my antonia book 3

8/11/2019 My Antonia Book 3

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My AntoniaBook 3

Lena Lingard

By:Willa Sibert

Cather


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Authors Background:

Willa Cather was born on December 7, 1873 in Back Creek Valley (asmall farming community close to the Blue Ridge Mountains) in Virginia. She

was the eldest child of Charles Cather, a deputy Sheriff, and Mary Virginia BoakCather. The family came to Pennsylvania from Ireland in the 1750's.

In 1883 the Cather family moved to join Willa's grandparents William andCaroline and her uncle George in Webster County, Nebraska. At the time herfamily included Willa's two brothers, a sister, and her grandmother. Ayear laterthey moved to Red Cloud, a nearby railroad town, where her father opened a loanand insurance office. The family never became rich or influential, and Willaattributed their lack of financial success to her father, whom she claimed placedintellectual and spiritual matters over the commercial. Her mother was a vain

woman, mostly concerned with fashion and trying to turn Willa into "a lady", inspite of the fact that Willa defied the norms for girls and cut her hair short andwore trousers. While living in the town Willa met Annie Sadilek, whom she laterused for the Antonia character inMy Antonia.Many of Willa's characters areinspired by people she met in her youth. Another notable example is OliveFremstad, an opera singer, who inspired the character Thea Kronborg inThe Songof the Lark.

Willa graduated from Red Cloud High School in 1890. She soon moved to thestate capitol in Lincoln in order to study for entrance at the University of

Nebraska. At this time Willa was actually interested in studying medicine. In Red

Cloud she had spent time with and learned from a local doctor, and she dreamed ofbecoming a physician. But, when one of Willa's stories for a writing class gotpublished, she discovered a passion for writing had been fermenting within her. Incollege, Willa spent time editing the school magazine and publishing articles and

play reviews in the local papers. In 1892 she published her short story "Peter" in aBoston magazine, a story that later became part of her novel My Antonia. Aftergraduating in 1895, she returned to Red Cloud until she was offered a positionediting Home Monthly in Pittsburgh.

While editing the magazine, she wrote short stories to fill its pages. Between 1901and 1906, Willa worked as a high school English teacher. During this time shewrote the stories that would be published in her first collection, called the TrollGarden(1905). These stories brought her to the attention of S.S. McClure, ownerof one of the most widely read magazines of the day. In 1906 Cather moved to

New York to join McClure's Magazine, initially as a member of the staff andultimately as its managing editor. During this time she met Sara Orne Jewett, awoman from Maine who inspired her to later write about Nebraska. In 1912, afterfive years with McClure's, she left the magazine to have time for her own writing.
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After the publication of Alexander's Bridge, also in 1912, Cather visited theSouthwest where she was fascinated by the Anasazi cliff dwellings.

In 1913O Pioneers was published and in 1917 she wrote My Antonia while livingin New Hampshire. By 1923 she had won the Pulitzer Prize for her One of Ours,

and in this year her modernist bookA Lost Ladywas published. At the time hernovels focused on the destruction of provincial life and the death of the pioneeringtradition.

Perhaps overwhelmed by so much success, Cather suffered a period of despairreflected in the darker tones of the novels written during this period. Despite her

problems, she wrote some of her greatest novels during this period, such asTheProfessor's House(1925),My Mortal Enemy(1926), andDeath Comes for theArchbishop(1927).

Willa Cathers fiction is infused with many of her deeply-held beliefs and values.Among these values are a reverence for art, for history, and for the pomp andcircumstance of organized Catholic and Episcopalian religion. Cather also feltstrongly that peoples and civilizations who live in harmony with their naturalenvironments are, and should be, sources of inspiration. She decried materialismand the advent of modern mass culture, which she believed blunted humanintellectual achievement and polluted public taste.

From early on in her career, Cather received not only with widespread popularsuccess, but also astonishing critical success. This pattern began to change in the1930s with the advent of Marxist Criticism. Marxist critics suggested that Catherdid not understand or show concern for modern social issues, and they made fun

of the romanticism which infused her stories. Whether or not Cather was affectedby such criticism, these years were made more difficult by the death of her mother,brothers and her good friend Isabelle McClung.

