My Antonia question #6

I think there are many reasons that we still read the book "My Antonia" by Willa Cather today. These reasons would be the message, characters, and lessons taught from reading this book. The plot of this story is all about friendship and the past. In this book, Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda have a life-long friendship that is tested in several ways including separation. The past is involved because of the perspective, which is Jim Burden looking back at his life as an adult. I would say the message of their story would be how friendships and relationships  effect a person's life. An example of this would be when Antonia and her family first move to Black Hawk, Nebraska. Being immigrants, they are foreign to farm life and the Burdens really help them to adapt. Also, Jim and Antonia's friendship was very influential on both of them in the way that Jim taught Antonia English, and then the way Jim lit up when Antonia was around. Another reason we can still enjoy this book today is because of the timeless characters. One of my favorite characters is Antonia and she can be very relatable to a large range of readers. One way she is relatable is because she is a very independent and strong woman. This is very admirable, and being a woman myself, I enjoyed these character traits in her. Antonia is also relatable in the way that she had to stay at home and work to support her family. This is something that people today still are faced with and a lot of families have to deal with things of this nature. She is relatable in the way that her husband deserted her with a baby as well. Unfortunately this is quite common in our society today, but it was also admirable how she was unashamed of her baby and loved it all the same. "I replied that grandmother had written me how Antonia went away to marry Larry Donovan at some place where he was working; that he had deserted her, and that there was now a baby" (Cather, 179). One last reason for why we still read this book today is because of the lesson. From this book, one can learn that hard work pays off and that no amount of distance can break true friendship.

Cather, Willa. My Antonia. New York: Barns & Noble, 2003. Print.