Willa Cather is famous for her literary style. She is able to effectively use diction, tone, and imagery to present beautiful pictures with her words. Choose a quote which is a clear example of Cather's style and explain its significance. Type the quote into the box, give the page number, and explain why you think it is significant.
EXAMPLE: "Misfortune seemed to settle like an evil bird on the roof of the log house, and flap its wings there, warning human beings away. The Russians had such bad luck that people were afraid of them and liked to put them out of mind" (35). This quote paints a picture of darkness, foreshadowing the death of Pavel. The "evil bird" has followed them since that terrible night in the woods with the wolves. Peter and Pavel have not had many friends except the Shimerdas since coming to America.
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"There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made. No, there was nothing but land--slightly undulating, [ . . . ] I had the feeling that the world was left behind, that we had got over the edge of it, and were outside man's jurisdiction." This is Willa's description of the landscape in Nebraska. She is describing how the land was so bare that jimmy thought they were no longer in our world and no longer in a world where man lived.
ReplyDeletethat was page 7-8
ReplyDelete"All the way to Russian Peter's we were extravagantly happy, but when we turned back -- it must have been about four o'clock -- the east wind grew stronger and began to howl; the sun lost its heartening power and the sky became grey and sombre" (43). This quote shows the sudden change in weather and how the open prairie can change in an instant, without warning. It paints a picture of the hard times to come and of the struggles. Things can change for the worse just as fast as the weather can go from sunny to threatening storms.
ReplyDelete"The sky was brilliantly blue, and the sunlight on the glittering white stretches of prairie was almost blinding"(page 42). This quote is significant because it shows an example of Cather's literary style. She is painting a mental picture of the sky and the sunlight in this quote. Her descriptive words help her get across her true meaning of the quote.
ReplyDelete"They kept him in their hole and fed him for the same reason that the prairie-dogs and the brown owls house the rattlesnakes - Because they did not know how to get ride of him"(23).
ReplyDeleteThis quote paints the picture of someone being locked up and kept tamed. Krajiek was too much for them so they tried to keep him away from them, instead of telling him to leave for good. They did not want to hurt him, so they did what they thought was best.
"They hated Krajiek, but they clung to him because he was the only human being with whom they could talk or from whom they could get information. He slept with the old man and the two boys in the dugout barn, along with the oxen. They kept him in their hole and fed him for the same reason that the prairie dogs and the brown owls house the rattlesnakes- because they did not know how to get rid of him"(23). This quote paints a picture of the nature and the animals that are mentioned. The relationship between the animals mentioned and Krajiek relate to make a point of saying they don't like Krajiek, but they take him in as if he were theirs. "The brown owls house the rattlesnakes" the brown owl welcomes in their enemy just as the Shimerdas' do.
ReplyDelete"During those first months the Shimerdas never went to town. Krjiek encouraged them in the belief that in Black Hawk they would somehow be mysteriously separated from their money. They hated Kajiek, but they clung to him because he was the only human being with whom they could talk or from whom they could get information. He slept with the old man and the two boys in the dugout barn, along with the oxen. The kept him in their hole and fed him for the same reason that the prairie dogs and the brown owls house the rattlesnakes-because they did not know how to get rid of him" (23). This quote is saying that the rattle snake is to the prairie dogs as Krajek is to the Shimerdas. Willa Cather's literary style shows that the Shimerdas hated Krajek just like the prairie dog hates the rattle snakes.
ReplyDelete"We sat down and made a nest in the long red grass. Yulka curled up like a baby rabbit and played with a grasshopper." This is when Antonia is trying to say Yulka's name. Here, Cather is describing the way that the children are playing.
ReplyDelete"The sick man raged and shook his fist. He seemed to be cursing people who had wronged him. Mr. Shimerda caught him by the shoulders, but could hardly hold him in bed. At last he was shut off by a coughing fit which fairly choked him. He pulled a cloth from under his pillow and held it to his mouth. Quickly it was covered with bright red spots."(37) Here CAther uses lots of imagery and detail to describe the situation and to paint a very good image for the reader. Her style uses lots of diction and imagery to give us all the detail she wants us to see in our head
ReplyDelete"That snake hung on our corral fence for several days; some of the neighbors came to see it and agreed it was the biggest rattler ever killed in those parts. This was enough for Antonia. She like me better from that time on, and she never took a supercilious air with me again. I had killed a big snake- I was now a big fellow"(34). This event marks his growing up, or his manhood at this point. After killing the snake he says he is a "big fellow" and even Antonia seems to be impressed. This is significant because he says that Antonia liked him better from that point on. This event marks his maturation and affects his relationship with Antonia
ReplyDeletethat was pg 19.
