Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Critiscisms Of My Antonia - School Essays

Critiscisms Of My Antonia


In the past, critics have ad moralized and/or brutalized every writer they could get their pen on. This is seen from criticisms of Henry Adams to William Butler Yeats. These writers critique everything about the writer and his/her works. For instance many critics criticize Willa Cather's novel, My Antonia. Their criticisms lie on the basis that My Antonia is based on cyclical themes with no structure holding each of the My Antonia's books. In other words, as a collection of five different accounts remembered by the main character, Jim Burden, My Antonia is characterized by a loose plot structure yet the existence of common themes is expressed in a cyclical nature.
According to James E. ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

Burden remembers. Miller also states that the novel "lacks focus and abounds in irrelevancies." (Wells 1) This is due to the fact that Cather didn't provide and consistent character portrayal throughout her novel. Another critic, Kim Wells, asserts Miller's opinion on the novel. Because as he states the novel has many "variations from a theme." (Wells 1) For instance the section about the hired girls and also the part when Peter and Pavel, two lonesome Russian Settlers, tell Jim and Antonia a tragic tale that horrifies and fascinates the children. This tale was about when Peter and Pavel drove a sled with a bridal couple across dark, snowy Russian country and were attacked by hordes of ravenous wolves, where the wolves killed both the bride and the groom. These examples are "divergences which weaken the overall structure of the novel." (Wells 1)
Even though both critics say that the novel has a loose structure, they also state that the only thing that resembles any type of ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.


Already a member? Login

the stages of life is based on the fact that Antonia moves into adulthood while Jim stays as a child as stated by Kim Wells. (Wells 1) This happens because in the section the hired girls Antonia moves into the city from the farm where she used to live. The movement from a rural to an urban area made Antonia mature quicker so she would be able to survive in the city. While on the other hand Jim leaves the farm to go to college, in which inclosing walls unlike that of Antonia protects him. Then Antonia moves into adulthood with a marriage and birth while Jim is at college toiling on the prospect of adult love with Lena Lingred. Finally, Jim moves into an odd marriage and then goes back ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.


CITE THIS PAGE:

Critiscisms Of My Antonia. (2008, November 21). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Critiscisms-Of-My-Antonia/93441
"Critiscisms Of My Antonia." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 21 Nov. 2008. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Critiscisms-Of-My-Antonia/93441>
"Critiscisms Of My Antonia." Essayworld.com. November 21, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Critiscisms-Of-My-Antonia/93441.
"Critiscisms Of My Antonia." Essayworld.com. November 21, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Critiscisms-Of-My-Antonia/93441.
JOIN NOW
Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays


PAPER DETAILS
Added: 11/21/2008 01:50:30 PM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Free Paper
Words: 1334
Pages: 5

Save | Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS
Save and find your favorite essays easier

SIMILAR ESSAYS
» Critiscisms Of My Antonia
Copyright | Cancel | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Essayworld. All rights reserved