The prairie makes one think of the forces of nature–immense, cyclical, and unpredictable. Ántonia represents to him the most fundamental, traditional way to lead one’s life, including the virtues of hard work, charity, love, optimism, pride, and sympathy with nature. Jim Burden sets down everything the name of Ántonia brings back to him. A man of the world, he is reinvestigating his values. What is the purpose of having the story told by Jim Burden thirty years later? From that perspective, he can present with great clarity and tenderness the highlights of his memories. His perception, being broad and persuasive, sets the tone for the whole book. He persuades you to sympathize with all of them. Looking back on his memories, he knows what is eventually going to happen to the characters. The point of view is immediate and subjective. He writes in the first person, and his use of the pronoun “I” makes you feel his personal involvement. My Ántonia is told from the point of view of Willa Cather’s fictional friend, Jim Burden.

While this reflects on the focus of the paper, I will use two characters, Jim and Ántonia, to illustrate these issues, and show why they make this book such a delightful work of art. Jim Burden not only goes back to the prairie but more importantly, he retreats to the innocent days of his very first memories. A pastoral work retreats to an ideal rural setting. It also hints at the Hellenic, to a large extent pastoral tone the novel will be set in. It not only makes clear that Willa Cather will deal with memories of a glorious past but also allows a suitable basis to show how nature can change and affect a relationship.

The inscription on the title page of My Ántonia is a quotation from Virgil: “Optima dies… prima fugit.” This sentence, meaning “the best days are first to flee”, helps incorporate all the elements of the novel I would like to discuss. My Ántonia has been called nostalgic and elegiac because it celebrates the past.

My antonia by willa cather