Life on the American Plains as a Source of Wholeness and Self-Sufficiency in My ntonia
Willa Cather, born in Virginia in 1873, moved to the Nebraska Divide when she was nine years old and then later to Red Cloud Nebraska. Her memories of her time in Nebraska and the frontier life she both experienced and observed greatly impacted her writing. Although Ms. Cather did well as a writer, her novels O Pioneers! (1913), Song of the Lark (1915) and My ntonia (1918) about heroines of the western frontier led to her success as an author. These novels focus on the details of nineteenth century life on the Nebraska plains and the immigrants that settled there. Most notably, her novel, My ntonia which tells a story of friendship between James Burden (who like Cather moved from Virginia to New York) and ntonia Shimerda (a young Bohemian immigrant) shows that the wellspring or source of American life is wholeness and self-sufficiency as characterized by life on the plains. According to the storys introduction, it is ntonia, herself, that brings these values to light.
The story opens with a 10-year old, orphaned Jim Burden traveling from Virginia to Black Hawk, Nebraska by rail to live with his grandparents. En route, Jim first observes the Shimerdas, an immigrant family who are traveling to Nebraska from their Bohemian home in hopes of a better life. It is, in fact, this desire for a better life that Cather first uses to introduce the concept of America being the source of wholeness and self-sufficiency. Upon Jims arrival at his grandparents home, he is exposed to all things considered homey: a loving grandmother, a clean, sunny house, a kitchen filled with the smell of gingerbread, a barn and a pony, and a garden complete with fresh vegetables.
Shortly thereafter, Jim is re-introduced to the Shimerdas who have moved nearby. Their homestead has none of the established hominess of the Burdens homestead and is not built to withstand the Nebraska weather; it is, in fact, the complete opposite. This contrast between the two homesteads markedly shows the reader how much the Shimerdas will have to overcome in order to become self-sufficient. It is during this visit that Jims friendship with ntonia (then about 13-years old) begins.
During the winter, the Burdens become aware of the fact that the Shimerdas may not have been able to store up enough food to survive the winter and go by to visit, bring some food and assess the situation. This shows us again the extreme differences between the needs of the Shimerdas and the established self-sufficiency of the Burdens. Cather also now begins to introduce us to ntonias self-sufficient work ethic and so upon arrival at the homestead, the Burdens find ntonia out in the weather working the pump for water.
The Shimerdas are sad because life in Nebraska is harder and more unfair than they expected it would be; they have not come close to having even partially achieving their dream despite their hard work. They feel that if they can make it through the winter, their determination and hard work will pay off and things will get better. The Shimerdas troubles, however, have only just begun. Unable to resign himself to the life he and his family now lead, Mr. Shimerda commits suicide leaving his family behind to deal with the ramifications of his death and the responsibility of surviving in this new environment.
It is at this point that ntonia becomes more prevalent in the story line as she goes about helping support her family and doing whatever it takes to survive. She refuses to attend school because of her numerous responsibilities on the family farm including the hard manual labor of plowing the fields. Her pride and fierce determination to help her family lead to this decision. It becomes evident, however, that this decision pains her as she is moved to tears and asks Jim to talk to her sometimes about the things he learns there. ntonia recognizes that only with hard work and determination will her family be able to achieve their original dream of a better life in America. Not only does she work the family land, but she hires out (although not always her choice) to work the land of others in order to help provide for her family.
Because they are getting older and are unable to keep up with the heavy work load incurred when owning a farm, the Burdens move to town after Jim has been living with them for about three years. Their neighbors, the Harlings, hire ntonia who is now about 17 years old to cook for them and care for their children. Despite taking care of the Harlings, ntonia who up until this point had not had any time to enjoy her childhood, enjoys frolicking with the children under her care. She was able to play with them and enjoy a few moments of lost childhood while in their home.
Although she works hard cooking, cleaning, planting gardens and caring for the children, ntonia finds she enjoys dancing. A dancing pavilion is now in town and many of the hired immigrant folk, including ntonia, can be found there dancing most Saturday nights. Because of her obsession with dancing, ntonia finds herself in a predicament and the Harlings ask her to quit dancing or leave their employment. ntonia claims she can take care of herself and elects to leave and work for the local moneylender who is well known for his unscrupulous ways of money lending. There ntonia continues her social life and continues her friendship with Jim. To Jim, ntonia bemoans the changes her life has brought her, but understands that life can never be as it was before and resigns herself to rising above and resolves to be happy and whole.
Jim and ntonias lives now take distinct and different roads. Jim leaves Black Hawk and attends the university in Lincoln where he becomes very involved in his studies. ntonia works at the hotel in Black Hawk and has become engaged to a local boy. Jim meets up with a childhood friend who catches him up on their mutual friends and over a period of months they develop a relationship. As Jim finishes up his sophomore year at the university, he returns to Black Hawk and spends time with his grandparents before moving to Boston to attend Harvard.
ntonia never marries her fianc. Instead, he deserts her before the wedding leaving her pregnant and alone. When Jim returns home from two years at Harvard, he discovers ntonias plight through his interaction with various townspeople. Not only is she single with a child, she now lives on the family farm and works again plowing the fields. Despite her new predicament, ntonia maintains her sense of pride which is depicted in the portrait of her child on display in plain view of the public eye. She allows herself to humbly rise above her shame. Her conduct and work ethic causes the townspeople to treat her with respect and have nothing but good to say about her despite the circumstances. ntonia maintains to Jim that she will raise her child well saying I want to live and die here. Father Kelly says everybodys put into this world for something, and I know what Ive got to do. Im going to see that my little girl has a better chance than ever I had. Im going to take care of that girl, Jim.
Twenty years go by before Jim and ntonia reunite. ntonia has now married a Bohemian man named Cuzak and has a large family. Cuzak is lonely for his home across the sea. It is ironic that in the depths of Cuzaks despair and loneliness, it is ntonias love that keeps him going when her love could not help her own father. The ntonia of Jims youth has settled down to life on the plains and Jim recognizes in her all that is good, whole and precious about life in the country.
The childhood ntonia and Jim experienced in Nebraska forever became a part of them. Although their lives took different courses over the years, the recognition of the beauty and wholeness of life in the country is realized by both of them. Life in the country has instilled in Jim and ntonia a good work ethic, a determination to be self-sufficient and the importance of a wholesome way of life. It represents to them all that is good about America. Cathers story of Jim and ntonia and her expressive use of words to describe the countryside reinforce this American ideal. ntonia, in fact, epitomizes perseverance in the face of hardship.
Works Cited
Cather, Willa. My ntonia. Seventh Edition. The Norton Anthology. Volume D. New York, New York. W.W. Norton & Company, Ltd. 2007. Pages 1216-1349. Print.
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