ELIT 48C Class 15

Jerry Falwell said “If we do not act now, homosexuals will own America! If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way”

AGENDA

• My Antonia

• Book II 9-15 Book III

• Themes

• Discussion Questions

• QHQs

DiscussionThemes

Themes: Coming of Age

• My Ántonia is a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, that traces Jim Burden's development from the age of ten.

• It begins when he is orphaned and newly transplanted to his grandparents' farm in Nebraska, where he first feels erased.

• His escape into romanticism first takes the form of a young boy's fascination with outlaws, such as Jesse James, and lost adventurers, such as the Swiss Family Robinson.

• As an adolescent, he remains estranged although conventional. Bored by the sameness of his small, pioneer town, he is intrigued by the romantic foreignness of the hired girls, girls he will never marry, and he keeps away from girls that would be suitable for him.

• As an adult, he remains virtually without a real home. His marriage is childless; he and his wife live almost separate lives, his being a life of travel on the railway through the land that he loves.

Difference It is through the eyes of Jim Burden, an orphan and thus

something of an outsider himself, that Cather considers differences of class, nationality, and gender.

Even before young Jim arrives in Nebraska, he is met with prejudice against foreigners.

Jake thinks that foreigners spread diseases.

But Cather makes it clear that prejudice was not invented in America.

Otto tells Mrs. Burden, "Bohemians has a natural distrust of Austrians."

And Norwegian Lena feels fated by the Lapp blood of her paternal grandmother. "I guess that’s what's the matter with me; they say Lapp blood will out."

In Groups

• Discuss the answers to the questions and your QHQs

Questions1. Discuss the differences Jim sees between the

country girls and the town girls.

2. Explain the importance of the dance pavilion to

both Jim and Antonia.

3. Explain why Willa Cather has chosen to devote one

of the books of her novel to Lena Lingard.

4. Discuss the importance of the narrator leaving

Black Hawk for college life.

QHQ: Lena

1. Q: Why would Lena decide to never marry? Will she keep that promise and never have children or will she succumb to the “norms” of society?

2. Q: Is the financial stability Lena achieved an impetus for her disregard towards the institution of marriage and family?

3. Q: Why does Lena chose Lincoln to set up her shop? Why does her character evolve even more has she become a round character?

QHQs: Jim, Lena, and Antonia

1. To Jim, what is Lena Lingard? How does Lena contrast with Antonia in Jim’s eyes?

2. Q: Did Jim and Lena sleep together?

3. Q: Why do Lena and Antonia feel comfortable expressing their feelings with Jim?

4. Q: Does Jim ever truly love Antonia? Could his apparent idealization of her help to explain why they never marry?

5. Q: Would either Lena or Antonia make a good wife for Jim, or would he be better off with someone else? Or perhaps alone?

6. Does Jim’s appreciation of women’s independence make him queer or is he simply ahead of his time in regards to his views on “fairer sex”?

More QHQs

1. Q: How does the dancing pavilion in Book II of My Antonia highlight ideas stated in F.T. Marinetti’s Manifesto of Futurism?

2. Q: Does Cather use the hired girls as a symbol for a woman being able to be independent and admired, to be seen as a positive change in society?

3. Q: What does the plough against the setting sun symbolize?

4. Q: What is the significance of the Cutter family? What do they bring that the rest of the town lacks?

5. How does Cather incorporate the idea of orphaning and/or abandonment in her novel?

HOMEWORK

Read My Antonia (1918) and Book IV Chapters 1-3 and Book V Chapters 1-3

Post #15: Answer one of the following prompts:

1. Compare and contrast Tiny Soderball and Lena Lingard’s success with money.

2. Discuss the reasons why Willa Cather chose to have Antonia return to the Shimerda farm as an unwed mother.

3. Discuss the differences between the Cuzak household and the Shimerda household from many years before.

4. Write your own QHQ