Throughout the books of My Ántonia, society and class play an increasingly prevalent part in Jim’s life as he grows old revealing how status dictates success. The timeline of the book portrays the social tensions between the immigrants and the white families as Jim’s perspective on the atmosphere steadily expands. On the farm, there is a common theme of simplicity and natural settings, in town, Jim is able to comprehend the underlying contempt the merchant families have for the foreigners, and further on, as an adult, the harsh reality of society’s impact on familial reputation. While out on the farm, Jim’s life lacks common social interactions found in a normal person's childhood because of the diverse and minuscule population found on the
…show more content…
As a teenager, he can more easily understand these masked tensions. Immigrants living or working in the village are of a lower social class due to their foreign tongue and unresolvable cultural practices. Moreover, these factors have caused the town to subtly segregate itself as seen in the youth dances, “I made a bold resolve to go to the Saturday night dances at Firemen’s Hall…. [Grandfather] would...say that if I wanted to dance I could go to the Masonic Hall, among ‘the people we knew’”(107). Since Jim’s Grandfather grew up in the East he has the same mentality of nativists found there, conversely, since Jim has grown up among a population of foreign origins, his upbringing accustoms him to the social similarities. This telling of racial prejudice expands further in his description of the Fireman’s Hall, “Sometimes there were Bohemians…, or German boys. The three Bohemian Marys, and the Danish laundry girls”(107) making these dances a melting pot for the lower social class. His Grandfather’s commitment to the social hierarchy does not faze Jim owing to his globalist outlook on the world. Traditionally, the American citizens steer clear of the lower class immigrants as seen in the way the teenage boys gaze upon the country girls as if they are untouchable delicacies. Highlighting this …show more content…
As a young boy, Jim is ignorant of the harsh societal implications placed on the foreign population because of his lack of social interaction with those of his ethnicity. Through his eyes, the readers are able to experience the tension between those of the first class and second class citizens. Social conformity and integration are the only way for fully incorporating a foreigner into society, making the social system of Black Hawk one of a shrouded vicious nature, common, if not more prominent, all throughout
As a teenager, he can more easily understand these masked tensions. Immigrants living or working in the village are of a lower social class due to their foreign tongue and unresolvable cultural practices. Moreover, these factors have caused the town to subtly segregate itself as seen in the youth dances, “I made a bold resolve to go to the Saturday night dances at Firemen’s Hall…. [Grandfather] would...say that if I wanted to dance I could go to the Masonic Hall, among ‘the people we knew’”(107). Since Jim’s Grandfather grew up in the East he has the same mentality of nativists found there, conversely, since Jim has grown up among a population of foreign origins, his upbringing accustoms him to the social similarities. This telling of racial prejudice expands further in his description of the Fireman’s Hall, “Sometimes there were Bohemians…, or German boys. The three Bohemian Marys, and the Danish laundry girls”(107) making these dances a melting pot for the lower social class. His Grandfather’s commitment to the social hierarchy does not faze Jim owing to his globalist outlook on the world. Traditionally, the American citizens steer clear of the lower class immigrants as seen in the way the teenage boys gaze upon the country girls as if they are untouchable delicacies. Highlighting this …show more content…
As a young boy, Jim is ignorant of the harsh societal implications placed on the foreign population because of his lack of social interaction with those of his ethnicity. Through his eyes, the readers are able to experience the tension between those of the first class and second class citizens. Social conformity and integration are the only way for fully incorporating a foreigner into society, making the social system of Black Hawk one of a shrouded vicious nature, common, if not more prominent, all throughout