Theme Of Happiness In My Antonia

Happiness

In the novel My Antonia, Jim states that happiness is “to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.” Antonia, his dear childhood friend in the novel, would most likely not agree with this definition of happiness. Antonia is a hardworking, independent girl who is not one to wait around for happiness; she is more likely to go looking for it herself if she truly wishes to be happy. For example, Antonia loves going to the dances in town. She is thought of as the finest dancer around, but the crowd she hangs around with during these dances have “a reputation of being free and easy, and now [she’s] got the same reputation.” Since the boys she brings about give the Harlings trouble,

Since it is Jim that teaches Antonia to speak and read English, the relationship found an easy foundation to start on. One necessity to surviving in a foreign country is to learn the native language. It is better that Jim taught Antonia English instead of Emmaline Burden because it allowed Antonia to establish a relationship with someone her age, also allowing her to get accustomed to her new surroundings. Jim was there to help her with her father’s death. Antonia admired Jim in his knowledge and talents, such as when he killed the giant rattlesnake. She exaggerated greatly when telling Jim’s heroic tale of killing the rattler, saying the snake “fight something awful! He is all over Jimmy's boots. [Antonia] scream for him to run, but he just hit and hit that snake like he was crazy.”

In Jim’s mind, Antonia represents the past. Considering that he did not keep in touch with Antonia over those twenty years, she became a more nostalgic and precious memory. Jim was extremely attached to her, saying “the idea of [her] is a part of [his] mind; [she] influences [his] likes and dislikes, all [his] tastes, hundreds of times when [he] don't realize it. [She] really is a part of [him]." Jim says he wishes she was “a sweetheart, or a wife, or [his] mother or [his] sister — anything that a woman can be to a

Illnesses, death, dangerous animals, severe storms that destroyed crops, droughts, and bad harvests were just some of the hardships that pioneers had to brave through. For immigrants migrating from foreign countries, the move was even more difficult. They not only came to a land where they do not know the native language, they also had to become acquainted with customs that they were unfamiliar with, such as how to farm the land and how to survive on very little. When they first moved to the mid-west, many immigrants had nothing but a small, inconvenient sod house to live in. Immigrants that decided to migrate to the mid-west from eastern America may have determined to do so because of religious reasons or to get a better opportunity to provide for their family. Pioneers had to be willing to work hard in conditions that were not always favorable, be self-sufficient, and face difficulty with an open mind. Even the most difficult labor may not have reaped the best benefits. For pioneers who lived in established towns, life was much easier; they did not have to deal with bad harvests or hard working conditions as the farmers did. Successfully raising a family, having a good harvest, or getting involved in town life made living in the mid-west more