My Antonia

I am currently reading “My Antonia” by Willa Cather. The book is about a boy visiting his grandparents at their house on the Nebraska Prairie, where he meets a Bohemian immigrant named Antonia. The book describes in depth both life on the Prairie as well as the two children’s relationship to one another. I find that the boy’s reaction when meeting Antonia is a smidge surprising, and unnatural to a person like me, and I also think that the setting could be the cause of this.

The boy, Jimmy, does not seem frightened or nervous at all when meeting the Bohemian family. He seems confident and willing to listen to the family. Coming from New York, I would be a smidge shy, as many kids my age would, and I would also not run off holding hands with one of the people I had just met and “snuggle” with him/her at the edge of a cliff. Honestly, I find this a little straightforward and imposing. I find myself quite quiet (if you can believe it) around strangers, but especially foreigners. Once, my friend rented her house out to a Scottish family, who my parents then decided to invite for brunch. The aspect I found most threatening was how polite they were. People from not only Scotland, but England as well are generally more polite than New Yorkers. One example of their polite manner was when my mom asked the 5-year-old boy, Bruce, whether he wanted some more orange juice. He replied in his adorable Scottish accent, “I wouldn’t mind.” The way he said it was so polite, like someone would say at the inaugural ball. Anyway, Jimmy was not shy at all, and I believe that he is a very communicative person because he did not feel this way when meeting the Bohemian family.

I think that the setting is partly the cause of Jimmy’s straightforward manner. On the lone, open prairie, a person could walk for miles without seeing another person or house. Jimmy’s loneliness may have led to a desire to talk to someone other than his grandparents. The same goes for Antonia. She is Bohemian, and most likely is not used to prairie life. Both she and Jimmy probably got fed up with their family and wanted a change. I feel this way with my room. Do you ever get tired of the way your room looks and randomly move furniture around? It may sound a little strange, but I do this every few months, depending on how neat the change allows me to be. The point is that Jimmy and Antonia were bored with seeing the same people each day because it is rare to see people out on the prairie, so they did not feel shy at all when meeting each other. Because of my experience with this, I understand how frustrating it is to see the same people and the same furniture each day.

Antonia, in “My Antonia” causes the main character, Jimmy, to respond to her in an overly-confident manner. He, in my opinion, seems almost rude in the way he acts. This is why people are shy: because they don’t want to seem to imposing or act as if they have already met. There is a difference (obviously) between rude and friendly, but in this case, it is almost hard to tell them apart.