My view of "My Antonia"

Willa Cather in her novel, My Antonia, offers her view of life during the pioneer time. This book is told in Jim's perspective, and if it were told in Antonia's perspective, I think that the story would be much different.

If the novel was told in Antonia's perspective with her telling the story, I do not think that anyone would hear about Jim as much as we do now. I think that we would probably hear more about Antonia than anybody, and the story would be more girly than it already is.

I guess you can say that Cather is alright at writing as a man, that is if you did not know that the author was not a man. I could tell that the author was a woman. The style, words used, and many other things in this novel would lead someone to thinking it was a female author. My answer is no, Jim does not sound like a man writing, it sounds like a woman writing the narrative while trying to sound like a man.

I think that Jim changed the title from Antonia to My Antonia because later in the novel Jim and Antonia get married. So it's safe to say that Antonia is indeed Jims'.

I am not going to lie, i did not like this book. It is about a woman who has children (which already sounds to me as boring) and this and that about different things like her love, Jim, and her having to work in the plains and many different things. Anyone can tell that this novel is for girls, not guys. Overall, it is a good book for women to read, but i would not recommend it to any guys.

The Effects of Setting

Willa Cather embedded literary devices, such as metaphors, similes, and personification, within her writing. "As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running."

"The grave, with its tall red grass that was never mowed, was like a little island."

"Winter comes down savagely over a little town on the prairie. The wind that sweeps in from the open country strips away all the leafy screens that hide one yard from another in summer, and the houses seem to draw closer together. The roofs, that looked so far away across the green treetops, now stare you in the face, and they are so much uglier than when their angles were softened by vines and shrubs.


  Where this novel takes place has effects everybody. Of course, none of the characters, (Jim, Antonia, Ambrosche, Grandmother), view it or look at it the same way. Each character has his or her way of looking at the location they are in. An example is that Jim likes the landscape and qualities of the setting, of where they are.

  The plains and mountains that make up my environment are amazingly beautiful. I can look at the plains for hours as far as my eyes can see and to me they resemble the ocean of where i used to live. The mountains are as tall as the sky and look as if they go past the clouds. The view from the top of these mountains show the entire city that's full of lights resembles stars that fill the sky at night.

Argument: Doomsday in 2012?

Assertion/claim: The world is not going to be a doomsday in 2012.

• The people, the Mayans, that said the world will end next year also said that a religious rebirth would occur on a past date that would bring an end to the world and they were obviously wrong. Since the Mayan calendar end on December 21 of 2012, people are jumping to the conclusion that that is the end of the world.
• Just because the Mayan calendar ended on that date does not mean that the world also ends on that date.
• The Mayans' did not say the world will end next year and even if they did, it would not mean that it will.
• There is not sufficient evidence supporting that the world will end next year.
• No scientific evidence says that the world will end next year in particular.
• Besides there being no scientific evidence, the Mayans' did not have any evidence that the world will particularly end next year either.

Opposing Claims/They Say:

• "The world is going to end on December 21, 2012.", everybody says because the Mayan calendar ends on that date.

My Rebuttal/I Say

• People claiming that the world is ending in 2012 because the Mayan calendar ends on that date is false belief. The calender on December 21, 2012 does not necessarily mean that the world is going to end. There are scientific explanations why the world could end, but not on December 21, 2012 in particular from any other date or year.

My Paragraph
The people, the Mayans, that said the world will end next year also said that a religious rebirth would occur on a past date that would bring an end to the world and they were obviously wrong. Since the Mayan calendar end on December 21 of 2012, people are jumping to the conclusion that that is the end of the world. Just because the Mayan calendar ended on that date does not mean that the world also ends on that date. The Mayans' did not say the world will end next year and even if they did, it would not mean that it will. There is not sufficient evidence supporting that the world will end next year. No scientific evidence says that the world will end next year in particular. Besides there being no scientific evidence, the Mayans' did not have any evidence that the world will particularly end next year either. "The world is going to end on December 21, 2012.", everybody says because the Mayan calendar ends on that date. People claiming that the world is ending in 2012 because the Mayan calendar ends on that date is false belief. The calender on December 21, 2012 does not necessarily mean that the world is going to end. There are scientific explanations why the world could end, but not on December 21, 2012 in particular from any other date or year.

My Thinking:
This paragraph is written under inductive thinking because I agree partially, not completely.

Source:
 universetoday.com