Andrew Moulton

November 16, 2014

LIT 315 20th Century American Literature
Southern New Hampshire University
Jamie Marchant
Willa Cathers naturalism as she expresses it in her novel My ntonia hinges upon the idea that
our fates are laid out before us predetermined, intertwining with others as it does, but
nevertheless solidly constructed within an unforgiving environment which no amount of will, no
matter how strong the individual, has the power to change. Jim Burden and ntonia Shimerda
each arrive in Nebraska on the same day, and while they share a childhood, their lives and the
opportunities afforded them are as different as are the summers and winters of Nebraska.
Success, fortune, and studied solitude has followed Jim away from Nebraska, while hard labors
rewards of plentitude and family have blossomed around the equally successful although
Nebraska-bound ntonia.
As youth stepping off the train into the utter darkness (50) of Nebraska, the differences
setting the boy and girl apart are immediately apparent. Ten-year-old Jim is newly orphaned and
wide-eyed. He is an observer of the life around him. As evidence of this he had been bashful
when the train conductor suggested he go talk to the girl whos got the pretty brown eyes (50).
The little girl who can only say, We go Black Hawk, Nebraska (50) is ntonia. She is four
years his senior, and despite access to language she appears capable and confident, if not a bit
reckless and extravagant (58). There is a superior tone (64) that ntonia takes when Jim is
tutoring her in English that he just cannot comprehend. All of these characteristics suggest that
ntonia has the drive, strength, and intelligence that should allow her to find comfort and
material wealth in her life. In fact it is ntonia whom the family leans upon for their survival that
first hard winter. However, at the turn of the century gender clearly defined societal expectations:

women, even older women, were expected to defer to the wisdom of men and behave a certain
way which ntonia did not submit nor pay heed to. With ntonia, Cather is flipping US societal
expectations on their head, here we have a bold girl who as a youth knows what she wants and is
daring enough to reach out her hand and take what she can get.
As adolescents, Jim and ntonia both move into the city of Black Hawk to take advantage of
the very different opportunities it can afford them both. Jim will live alongside his grandparents
in Preacher Whites house for a proper education, while ntonia is brought, only by
recommendation, into the Harling household as helper. While the easily influenced Jim grows
close to utter savagery (101), ntonia succeeds in softening her fiery characteristics and
conforms to societys norms. She nicely settles into her role of respectable housekeeper whose
greatest fault [is] that she so often stopped her work and fell to playing with the children
(104). Surpassing expectations, Antonia soon learns English and becomes a model female and
focal point, telling stories about the countryside that slightly challenge this image while still
remaining true and proper to societys expectations of a helper. Stories about the calf that broke
its leg (112) or about the tramp who jumped head-first right into the thrashing machine (113)
are just a bit too horrifying to be considered proper, but considering Antonias beginnings, she is
forgiven, even encouraged. Thus ntonia has become an integral and harmonious component of
the Harling household. In the eyes of the larger Black Hawk community ntonia remains set
apart for being a foreigner, but like her mistress, she is strong and independent of nature and all
that really matters is that she is meeting, even surpassing, the expectations set out for her.
Adolescence comes to an abrupt end for ntonia whose love of live music and dance has
earned her a reputation that the Harling family will not tolerate. When ntonia, now known as
Tony, is confronted and asked to stop going to the dances, she sets her jaw, commits herself, and

says no, I want to have my fling (124). She then leaves the reliable comfort of the Harling
household for the Cutters house, and with this new independence begins wearing gloves and
high-heeled shoes and feathered bonnets (126). It is with this declaration of independence,
reinforced by the new clothes, that ntonias womanhood is achieved. Her path is off and
soaring into the world with the modern attire, attitude, and financial resources; all of which
should allow her the opportunity to make something of herself.
Meanwhile, even as a senior little Jimmy is still mostly harmless, free of opinion, and generally
regarded as being a sly one (127) for his habits and aloofness. According to Cathers opinion
of naturalism, Jims character hasnt grown because he hasnt had challenge in his path, and yet
he still becomes discontent with his environment, sneaks out for dances, and demands a kiss
from ntonia after which she whispers indignantly, Why, Jim!... Ill tell your grandmother on
you! (130). Jims life has finally taken an edge. An underlying personality trait deep within him
has chiseled his escape from Nebraska and will take him further and further East while ntonia
will become an unwed mother working the soils of Nebraska.
Considering only societal limitations, life should have been easier for ntonia. She was able to
learn the language in power and surpass societys expectations of a young foreign woman. She
was street smart, driven, and the envy and desire of many, and yet she does not have the luxury
of a comfortable life. When as mature adults Jim, still as timid as ever, can finally summon the
courage to meet again, they are unrecognizable to one another. A middle-aged Jim is young
(167) and starched, while ntonia is toothless and flat-chested (166). It is at this point that
naturalisms laws play their final hand of the novel. Each character demonstrated to the extent
with which they could the will to change the life around them, and while successful each in their
own way, there were no other alternatives open to them. At the turn of the century foreign

women were simply not allowed the opportunities that white males were. This point is
challenged in the case of Lena Lingard, but made reality in the case of hard luck ntonia. In the
end it is Jim, alone, who walks upon the road that he and ntonia had arrived upon so long ago,
exemplary of naturalisms fatalistic views. This had been the road of Destiny; [it] had taken us
to those early accidents of fortune which predetermined for us all that we ever could be (181).
ntonia might have been someone else in a different country, but in the world that is Nebraska
she will always be a girl trapped by the soil. And yet Cather seems to suggest that through the
hardship and the poverty, ntonia is the richer of the two characters. Hard labors rewards of
plentitude and family have blossomed around ntonia, and far outweigh the shallow rewards of
success and fortune.

Works Cited
Cather, Willa. "My Antonia." Baym, Nina and Robert S Levine. The Norton Anthology of
American Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. 8th. Vol. C. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc., 2012. 47-181. print.