Friendship in Fiction and Film of My Antonia
In "My Antonia," the friendship between Jim and Antonia is a lifelongbond that cannot be broken, and this is a constant theme throughout thenovel. Jim and Antonia love each other, but they love each other more thanromantically, they have the true bond of friendship, and it does notshatter even though their lives become drastically different as the growolder. Jim wants to remember his friend as she was in his youth, and inthat, he wants to hang on to his own youth. He muses, "In the course oftwenty crowded years one parts with many illusions. I did not wish to losethe early ones. Some memories are realities, and are better than anythingthat can ever happen to one again" (Cather 328). Theirs is an easyfriendship that comes back to them whenever they see each other, andalthough Antonia does not really appear that often in the novel, it isquite clear she is vital to Jim, and an important part of his memories, andof his future. When he sees her again, after twenty years, he thinks,"All the strong things of her heart came out in her body, that had been sotireless in serving generous emotions. It was no wonder that her sons
They have a true friendship, and Charles Foster Kane died alone because hedid not. Charles Foster Kane, the main character of Citizen Kane is a wealthyand ruthless businessman who becomes a newspaper tycoon and loses the onlyreal friend he has in the process. He says, "As far as I was concerned, he behaved like a swine. In the end, Jim equates his friendship withAntonia throughout the years as his destiny, and this destiny has made allthe difference for both of them, creating a lasting bond stronger thanfamily or love. True friends last a lifetime, and Jim and Antonia are anexample of the truest and purest type of friendship, unselfish and caringto the last. I will supply the war" ("Citizen Kane"), and of course,he does. He has wealth, power, and prestige, but he has no one wholoves him, for he has alienated them all in with his cruelty anddisrespect. When hedrives away his closest friend, Joe Leland, Kane's downward spiral begins,and the film seems to be saying that one can lose everything, but when oneloses one's friends, there is nothing left to lose. Kane's ruthless use of people andevents is evident throughout the film, and the fact that he dies alone issignificant. Kane allows his ownambition and personal whims to come between him and the man who has alwayssupported him. She was a rich mine of life, like the founders ofearly races" (Cather 353). This shows how ruthless he is, and gives an indication of why healienates those who care for him, he is simply too driven to care.
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Acceptance Essays
