In writing "My Antonia" Willa Cather used symbolic descriptions to convey how thoroughly intertwined nature and the lives of pioneer settlers of the Nebraska prairies were in the last decades of the 1800's. Cather has described through this sybolisim how the natural environment of the prairie shaped the lives of the characters. She also uses symbolism to relate how the characters shaped the life of the prairie itself, conveying the idea and belief that the natural environment has a consciousness unique to itself. One example of Cather using a symbol from nature to express the basic lives of the pioneers is the image of the plough against the sun. In section 14 of book two Cather describes a large, strong silhouette of a plough, created by the setting sun. This symbolizes the enormity of the labor these pioneers endured everyday. In this case Cather is showing how the the pioneers lives were strong and simple as symbolized by the nature of sunset. For this example she used descriptions of the sky, the sun and the fields to create a symbol representing the hard work of the pioneers. …show more content…
"I felt motion in the landscape, in the fresh, easy blowing morning wind, and in the earth itself, as if the shaggy grass were a sort of loose hide, and underneath it herds of wild buffalo were galloping, galloping…" In this case she is bringing the land itself to life and giving the prairie movement, symbolizing how the pioneers must react to the land for their survival. This shows that the daily lives of the settlers can be as challenging as riding on the backs of wild, galloping