil, Cather writes of the simplicity not of a grand subject matter. She describes the simple life of farming in Nebraska, staying true to her roots. Dahl states that all the great literary art comes from the beautiful, simplicity of the earth’s fertility as seen in Lena Lingard and Antonia. He argues that Cather interprets Virgil’s writing and uses his them of “the ageless struggle of man with the earth is the most fully satisfying way of life.”

 

Feger, Lois. "The Dark Dimensions of Willa Cather's "My Antonia"." English Journal 59.6 (1970): 774-779. JSTOR. Web. 14 Nov 2012.

            Despite how the novel “My Antonia” first appears, it is not a simply a tale of the roots, and values of pioneer family life, but, as Feger argues, of violence, the denial of human life, and of life’s ultimate futility. She describes through the opening scenes of Jim’s parents death, the subsequent suicide of Mr. Shimerda, the rattlesnake fight, and the lightning storm the darkness and violence that follows the young protagonist. His love for Antonia is blinded by the darkness of their life and he flees to Harvard and to the East. Feger also questions the insertion of the unhappy stories of Pavel, Peter, and the wolves or the suicide of the Norwegian man. She states that they all raise disturbing questions of loss, violence, deception, and death that are faced by Jim and Antonia. The novel closes in the same manner that it began, hiding it’s pessimism about life with the old, innocent, country life.