Dark Overtones And Their Contrasts In My Antonia :: essays research papers

Dark Overtones, and Their Contrasts in My Antonia In My Antonia by Willa Cather, there are many dark overtones that imbue the novel. It is through the use of symbolism and contrast these overtones are made real. The prairie is the predominant setting of the novel. It may be shaped, and it conforms to the desires of those working it. The prairies loneliness, shown by the wide control surface spaces, is a brilliant way of revealing internal conflict by using a setting. Also, it brings out the characters true meaning. Cather shows through the character of Lena Lengard that societys next generation would non be as good, or quite as noble as that of Cathers childhood. The primary inscription on the starting time page states that the best days are the first to flee. Cather contrasts these ideas with Antonias personality, which is always bright. This contributes to the dreariness of the novel.In the novel the prairie is a metaphor for internal conflict. Cather brilliantly demonstrates the prairie as a representation for internal conflict being portrayed by a setting (Kelley, Sean). It symbolizes loneliness and depression. When Jim, one of the main characters, was young, the prairie was uncultivated and there were not as many settlers it was a lonely place. Being isolated from society with little or no human contact could drive anyone insane. Despair, bad luck, greed, and self-absorbtion take form one lose hope also, but it is mostly the lack, or the underuse of, imagination (Kelley, Sean). The prairie was a desolate strip of land that continued as far as could be seen. In the beginning of the novel, Jim Burden states about the land There seemed to be nothing to see, no fences, no creek or trees, no hills or fields. I had thefeeling that the world was left behind, that we had gone over the edge of it.... If we never arrived anywhere, it did not matter. Between that earth, and that sky, I felt erased, blotted out. (3 - 4) It seems that Jim tries to express that t he prairie is forlorn, and deprived of life, make one aware of being alone. Because Jim has left behind all that is familiar, and started over his life, he has a clean slate, and that is what the prairie is. E. K. Brown, once wrote, The impersonal vastness of the land is the license it represents.