Steadiness: My Antonia by Willa Cather

Thoughts on how an introvert makes a perfect narrator for a portrait of a larger-than-life, extroverted character.

Published in 1918, when the American frontier and its hardworking pioneers lay in the past, Willa Cather’s novel My Antonia gives the reader a vivid picture of rural and small-town life for immigrants and native-born Americans in the Nebraska of the era. After being orphaned at age 10, the narrator, Jim Burden, takes a long train ride from Virginia to Black Hawk, Nebraska, to live with his grandparents. Headed for the same destination on the train are the Shimerda family from Bohemia, a region in the present-day Czech Republic.

Through the eyes of Jim, the book tells the story of Antonia Shimerda, a few years older than him and many times bolder and more colorful. Antonia is a spunky, warm-hearted girl who tackles the hardships of farming on the prairie with strength and determination. In contrast, Jim takes in the splendors and starkness of nature and the human dramas that play out on the farms and in town. He remains cool, somewhat removed and not entirely in touch with his feelings. As I reflected on the novel, I got thinking about the advantages of choosing an introvert like Jim to serve as a narrator for this book and perhaps for books in general.