Cather maintained an active writing career, publishing novels and short stories formany years until her death on April 24, 1947. At the time of her death, she orderedher letters burned. Though thousands of letters escaped destruction, Cather's will

prevents their publication. Willa Cather was buried in New Hampshire; in RedCloud, the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Foundation was created to honor hermemory.
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Characters:

Jim Burden- The author of the youthful recollection that makes up thebody of the novel. As a youth in Nebraska, Jim develops a close friendship

with a Bohemian immigrant girl, ntonia Shimerda. Jim is an intelligent,introspective young man who responds strongly to the land and theenvironment in which he lives. Unlike most other boys his age, Jim is moreinterested in academics and reflection than in roughhousing; in fact, heseems to prefer spending time alone or with girls such as ntonia. At thetime of the narratives composition, Jim is married, but without children, andworking as a legal counsel in New York City.

ntonia Shimerda- The focus of Jims recollection, and one of his closestchildhood friends. ntonia moves to Nebraska from Bohemia with the restof her family in her early teenage years. Intelligent, optimistic, loyal, andkindhearted, the naturally gregarious ntonia is forced to accept a difficultlife after the death of her father. At the time Jim writes the narrative, she israising her large family on the Nebraska prairie, not far from where she andJim grew up.

Lena Lingard- A Norwegian immigrants daughter and a friend of

ntonias. Lena has a brief liaison with Jim in Black Hawk and a moreextended relationship with him in Lincoln, where she sets up her owndressmakers shop. Lena is pretty and blonde, and craves independence andexcitement. Men are always attracted to her, but she refuses to marry andgive up her freedom.

Josiah Burden- Jims grandfather. Josiah is a strongly religious man,silentand given to hard work.

Emmaline Burden- Jims grandmother. Emmaline shows great concernand compassion for the Shimerdas and is a loving maternal figure for Jim.

Otto Fuchs- The Burdens hired hand, who looks like a cowboy out of oneof Jimsbooks but is actually an Austrian immigrant. Good-natured despitehis rough appearance, Otto decides to seek his fortune in the West after theBurdens move to Black Hawk.


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Jake Marpole- Another hired hand of the Burdens. Jake makes the tripfrom Virginia to Nebraska along with Jim and accompanies Otto out westafter the Burdens move to Black Hawk. Jake has a powerful temper butgenerally displays a good-natured and even childlike innocence about the

world.

Mr. Shimerda- The patriarch of the Bohemian immigrant family. Amelancholy man given to artistic and scholarly pursuits, Mr. Shimerda feelsvery much out of place in foreign land. His depression eventually leads tosuicide, leaving his family members to pick up the pieces and struggle tomake a living on their own.

Mrs. Shimerda- The matriarch of the Bohemian immigrant family. Mrs.

Shimerda is a brusque, bossy, and often curt woman. After the suicide of herhusband, she is forced to make do with the little that she has in an attempt toprovide for her family.

Yulka Shimerda- The youngest of the Shimerda children. Yulka is apretty, young girl who later helps ntonia raise her baby.

Ambrosch Shimerda- The Shimerdas oldest son. Mrs. Shimerda and herdaughters dote on Ambrosch, claiming that he is brilliant and the reason they

came to America. Ambrosch shares his mothers curt and presumptuousattitude, but becomes the unquestioned head of the family after Mr.Shimerdas suicide.

Marek Shimerda - The younger of the two Shimerda brothers. Mareksphysical deformities are accompanied by a handful of psychologicalinstabilities and mental deficiencies.

Tiny Soderball- One of the hired girls in Black Hawk and a friend tontonia and Lena. After working with Mrs. Gardener in the Boys Home,Tiny travels west and makes a small fortune during the Alaskan gold rush.

Russian Pavel- Tall, gaunt, and nervous, Pavel is an immigrant who fallsill under the care of the Shimerdas. He had been ostracized and forced toleave his native Russia after a frightful incident involving a wolf attack on awedding party.


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Russian Peter- Pavels housemate, and a fat, happy man. Like Pavel, Peterwas forced into exile from his native Russia following a wolf attack on awedding party. Peter eventually finds himself severely in debt and sells offhis belongings, leaving America for a job as a cook in a Russian labor camp.

Mr. Harling- The patriarch of the Harling family, neighbors to theBurdens in Black Hawk. A businessman of keen ability, Mr. Harlingdisapproves of ntoniasfrequent carousals at the dancing pavilion andeventually forces her to leave her post as their housekeeper because of herlifestyle.

Mrs. Harling- The matriarch of the Harling family, and a charismatic andactive woman. Mrs. Harling develops a strong affection for ntonia, and she

provides myriad activities for her children, ntonia, and Jim, to take part in.

