Preview

My Antonia Nebraska Landscape Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
463 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
My Antonia Nebraska Landscape Analysis
The Nebraska Landscape
Humankind’s relationship to its environment is one of the strongest bonds people can make. In Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, this relationship is shown through many of the characters want to return to their hometown of Black Hawk, Nebraska. What they find they miss is a lost setting, a vanished world of people, places, and natural surroundings. They all develop a strong attachment to the Nebraska landscape, which never seems to leave them. Part of the reason for this connection is that the novel is set in a time and place where the weather places limitations on the characters. As a result, the characters are simply more in tune with the weather and the natural elements in general. The landscape gives their feelings and thoughts a physical form, and reveals the theme of human connection with its surroundings as a whole. …show more content…
The river, that Jim and Ántonia enjoy swimming in, represents his free soul. Jim always allows himself to enjoy the simple things in life and adventure with Ántonia, but keeps his goals in mind. The wide open Nebraska plains represent his open-minded, romantic personality that develops as he grows up. When he starts college, he finds himself beginning a relationship with his old friend Lena, and does everything in his power to make her happy. The landscape seems to shape his life and personality, changing and developing as he does. It also mirrors Jim’s feelings—it looks desolate when he is lonely—and also awakens feelings within
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Book Analysis: All the Pretty Horses
    • 1553 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Book Analysis: All the Pretty Horses

    In Cormac McCarthy’s novel All the Pretty Horses, the setting is used to represent the main characters transformation over time from one terrain to another. The limitedness of the Texan terrain scattered with barbed wire restrictions identifies the restlessness that motivates John Grady’s brevity in the region at the beginning of the novel. Meanwhile, the Mexican wilderness that John Grady Cole’s sets out for comes to epitomize how the vast territory of fenceless space shapes his experiences as they outline his true character. The result is recognition of the parallel between open terrain and his character, each one exemplifying one another and in the end explains the enlightenment he struggles for.…

    • 1553 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Essay - Really Bad
    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Huck Finn Essay - Really Bad

    Huckleberry Finn is a novel set in the rural south of the United States during a period in history when slavery and racism were part of everyday life. The novel introduces two main characters: Huck Finn, an adventurous but naïve, white boy, and Jim, a runaway slave whom is travelling with Huck down the Mississippi River. Throughout the course of the novel, both characters are faced with their individual internal struggles; Huck in particular is faced with the pressing notion of whether or not he should turn Jim in to his rightful owner and do the “right” thing, or disobey the law and help Jim obtain his freedom. Being nothing more than a foolish and naïve boy, Huck does not know the meaning of true love and friendship, until Jim opens up to him and they begin to bond no longer as white boy and black slave, but as humans.…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Annie Dillard Early Childhood Analysis
    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Annie Dillard Early Childhood Analysis

    1. Annie Dillard in the first part of the book have talked about growing up in pittsburgh on 1950s. She focuses on her family life, her childhood activities, and her experiences with nature and how it have left a mark in her life. The american childhood is about the moments she lived in her childhood and how she immersed into being an adult. Having been lived in Pittsburg in 19th century, she talks about how it felt to live in the society full of upper class people. In addition, she talks about the experiences she had with nature and how it had greater significance in her life than anything else. She had a spiritual relationship with the geography such as digging a hole, starting to be alert of the world she existed as soon as she woke up. Thus, she believes that the more one experience nature during their childhood, the more story one has to talk about nature in future.…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Their Eyes Were Watching God Rhetorical Analysis
    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Their Eyes Were Watching God Rhetorical Analysis

    One of the most beautiful things we can find in the world is nature. Nature is something that is naturally beautiful. When a writer is able to use nature as metaphor various times throughout a book, it really creates a pleasant understanding of what the writer is trying to say. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, there are many metaphors about nature to the protagonist’s life. The leading protagonist in this book is Janie Crawford. The book covers most of Janie’s adulthood and perfectly describes it using nature as a metaphor.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Burdens: The Landscape Descriptions Of Antonia
    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Burdens: The Landscape Descriptions Of Antonia

    I found books 2 and 3 to be particularly concerned with the American Dream, as many of the characters were growing up and moving away. The Burdens lose Jake and Otto to the west in the beginning, and soon after the Burdens move into town, Antonia becomes a servant for one of the neighbors. However, her servitude for the Harling family is short lived, and she soon quits and works for another family. She quit because the Harling family was disapproving of her social habits, especially that of going to dances. Although Antonia wanted to help support her family, her willingness to quit a job that tries to stifle her social suggests that she values enjoyment. Other characters, such as Jim and Lena, are much more work-oriented. Lena starts working…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Humanity In Bret Harte's The Outcasts Of Poker
    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Humanity In Bret Harte's The Outcasts Of Poker

    In The Outcasts of Poker, Flat Bret Harte has an excellent portrayal of nature reflecting a communities actions. As the town walks the troublemakers to the town limits “[there] were no comments from the spectators, nor was there any word [from] the escort” (341). Not long after that “the air [grew] strangely chill and the sky overcast” (343). This sudden change of weather mimics the attitude of the people of Poker Flat. They had…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Painted Door - Setting
    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Painted Door - Setting

