Immigration In Willa Shimerda's My Antonia

Immigration, a foundation and guiding force in a premature United States, helped establish the identity of today’s modern world. The US is the progressive, prosperous nation it is today for the baseline unity and coming together of peoples from different places, different countries - different cultural and ethnic identities. Acceptance diversity, and humanity are necessary for new beginnings, all of which can be found in the new beginnings that come with immigrant status. An immigrant herself Ántonia Shimerda, from My Ántonia by Willa Cather, knows the hardships that come with new beginnings. The prosperity of a Ántonia, directly correlates to the the United States success. Whether intentional or not the world is better off having Ántonia

Shimerda, the inability to communicate which is evident from the beginning of the book, and cultural and religious differences. Simply, the social hierarchy complex that lives in and makes up Black Hawk, can be very difficult for the immigrant populations to integrate into. Unbeknownst to the Shimerda family, Black Hawk, Nebraska was a fairly vanilla place, “Most Black Hawk fathers had no personal habits outside their domestic ones; they paid the bills, pushed the baby carriage after work hours, mover the sprinkler about over the lawn, and took the family driving on Sunday” (Cather 116). To put it kindly the Shimerdas were not a vanilla family mixed with tragedy and immigration they weren't to fit in as another family might. The novel itself is a sympathetic one, not leaning to advocacy of immigrants nor for full Americans while still being able to talk about the topic with the voice in two people's point of view. This is the driving force that helps Ántonia form her identity, being an immigrant and the implications that come with the label. Being marginalized

The community of Black Hawk, Nebraska is fairly homogeneous consisting of Americans moving west in search of wealth and the immigrant population, mainly European. Ántonia herself identifies as a Bohemian immigrant, but she can accept new culture and welcomes their ideals to influence her life. Qualities that make her who she is explicitly relate to who she surrounds herself with, not only her family but the Burden family as well. Jim, who she has a rocky road with later in life, helps her new life, a new identity that will shape how the outside world will view her. Jim was not only her connection to the English language, but her network into Blackhawks social hierarchies. After tragedy hit the Shimerdas and the patriarch of the family was lost, Ántonia had to assume more of a leadership role. Her older brother Ambrosch gave her “allowance for clothes and pocket-money” and he often “make (made) a fool of her” (Cather 113). This not only cut her off from normal teen social experiences but impacted her immigrant status even more as she was seen as poor and ungrateful for her newfound opportunities. The sharpening of an identity does not happen overnight and often one event that impacts who a character is now will have later implications. From Ántonia’s father’s death to restriction on