ReplyDelete"The road ran about like a wild thing, avoiding the deep draws, crossing them where they were wide and shallow. And all along it, wherever it looped or ran, the sunflowers grew; some of them were as big as little trees, with great rough leaves and many branches which bore dozens of blossoms. They made a gold ribbon across the prairie"(15). This quote shows you the landscape of where they live and how beautiful it is. It does this by being very descriptive so that it paints a picture in your mind.
ReplyDelete"The sky was brilliantly blue, and the sunlight on the glittering white stretches of prairie was almost blinding." (42) This quote paints a vivid picture of the prairie. Its very easy to picture. This type of writing is what Cathers is known for. The whole book is very easy to picture and almost see what is going on.
ReplyDelete"There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made. No, there was nothing but land--slightly undulating, [ . . . ] I had the feeling that the world was left behind, that we had got over the edge of it, and were outside man's jurisdiction."(7-8)Wila is talking and shecan describes the landscape in a very deep way.
ReplyDelete"But the little buzzing things that lived in the grass were all dead - all but one. While we were lying there against the warm bank, a little insect of the palest, frailest green hopped painfully out of the buffalo grass and tried to leap into a bunch of bluestem. He missed it, fell back, and sat with his head sunk between his long legs, his antennae quivering, as if he were waiting for something to come and finish him." (27)
ReplyDeleteEven the smallest of creatures are described in the most unusual ways... and beautiful ways. This insignificant creature was created to be interesting.
Cather demonstrates her unique gift of detail and descriptive style when she writes about spring, she explains,"There was only- spring itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness, the vital essence of it everywhere: in warm, high wind- rising suddenly, sinking suddenly, impulsive and playful like a big puppy that pawed you and then law down to be petted" (78). Her description of spring allows the reader to become a part of the setting. She explains how childlike and playful the essence of spring is. This creates a joyful tone in this chapter. The coming of spring brings a new, playful hope that the long winter seemed to steal away.
ReplyDelete"Occasionally one of the horses would tear off with his teeth a plant full of blossoms, and walk along munching it, the flowers nodding in time to his bites as he ate down toward them"(15). Jim describes this scene on his way to meet the Bohemian family. This quote illustrates Cather's style. Nature is endlessly seen in this novel, and she describes it in a unique manner. The flowers in this quote are personified, making them feel real to the reader. She relates nature to life, brightening each page with creative diction.
ReplyDelete"This is reality, whether you like it or not. All those frivolities of summer, the light and shadow, the living mask of green that trembled over everything, they were lies, and this is what was underneath. This is the truth" (112). This quote explains the winter and what it seems to "say" to Jim. Cather uses personification, imagery, and many other literary devices to make the winter real to the reader. The seasons in this book seem to have personalities. The winter is always bleak and biting. Cather states, "In the winter bleakness a hunger for colour came over people" (112). Winter is "colourless;" However, summer is full of fun and color.
ReplyDelete"They kept him in their hole and fed him for the same reason that the prairie-dogs and the brown owls house the rattlesnake- because they did not know how to get rid of him" (23). This quote gives a metaphor as to how the Shimerdas don't like Krajiek but need him. Cathers relates the situation to an illustration in which we have already read about- Nebraska wild life. The Shimerdas don't want Krajek around but they need him don't know how to get rid of him.
ReplyDelete"I remember how the world looked from our sitting-room window as I dressed behind the stove that morning: the low sky was like a sheet of metal; the blond cornfields had faded out into ghostliness at last; the little pond was frozen under its stiff willow bushes. Big white flakes were whirling over everything and disappearing in the red grass."(42) Cather describes, in great detail, a place the speaker remembers vividly. He recalls all sorts of little details and images, that we the readers can easily see through her writing.
ReplyDelete"I knew it was homesickness that had killed Mr. Shimerda, and I wondered whether his released spirit would not eventually find its way back to his own country. I thought of how far it was t Chicago, and then to Virginia, to Baltimore - and then the great wintry ocean. No, he would not at once set out upon that long journey. Surely, his exhausted spirit, so tired of cold and crowding and the struggle with the ever-falling snow, was resting now in this quiet house." (66)
ReplyDeleteWilla Cather's style is very evident in this passage, where Jim is pondering whether or not Mr. Shimerda's spirit would travel back to his homeland. For Cather, it is not good enough just to explain the distance from the prarie to his homeland, Willa made Jim hope that he could make it back, even though the truth was it probably could not make it. This passage has a very dark and spiritual tone to it, which is very contrasting to the general assumption of the Nebraska plains. When one thinks of this, usually the first thing that comes to mind is boredom, not death and sadness. This use of contrasting elements makes Cather's style very distinct.