    In the story, “The Painted Door,” Sinclair Ross creates a mood of bitter cold, extreme isolation and loneliness. For the environmental means, the story is set in winter and there is a large snowstorm coming. The isolation of the farmland is made abundantly clear when we learn the closest neighbouring farm is “five miles away.” The physical setting of the environment is important to a good story as it reflects the moods and emotions of the characters and it gives the reader a glimpse into how the characters are feeling. The environment of a story can also be used to bring out issues between the characters or as a technique for foreshadowing what is to come later in the story. The mental setting of Ann is that of the physical environment. She has turned cold and indifferent toward her husband John; her feelings are stormy because she longs for another man but struggles with the guilt of it all. Both of these physical and mental settings contribute to the climax and conclusion of the story. The repetition of Ann’s feelings of boredom, loneliness and indifference all contribute to the reader really understanding her emotional turmoil. Ross also uses the physical description of the storm to describe the feelings of Anne towards the two men. She is conflicted and is going back and forth between hot and cold for both John and Steven. This emotion is also made clear with the help of describing the fire in the stove going from hot to cold and back to hot again. Sinclair Ross does a great job at using the flames and heat of the fire to describe her unresolved feelings for not only her husband, but for Steven as well. A great deal of this story is spent describing Ann’s environment, both inside and outside of her home. The barrenness of the surroundings in which the characters live is probably the most vividly expressed theme of the entire story and gives clues to how it is possible for Anne to engage…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    My Antonia Important Quotes
    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages

    My Antonia Important Quotes

    1. “During that burning day when we were crossing Iowa, our talk kept returning to a central figure, a Bohemian girl whom we had both known long ago. More than any other person we remembered, this girl seemed to mean to us the country, the conditions, and the whole adventure of our childhood.”…

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Logging and Pimping and "Your Pal, Jim"
    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Logging and Pimping and "Your Pal, Jim"

    The flattery the narrator first felt turns into a strong liking for Jim. At this point of time, the narrator enjoys being around Jim mostly because of their age difference. Although there was only a three years difference, at times the narrator felt it was more. Growing up as a minister’s son, he was sheltered for the majority of his life. For this reason, the narrator envies all that Jim has gotten to see and go through in his life. Soon they begin to get to know each other and learn what each does outside of logging in the summer. Jim tells the narrator about the two activities he does in the winter. Reading and Pimping. This is when the narrator begins to form a second impression that maybe Jim isn’t such a great guy. Then they start going their separate ways, and begin to hate one another. “I suppose that the early stage in coming to hate someone is just running out of things to talk about. I thought then it didn’t make a damn bit of difference to me that he liked his whores big as well as southern,” (Maclean 110).…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Mississippi's Journey
    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mississippi's Journey

    At the start of the river, the water is a lot more fresh, clear, and young. As it flows down stream, it becomes older, experiences more, and picks up debris on the way. By the time it reaches the mouth, it is old, worn out, and tired. This mirrors the journey of life in general, and the journey of Huck and Jim. In the early years a of a person’s life, everything is new, exciting, and full of possibility, just like Huck and Jim’s first days on the river. As time goes on, and people come into contact more with the real world, there are problems that are unavoidable. The world full of freedom and possibility has become hindered. There are still taxes to pay, laws by which to abide, and responsibility that can’t be avoided, which matches how Huck and Jim met unfortunate circumstances along the way. But, by the end of one’s journey, it becomes a time to realize that there really is no such thing as freedom. Nothing can ever be avoided completely, and sometimes barely even momentarily. Just like complete freedom is unattainable, so is perfection. Mark Twain used the journey on the river to describe that point of view, because in the end, the river is no longer a beacon of hope in a darkened world. It is merely an ephemeral stage that will undoubtedly be cut short by the shortcomings and downfalls of a murky…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Superstitions
    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Huck Finn Superstitions

    In the distance, the horn of a steamboat sounds. The Mississippi River flows powerfully. A raft appears, just a small speck on the great river, carrying a young boy, Huck Finn, and a runaway slave, Jim. In Mark Twain’s novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reader dives into a first hand account of these two and their journey, as well as the growth of their thoughts along the way. Long days on the river allow much time for one to think. Though both characters do a considerable amount of reflecting, Jim’s is the most profound, as he uses his thinking to come to conclusions, consider things once they have passed, and realize the effect his words will have. Because of this, Jim is the novel’s most sophisticated philosopher.…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Prologue And Then She Owns You
    • 133 Words
    • 1 Page

    Analysis Of Prologue And Then She Owns You

    In the poem, “Prologue-And Then She Owns You” by Patricia Smith and the opening prose of “Coming Through Slaughter” by Michael Ondaatje the image of Louisiana is very distinct and revealing. In both texts, the authors set up their narratives describing the landscape to help develop the characters and events that take place there. The different literary structures they use both reinforces the understanding that where something grows shapes our thoughts of it and proves that your surroundings influence your experiences. The frontier written in either prose or poetry is as important as the voices of the characters and in creative nonfiction, the setting can become a character within the text. In both texts, the author’s use figurative language…

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn
    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Huck Finn

    The river is a good place to find adventure, it is always moving to someplace new. Adventures are only possible with freedom, if Jim were to still be stuck with his father, he would not be having as much fun.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Mary Oliver
    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Mary Oliver

    In this very lyrical excerpt, Mary Oliver has a great attraction to nature because of its paradoxical yet balancing form. By being both terrifying and beautiful, nature fills the world with contrasting entities that can be “death-bringers” or bring “immobilizing happiness.” Oliver uses imagery, parallelism, and contrasting to express her swaying emotions of fear, awe, and happiness towards nature.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    I M With The Bears: Book Analysis
    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages

    I M With The Bears: Book Analysis

    In a very similar manner, the author coerces the readers to feel the unmitigated grief he feels for the loss of these ecological systems, for these natural beauty, “…and yet here it was, dead. Desolation filled him. It pressed inside him, slowing him down, buffeting him from inside, making him stumble. Not the Sierra.” Therefore, as we can see, by sympathizing with the fictional characters of these stories, perhaps even the author himself, we feel the intimate relationship between human beings and nature and learn to recognize nature as an existing life who needs saving, instead of inanimate…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics