Jim Burden has recently lost both of his parents and he travels by cross-country train to live with his grandparents on the Nebraska frontier. He finds a Bohemian family as his neighbors. Where he meets an Immigrant girl named Antonia whom he will respect and think a lot of. Together we will explore the growth of their triumphs and disappointments along the journey of their friendship. My Antonia investigates how language , social class and structures barriers can effect an individual's development. This is illustrated through the characters of Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda as many obstacles, unknowingly, stood in the way of their love for one another plus a change at happiness together. These blockages include, Jim being four years younger, the two being form different cultures and social class and the fact that Jim is much more educated than Antonia. All three factors combined, stand out against a marriage among these two characters.
             Antonia, being four years older, sometimes acts superior to Jim. This annoys him. Jim states, "Much as I likes Antonia, I hated a superior tone that sometimes she took with me. She was four years older than I, to be sure, and has seen more of the world: but I was a boy and she was a girl and I resented her protecting manner" (24). This age gap presents several barriers, those being: developmental of social and class structure barriers as well as a small degree of sexual barriers. While Jim is still young, and his life experiences has made him more mature and much wiser than most boys his own age he wishes for Antonia to acknowledge that. Jim is also aware of Antonia being more worldly than he is therefore Jim feels insecure compare to Antonia's knowledge on life the whole world in general. Because Jim is an orphan and has never felt the motherly love, he disapproves of her protecting manner. Antonia's safeguarding Jim awakens an unfamiliar feeling in him. Jim wants a friend and not a mothe...