Working Thesis: In the novel My Ántonia by Willa Cather, Cather portrays to the audience the American Dream for the Shimerda family, Jim Burden, Lena Lingard, Tiny Soderball, Peter and Pavel, as well as the sacrifices that they may have had to make to come to America and start a new life. Cather also uses a feminist approach in the novel because the novel is really Jim Burden’s story of Ántonia, Jim is the narrator of the novel, not Antonia. Although someone who is writing about the novel in a cultural or gender perspective will have a different view.
I. American Dream and Sacrifices
A. The Shimerda Family
1. Mr. Shimerda
a. He did not want to come to America and leave his old country, his friends, and the life that he made and knew there …show more content…
Explain how Jim met Peter and Pavel, the Shimerda family, Lena Lingard, and Tiny Soderball
7. Explain how Jim went to school to get an education; he goes to college (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 49).
a. According to the book Approaches to Teaching Cather’s My Ántonia edited by Susan J. Rosowski it discusses how education and going to school for Jim was very important because it represented that he had class and having an education would help him later in his life (Rosowski 27).
C. Lena Lingard
1. Pursues the American Dream in her own way (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 49).
2. Discuss how she is an immigrant girl who is Scandinavian and is a friend of Ántonia (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 48-55)
3. Explain the life that she makes for herself in America (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 48-55)
a. Explain how she worked as a Hired Girl
b. She becomes a dressmaker and becomes a very successful businesswoman (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 49).
D. Tiny
I. American Dream and Sacrifices
A. The Shimerda Family
1. Mr. Shimerda
a. He did not want to come to America and leave his old country, his friends, and the life that he made and knew there …show more content…
Explain how Jim met Peter and Pavel, the Shimerda family, Lena Lingard, and Tiny Soderball
7. Explain how Jim went to school to get an education; he goes to college (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 49).
a. According to the book Approaches to Teaching Cather’s My Ántonia edited by Susan J. Rosowski it discusses how education and going to school for Jim was very important because it represented that he had class and having an education would help him later in his life (Rosowski 27).
C. Lena Lingard
1. Pursues the American Dream in her own way (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 49).
2. Discuss how she is an immigrant girl who is Scandinavian and is a friend of Ántonia (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 48-55)
3. Explain the life that she makes for herself in America (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 48-55)
a. Explain how she worked as a Hired Girl
b. She becomes a dressmaker and becomes a very successful businesswoman (Edel, Welty, Cunliffe, Knopf, Woodress, Gervaud, Sato, Celli, Miller, Jr. and Sutherland 49).
D. Tiny