Frances Harling- The oldest of the Harling children. Frances has a soundbusiness mind and manages her fathers accounts with a great deal of skill.

Charley Harling- The only Harling son. Charley is of a militarypersuasion and eventually goes on to a successful career at the NavalAcademy in Annapolis.

Julia Harling- The middle Harling daughter. Julia is Jims age and has a

penchant for music.

Sally Harling- The youngest Harling daughter, and something ofa tomboy.

Larry Donovan- ntonias fianc, and an arrogant and selfish young man.After being fired from his job as a railroad conductor, Donovan leavesntonia on the eve of their wedding, running away to Mexico in search of aquick fortune.

Mrs. Gardener - The proprietress of the Boys Home in BlackHawk.

Samson dArnault- A blind, black pianist. DArnaultcomes to BlackHawk on a blustery March weekend and gives a concert at the Boys Homethat brings down the house.


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Wick Cutter- The leading moneylender in Black Hawk and ashady character.

Gaston Cleric- Jims tutor at the university in Lincoln. Clericeventually

moves on to a teaching position at Harvard University and brings Jim alongwith him. His premature death from pneumonia has a strong effect on Jim.

Widow Steavens- The Burdens tenant at their old farmhouse. WidowSteavens develops a close relationship with ntonia in the time surroundingthe breaking of ntonias engagement.

Anton Jelinek- A Bohemian homesteader and friend of the Shimerdas wholater moves to Black Hawk and becomes a saloon proprietor.

Peter Krajiek- A Bohemian immigrant and neighbor to the Burdens whosells the Shimerdas their first farm in America and cheats them out ofseveral comforts.

Cuzak- A Bohemian immigrant to America who marries ntonia andraises a large family with her.


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Summary :

My Antonia Book3, Chapter1 Summary

Jim goes off to college in lincoln, nebraska. He gets a tutor he likes namedgaston cleric, who is the head of the latin department. For his first summervacation Jim chooses to stay in lincoln and get ahead on his studies again

rather than go home. His tutors stays around, too, so the two of them spend alot of time together. Narrator-Jim considers this period of his life to be one

of the happiest on his life. There are different kinds of people at theuniversity with Jim. Some of them come from the frams and can barely feedthemselves while they study. The instructors are also an eclectic bunch. The

students have very free personal lives. They dont have dorms so they livewherever they want. Jim lives with an old couple at the egde of town. He

gets two rooms for the price of one so he uses one as a study. He has awardrobe and a table and bookshelf. He puts a large map of rome on the wall

that he got from the Cleric. Jim buyys a nice big chair so that Gaston has aplace to sit when he comes to visit. He also buys Benedictine and Gastonsfavorite cigarettes so the man will stay and talk for a long time when hesthere. Gaston doesnt talk much in the crowd but he is verbose when alone

with Jim. Jim thinks that Gaston could have been a great poet. He gets Jim toappreciate ancient cultures like the romans and greeks. We learn we have tolive in italy. One night while they talk about Dante, Cleric repeats passagesfrom the Divine Comedy. Jim knows that he will never be a scholar himself.

He is always distracted looking back at his own childhood memories.


Its March of Jims sophomore year. The snow has been thawing and Jim is

sitting with his window open in his room after supper. Hes feeling lethargic.Jim looks at the blue sky outside his window. He sees the evening star. Jimclose his window and lights his candle. He props open a book, the Georgics,to begin his homework. He reads the famous line in latin which says that the

best days are the first to flee. (Check out "What's Up with the Epigraph?" formore on this quote.)Jim begins reading a passage that they covered in class


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that morning. He looks at the wordpatria, which his teacher taught himdoesn't mean country, but instead refers to the author's little rural town.Jimrecalls that Cleric said that Virgil must have remembered this passage when

he was dying. Cleric explained that on his death bed Virgil ordered that

theAeneidbe burned. And he must have remembered the Georgicswhen heordered this.Jim remembers that everyone left the classroom with a great

feeling after that.Now that he is studying alone, Jim thinks about Cleric. Hewonders about New England, which is Cleric's ownpatria.There is a knock

at the door and Jim hurries to answer it.It is Lena Lingard. Jim hardlyrecognizes her. She's wearing a black suit and a black lace hat with blue

flowers.Jim invites her to sit down in Cleric's chair. He is embarrassed, butshe is not.Lena explains that she lives in Lincoln now and owns a

dressmaking shop. She says she's doing very well. She's been there allwinter.Lena asks Jim if he thinks she's changed. He says she's prettier, butthen again maybe it's just her clothes.She explains that this coming summershe's going to build a house for her mother. The summer after she'll put nicefurniture and carpets in it.Jim looks at Lena, who is groomed and pretty. Heremembers how she used to look when she was a barefoot little girl on the

prairie. He's glad that she's done so well for herself.Jim tells Lena that he'snever earned a dollar himself, so he's proud of her. He asks about ntonia.

