Review Questions—My Antonia

1. Explore the reasons why different families settle in this mid-western wilderness.  Utilize the Shimerdas, the Russians, the Burdens, Jake and Otto.

2. The Burdens comment to Jim that Nebraska is very much unlike Virginia in that they make do with what they have.  Using the characters above, illustrate this through each.

3.  Compare and contrast the Burdens’ view of the world versus the Shimerdas’ view of the world.  Utilize Cather’s description of their Old World views to assist you.

4. Describe Jim’s later life versus Antonia’s later life and how 1)  family expectations and 2) socioeconomics, 3) personal choices, and 4) fate color those events.

5.  Take the last paragraph of the text and explain it in the context of life.