My Antonia: Book I

My Antonia is a very interesting book so far. The novel opens with an unknown narrator talking to a friend named Jim. Both the narrator and Jim start to talk about a girl they used to know named Antonia. The narrator has lost touch with Antonia, but Jim just became friends with her again. At the end of the introduction, Jim shows the narrator a folder filled with Jim's stories with Antonia. The folder is titled My Antonia.

Chapter one begins with Jim and another boy Jake moving from Virginia to Nebraska. Jim is an orphan boy who is moving to live with his grandparents. Jim is ten years old. Before Jim and Jake go to Nebraska they are told that another family is moving there too. The Shimerda family. The Shimerda's have a daughter about the same age as Jim. Her name is Antonia.

After arriving in Nebraska, Jim and his grandparents bring a house warming gift to their new neighbors, the Shimerdas. Jim goes and plays with Antonia and her little sister Yulka. Mrs. Shimerda asks Jim's grandmother, Mrs. Burden if she will teach Antonia and Yulka proper english.

Jim and Antonia soon become great friends. They ride horses together and play all the time. Antonia takes Jim to meet a pair of Russian immigrants that her family befriended. Peter, one of the Russians, gave Antonia and Jim and snack and played his harmonica for them.

A few days later Jim and Antonia come across a big scary snake. Antonia screams and starts to yell at Jim in her native tongue about it. Jim finally turns around and crushes the snake to death. Antonia is very proud of Jim's deed, so she always tells people about what he did.

After the snake encounter Jim, Antonia, and her family go to visit the Russians because they have been having a hard time. When they get to their house they see that Pavel is about to die. Soon Pavel does die, and Peter leaves shortly after.

When Pavel and Peter lived in Russia they had an encounter with wolves. After a wedding, Pavel and Peter were giving the bride and groom a ride on their sledge, and a bunch of wolves began to attack. To make their sledge go faster, Peter and Pavel threw the bride and groom off. The bride and groom were then eaten by the wolves, and Peter and Pavel moved to the United States in shame.

Christmas and New Years comes and goes and the weather starts to get really bad. Mr. Shamerda commits suicide. None of the churches will hold a funeral for him, so the Burdens and Shamerdas bury him in the Shamerda's yard.

School starts for Jim, and he and Antonia start to drift apart. Antonia has to stay on the farm and help out her family because they are kind of poor, and Jim goes to school almost all day. Jim and Antonia sometimes fight because they do not really understand eachother anymore.