Willa Cather has a unique and profound way in describing people, places, and ideas. She gets straight to the point and describes what is going on at the core of the subject. When Jim is describing winter, she has him think to himself, "All those frivolities of summer, the light and shadow, the living mask of green that trembled over everything, they were lies, and this is what was underneath. This is the truth," (112). This quote about the despair of winter is significant to Willa Cather's style because it is an example of her describing a common occurence such as winter and taking a new spin on it. She could have merely described the landscape, but instead she stated that summer was a lie and that this was the truth. Her unique take on the barrenness of winter makes her style one that will never be forgotton.
ReplyDelete"As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running" (12). This quote describes the vivid picture that Willa creates depicting the prairie. She does not only describe it visually, but she describes how the country moves. Jim is seeing the prairie for the first time, and it's as if he feels a sort of freedom with the motion of the prairie.
ReplyDelete"Everywhere now there was the smell of burning grass.One neighbours burned off their pasture before the new grass made a start, so that the fresh growth would not be mixed with the dead stnad of last year. Those light, swift fires, running about the country, seemed a part of the same kindling that was in the air (78)." This quote painted a perfect image of the frontier. Willa Cather uses in-depth details to create the perfect image in your head. This quote is spoken by Jim Burden and explains the start of a new life. He is talking about the details of the frontier and how even the smallest things, such as grass, are different from his life back home.
ReplyDelete"We stood panting on the edge of the ravine, looking down at the trees and the bushes that grew below us. The wind was so strong that i had to hold my hat on, and the girls' skirts were blown out before them." (19).this shows Willa Cather's style of how she portrays the weather. The wind is portrayed as really strong through her description of Jim's hat and the girls' skirt
ReplyDelete"The loss of his two friends had a depressing effect upon old Mr. Shimerdia. When he was out hunting, he used to go into the log house and sit there, brooding. This cabin was his hermitage until the winter snows pinned him in his cave" (41). Wila shows Mr. Shimerdia's depression and foreshaddows his death. He lost the one place that he loved to be and ended up taking his own life.
ReplyDeleteWilla Cather's style is unique. She has a talent for painting pictures that make the reader feel like they are with her in Nebraska. In her book, My Antonia, she writes, "There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made. No, there was nothing but land--slightly undulating, [ . . . ] I had the feeling that the world was left behind, that we had got over the edge of it, and were outside man's jurisdiction" (7). She writes with incredible syntax to paint a clear and distinguished picture into the readers' mind. She transplants her audience to the Nebraska plain.
ReplyDelete"Misfortune seemed to settle like an evil bird on the roof of the log house, and to flap its wings there, warning human beings away." This quote is a great example of personification. Willa Cather is really good at doing this.
ReplyDeletesatire: the economy is in wonderful shape. happy americans are selling their outdated homes for newer, more practical homes. A two story town house is certainly too ornate. A small apartment for a family of five is sufficient. Besides, now is the time to buy isn't it? Prices are at an all time low, and despite the foreclosures, lay- offs, and bankruptcies, that's nothing that a new shiny car or some high tech device can,t console. Some say that losing jobs is an unfortunate occurrence, but who really wants to work anyway? I find it much more appealing to run about all day carefree without a job and a boss, that way i can do what i want, at least until i run out of money, but then i can just beg so i don't think that will be a prominent issue. And let's look at the brightside, the economy will be fine once the stimulus starts working. I mean it certainly makes sense that all the foreclosures caused by debt should be paid by an enormous loan. The country certainly doesn't have the money to fix this economy all on it's own, borrowing is the simplest and quickest means of getting our money back. Overall i feel that life couldn't get better economically. No job, no money, hey i'll just get a loan.
ReplyDelete"Spend money! Spend money! Spend Money!" New York financial adviser Richy Cash told this to all his clients the morning of March 9, 2009. With initial fear, his clients soon began to spend a majority of their income each month. They kept calling Richy to make sure it was okay. He assured them it was! 13 months went by and Janette Moneymaker stormed into Cash's office with a mission. "How dare you tell me to spend my money!" Moneymaker screamed. "But Janette, I only told you to do this because your last name was moneymaker!" "Rich! I thought you were telling me to spend money because of the 'good' economy!" Janette screamed. "No, m'dear, I simply told you to do this because of your last name."
ReplyDeleteAnother 13 months went by and, ironically, on Friday, May 13, 2011, Janette Moneymaker filed for bankruptcy. They informed her that along with this act, she must meet with a lawyer to legally change her last name to "Esabrokegirl." Janette had always enjoyed her last name, but thought "Esabrokegirl" had a swanky tone to it. So, with no money in hand, Janette Moneymaker became Janette Esabrokegirl. Another 13 months later, on Friday, August 13, 2012, Janette committed suicide. It was found that she had just realized what new name really meant. So, with no money in hand, she put the gun to her head and...
