There are many characters in My Antonia that we do not see after the leave. The first characters, the Russians, vanish after Pavel's death. Peter and Pavel ran away from Russia when they fed a bride and groom to the wolves so that they could live, and now Peter ran away again after Pavel's death. These two characters share a very sad history.
Another character, Mr. Shimerda, leaves us towards the beginning of the novel. Mr. Shimerda never feels at home in the United States. They moved here from Bohemia. Mr. Shimerda can not take the feeling of homesickness, so he commits suicide. The rest of the Shimerda family mourn him for a very long time. Antonia often misses him very much.
Jake Marpole and Otto Fuchs, two men that were hired by Mr. and Mrs. Burden decide to move out west to seek their fortune when the Burdens move into the city. We never hear of them again. Jake traveled with Jim from Virginia to Nebraska, and Otto picked them up at the train station.
Tiny Soderball also moves out west, and she makes a fortune for herself from the Alaskan Gold Rush.
Larry Donovan, the man Antonia was supposed to marry, also ran off. Antonia took a train to Denver where they were supposed to get married, but Donovan soon ran off the Mexico. Antonia took a train back to Black Hawk feeling very sad. She had a baby soon afterwards.
Although Jim and Antonia lost touch with many characters from the novel, they never trully lost touch with eachother. Of course, they do not see eachother for long periods of times, but they are always in eachother's thoughts and hearts. Jim and Antonia had a friendship that could never be lost whether it stays in their memories, or it grows even stronger from being together. No matter what the case, Jim and Antonia will always be friends. Their friendship is way to precious for either of them to forget. Jim even writes down all of their memories and titles it "My Antonia", which is the title of this book.
I feel bad for the loss of some characters, although others I feel do not matter. I miss Jake and Otta when they move west, it is too bad they did not stay in touch, they were both great role-models for Jim as a younger boy. The worst loss, I feel, is the loss of Mr. Shimmerda. It is horrible, the way he died with sadness in his heart, and it is horrible the affect it had on the children. I wonder what would have happened, had he lived Also, with Tiny- it is not true that she completely disapeers. She is found again near the end of the novel living in San Fransico with Lena Lingaurd. While Lena is a dressmaker, Tiny seems to manage her money and they are the ones who convince Jim to go visit Antonia again.
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