Lena says that ntonia is working for Mrs. Gardener at the hotel as ahousekeeper. She's also made up with the Harlings. She's engaged to LarryDonovan and worships him. Jim doesn't like Larry. He says he should gohome and look after ntonia. Lena sort of agrees.The two of them decide

that they should go to a show together sometime at the theatre.Lena leaves togo meet some Swedes at the drugstore. Jim wouldn't like them, she

says.Before she goes, Lena tells Jim that he should come see her some timeif he gets lonesome.Jim finds his room more pleasant because Lena visited

him. He closes his eyes and thinks about the hired girls. He decides that

there would be no poetry without girls, and that this is a precious revelationhe's just had.Jim thinks about the dreams he used to have about Lena. He

thinks about the line in the Georgicsthat says that the best days are the firstto flee.


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In Lincoln the best season for plays is in the late Spring.Jim and Lena go tosee a lot of shows together. Lena always insists on paying for her own seat.She pays more attention than Jim does to the costumes.One night they go to

see "Camille" together. They go early because Lena likes to watch thepeople coming in. Neither of them knows the play ahead of time, but they

are awed by what they see.Jim thinks the dialogue is great. He sees achampagne bottle opened for the first time. The props on stage amaze him.Also the women are stunning.The actress playing Marguerite seems to be

too old, and the character Armand is too young for her.Between the acts theyenjoy listening to the music played by the orchestra. After the second act Jimgoes into the lobby alone to smoke. He is happy that he came with Lena andnot some silly girl. In another scene Lena cries while Jim feels touched.Jim

criticizes the leading actress. Her voice is too heavy and deep. Still, hethinks no one could ruin this play.In a later scene Lena is terrified on

account of the great acting and cowers closer to Jim.During a bedroomscene, Jim cries himself.When they leave the theatre, it is raining. Jim

shelters them under the umbrella he got as a graduation present. Jim walks

her home and meanders on back to his own room, thinking about theperformance.Narrator-Jim says that, since then, whenever he sees that play,

he feels like it is April.


When Jim goes to visit Lena he has to wait in the parlor. He's surprised that Lenais so successful because she isn't domineering and business-like. But she doeshave a great talent for making clothes and following fashion, though she never

finishes anything on time and she always goes over budget. Jim thinks she is goodwith customers.Sometimes Jim sees her downtown in her business suit, when shelooks nice.Often they have breakfast together on Sunday at her place. She has adog named Prince who growls at Jim.Lena's landlord is named Colonel Raleigh,and he's the man who gave Lena the dog to begin with.Jim is amused by Lena'smanner of speaking. She learned lots of conventional. English expressions even


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though it is not her first language.Jim thinks Lena looks pretty in the mornings. Heunderstands why Ole was so crazy about her. Lena tells him that Ole never meant

her any harm. He just liked to talk to her. He only married Mary because hethought she would keep him straight, because he had a problem with women

taking advantage of him. Lena feels sorry for him, she says.If Jim stayed too lateat Lena's place the Polish violin-teacher who lived across the hall would come inand say threatening things to Jim. Colonel Raleigh and the Polish neighbor don't

get along. The latter is always trying to stop the former from flirting withLena.One night while Jim is having supper with Lena, the neighbor, named

Ordinsky, comes in. He's trying to pin together his waistcoat, which split, so hecould go play at a concert.Lena goes to sew it up for him. While she's gone,

Ordinsky warns Jim to respect her. Jim convinces the man that he ishonorable.After that, Ordinsky is always friendly to Jim. One day he writes a

newspaper article and asks Jim to take it down to the editor of the paper to publishit. Jim does, and so Ordinsky always likes him for helping him out.Because he's

spending a lot of time with Lena, Jim isn't taking his studies seriouslyanymore.Jim explains that he, Colonel Raleigh, and Mr. Ordinsky are all in love

with Lena.Gaston Cleric is offered a chance to teach at Harvard and he accepts it.He tells Jim that he should come along to Harvard where Lena won't be around todistract him.Cleric writes to Jim's grandfather suggesting that Jim go to Harvard.Grandfather agrees that it's OK with him.Jim spends an evening thinking things

over.He goes to see Lena the next morning. There are some flowers there that Mr.

