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My Antonia Nebraska Landscape Analysis

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My Antonia Nebraska Landscape Analysis
The Nebraska Landscape
Humankind’s relationship to its environment is one of the strongest bonds people can make. In Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, this relationship is shown through many of the characters want to return to their hometown of Black Hawk, Nebraska. What they find they miss is a lost setting, a vanished world of people, places, and natural surroundings. They all develop a strong attachment to the Nebraska landscape, which never seems to leave them. Part of the reason for this connection is that the novel is set in a time and place where the weather places limitations on the characters. As a result, the characters are simply more in tune with the weather and the natural elements in general. The landscape gives their feelings and thoughts a physical form, and reveals the theme of human connection with its surroundings as a whole. …show more content…
The river, that Jim and Ántonia enjoy swimming in, represents his free soul. Jim always allows himself to enjoy the simple things in life and adventure with Ántonia, but keeps his goals in mind. The wide open Nebraska plains represent his open-minded, romantic personality that develops as he grows up. When he starts college, he finds himself beginning a relationship with his old friend Lena, and does everything in his power to make her happy. The landscape seems to shape his life and personality, changing and developing as he does. It also mirrors Jim’s feelings—it looks desolate when he is lonely—and also awakens feelings within
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