Critiscisms of My Antonia
In the past, critics have ad moralized and/or brutalized every writer they could get their pen on. This is seen from criticisms of Henry Adams to William Butler Yeats. These writers critique everything about the writer and his/her works. For instance many critics criticize Willa Cather's novel, My Antonia. Their criticisms lie on the basis that My Antonia is based on cyclical themes with no structure holding each of the My Antonia's books. In other words, as a collection of five different accounts remembered by the main character, Jim Burden, My Antonia is characterized by a loose plot structure yet the existence of common themes is expressed in a cyclical nature. According to James E. Miller, Jr.'s " 'My Antonia': A Frontier Drama of Time," Willa Cather's novel, My Antonia, is "defective in structure." (Bloom 51) Its structure is basically based on the narrators', which is Cather herself, point of view about when the main character, Jim Burden, remembers specific moments in an abstract pattern in his life about his Antonia. This is so because the collection of books that make up the novel, My Antonia, is about Willa Cather; the narrator's idea of what and to what point Jim Burden remembers. Miller also sta
For instance as Miller puts it, " the cycle of the seasons of the year, the cycle of the stages of human life, and the cycle of the cultural phases of civilization. " (Cather 261)In this we see Jim's feeling of incompleteness while on the other hand Antonia is an adult with a worn body and a spirit which is there unlike that of Jim's spirit which appears lost even though his body looks new. Bibliography Works CitedMayell, Frank. American Literature: Realism to 1945. Shimerda, and finally summer in the cyclical theme of the seasons of the year which created another cyclical pattern within itself. In the novel the reader encounters the impression that Jim is more closely alike to the children in maturity than that of the maturity of Antonia. The movement from a rural to an urban area made Antonia mature quicker so she would be able to survive in the city. The completion of the novel has a literal homecoming and completion of the circle. " (Cather 273) Every writer has been criticized in the past. "The fittest place to talk to each other. " (Bloom 54-55) In which he describes how Antonia went from girlhood in the beginning of the novel to her regression back into childhood.
Common topics in this essay:
Jim Burden,
Willa Cather's,
Finally Jim,
Peter Pavel,
Jim Antonia,
Book Shimerda's,
Kim Wells,
Harold Bloom's,
Antonia Shimerdas,
Jim Burden's,
novel antonia,
jim burden,
cyclical themes,
willa cather's novel,
life cycle,
cycle stages,
antonia moves,
willa cather's,
cycle seasons,
cather's novel,
cather's novel antonia,
cycle seasons cycle,
human life,
section hired girls,
constant cyclical themes,
|
Acceptance Essays
