"MY ÁNTONIA": A ROSE FOR MISS CATHER

Although My A'ntonia is not a closely unified work, it becomes more coherent when one sees that it is not about A'ntonia but rather about what A'ntonia comes to mean to Jim Burden. Throughout the novel there is a pattern created by Burden's desire to see A'ntonia in an idealized way and A'ntonia's insistence on being merely human. Burden finally succeeds in converting A'ntonia into a symbol of womanly perfection only after a long separation from her and a return under circumstances that make it possible for him to keep her at a distance. The complaint of some critics that Jim's interest in A'ntonia is not sufficiently emotional is beside the point, for Jim is a device that allowed Willa Cather to get her story into focus. Moreover, Jim Burden can be seen as an extended example of the way Willa Cather's mind habitually worked: For her, art meant converting what would otherwise be ugly into beautiful images of reality. And so, the story of Jim Burden's struggle and final success with A'ntonia is the story of an artist who triumphs over life by converting it into an art object. (WJS)