Ordinsky left for her. Jim tells her that she should be careful or else Mr. Ordinskymight propose to her some day soon.Lena says that he has proposed often, but

doesn't mind when she says no. Old men like to be in love with someone, she says,because it makes them feel important.Jim tells Lena he hopes she won't marry

some old rich fellow.Lena tells him not to worry, because she's not going to marryanybody. She doesn't want a husband, because married men are always trying to

tell their wife what to do. She also likes having time to herself.Finally Jim tells herthat he's going away, because he'll never get anything done if he sticks around

here. Lena says she never should have started things with Jim. She muses that it

was probably ntonia telling her not to that made her want to do it.She gives Jim agood-bye kiss and says that she used to think she would be Jim's first

sweetheart.After he leaves Lincoln Jim goes home to see his grandparents. Thenhe visits his relatives in Virginia and goes on to join Cleric in Boston. (Jim is

nineteen at this point.)


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PLOT

Jim Burden, a successful New York City lawyer, gives an acquaintance amemoir of his Nebraska childhood in the form of a recollection of their

mutual friend, ntonia Shimerda. This memoir makes up the bulk of thenovel.

Jim first arrives in Nebraska at the age of ten, when he makes the trip west tolive with his grandparents after finding himself an orphan in Virginia. On thetrain out west, Jim gets his first glimpse of the Shimerdas, a Bohemianimmigrant family traveling in the same direction.

As fate would have it, the Shimerdas have taken up residence in farmneighboring the Burdens. Jim makes fast friends with the Shimerdachildren, especially ntonia, who is nearest to him in age and eager to learnEnglish. Jim tutors ntonia, and the two of them spend much of the autumnexploring their new landscape together.

In late January, tragedy strikes with the suicide of Mr. Shimerda. After anemotional funeral, the Shimerdas retreat into despair, and the Burdensstruggle to be as accommodating as possible. As a result of the hardships

that the Shimerdas suffer, ntonia and Jim find that a wedge has been drivenbetween them.

A couple of years later, the Burdens decide to move into town, and shortlythereafter ntonia takes a job as a housekeeper with a neighboring family,the Harlings. Jim begins to see more of ntonia once again, especially whena dancing pavilion comes to town and enlivens the social scene.

Jims high school years quickly come to a close, and he is offered a spot at

the university in Lincoln. He makes a great success of his high schoolcommencement speech and spends the summer hard at work in preparationfor his course of study. Before leaving, he takes one last trip out to thecountryside with ntonia and her friends, where they gather to reminisceabout old times together.


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In Lincoln, Jim throws himself into his studies, which take up the majorityof his time in the first year and a half of his course. In the spring of hissecond year, he begins to see a good deal of Lena Lingard, a mutual friendof his and ntonias who has always intrigued Jim. After a few months of

theatergoing and dalliances about town, Jim decides that he needs to make afresh start of things and prepares to transfer to Harvard University for hisfinal two years of college.

While Jim is away, ntonia gets engaged to a local boy and moves toDenver in order to be with him. Days before the wedding, the boy -abandonsntonia, and she returns to Nebraska heartbroken. She covers up anunexpected pregnancy throughout its term, but in giving birth to a daughterincurs the disapproval of her family. However, she resolves to take care ofher baby and continues to work on the farm with her brother.

After graduating from college, during the summer before entering lawschool, Jim returns to Nebraska to be with his grandparents. Upon hearing ofntonias situation, he decides to drive out to the countryside and visit her.They spend a happy day together reliving old times, and Jim parts with apromise to visit her again very soon.

Twenty years pass before Jim is able to visit ntonia again. In theintervening period, he establishes himself as a prosperous New York Citylawyer, and ntonia marries and has many children with a man namedCuzak, also of Bohemian origin. Jims visit to the Cuzak farm is a happyone, with plenty of laughter and stories. ntonia and Jim renew their oldties, and Jim resolves to be in closer contact with the Cuzaks in the -comingyears.

As he prepares to leave Nebraska and return to New York City, Jim walks

along the outskirts of town, near the overgrown road that leads to hischildhood home. At peace with himself in this familiar landscape, he feelsthat his life has come full circle, and he reflects in the moonlight on all thathis past with ntonia has meant to him.

my antonia book 3

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