BOOM
GONE
At Janette's funeral, Richy Cash gave a eulogy and embarrassingly admitted that he had never owned a television and had never heard any news updates of the economic crash of 2009.
If only Janette knew all this before she spent all her money. Then died.
To keep a business alive it is appropriate to drown it in money that it will undoubtedly waste. Sometimes when a company is going bankrupt giving it more money will save it because maybe it won't lose that money. After all, if its losing money in the first place then it will stop when you give it more money. Then that business, say a large insurance corporation with three letters in its name, can spend that bailout money on great things like retreats! It's a wonder that a company that can't manage money still can't when given more of it. That's why the bailout plan is bound to succeed. Giving lots of money to failing companies isn't wasting, its keeping companies alive. Of course they will end up bankrupt again in a month but hey, then we can give them more money. With a debt as small as America's is, the government can continue to bailout failing companies out every month. It's genius. Gone are the days of losing jobs. Now workers are given money to continue failing corporate America as part of large failing companies. Three cheers for the brilliance that runs this country. Eventually the economy will overcome it's failures, the CEOs will learn from their mistakes, and bring upon us a new gilded age in America.
ReplyDeleteSatire
ReplyDeleteWake up. Roll out of bed onto the conveyor belt. Connect my feeding tube. This is The Routine. Attach my view screen and absorb the daily "news." Zip up my pale green body suit around the folds of my flaccid body. After five years of NewTown, it is hard to remember what variety is. Eating the same grain substitutes with a faint taste of food hidden among the bland symphony of flavorless. The Routine is law.Wake up. Roll out of bed onto the conveyor belt. Connect my feeding tube. This is The Routine. There used to be a sound called music. There used to be ingenuity in the workplace. Now my Cubicle is my house. After I am done being washed by the Shower on the conveyor belt, I come back around and sit down at my Desk to start transcribing. Transcribing is useful for my Machine. I am currently typing the novel Pride and Prejudice, a fascinating tale of before NewTown. In return for the average of 60 watts that I output in heat every day to run its systems, I get to work on copying these texts and my Machine provides me with food. This is The Routine. Wake up. Roll out of bed onto the conveyor belt. Connect my feeding tube. This is The Routine.
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ReplyDeleteAmericans seem to think that they can easily follow in the footsteps of their parents and purchase cars, houses, and possessions far past their budget. A typical U.S citizen has no problem or guilt in venturing out to blow cash on a brand new vehicle, which loses nearly 30% of its value once driven off the lot, or a house with financing rates and a mortgage that the individual is unlikely to pay off even before death. Why is it so acceptable to spend money that is not actually possessed, or existing? Money that is not even physically created is being spent. What if I asked my teachers to grade my papers before I turned in the work? That is impossible. If you asked an individual prior to the 1920's era about credit, they would have said that it is impossible to spend money you don't have. American's with our simplistic, which ironically in turn result in complex solutions, have resolved to find a multitude of ways to spend money. Instead of the gold and silver pieces that were actually valuable in the time of our forefathers, we have created slips of paper whose value is determined by the number stamped on them. To an extreme manner, we have created square rectangular pieces of plastic that are worth literally an infinite amount. The average American household holds at least 9 credit and debit cards. How can this be? What would the Indians, who traded food and clothing, think of ‘free money’? The money is not free, but imagine the thoughts of an immigrant upon receiving a credit card. Perhaps they would be something like, “So I swipe this card and I can buy anything in the world I want.” There is no budget. It is just the swipe of a plastic card with the reward of a new possession. I recently spoke with a woman who, similarly to credit and debit cards, believed that health care in the United States was free. Her son, infected with a cancerous brain tumor since age one, has had three brain surgeries in his eight-year-old life. When asked how she pays her bills as a single mother with no license, insurance, or full-time job, she responded in her broken-English/Russian-accent by saying, “the hospital sends me lots of angry letters.” The United States is willing to help such people, but we are not economically ready.
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ReplyDeleteA SATIRE
ReplyDeleteDeep in the forests of Africa there lives the euqilc tribe. Never before have they been touched by outside influence and their customs have never been studied.
The spoken word holds a great, almost all encompassing, power to this primitive tribe. All business is conducted through spoken language and no records of any kind are kept. Everything must be communicated through several people before it may be corroborated and accepted as truth. If a decision or piece of business has not been passed along by minimum of three people and originated from an unknown origin it is not accepted.
The numerous amount of human beings who spend their time spiking, curling, straightening and stylizing their hair must face the fact that they are slowly, but surely, wasting their lives away. A woman may spend a total of one hour washing, drying, curling, and fluffing her nest of locks each day. That is 365 hours each year, totaling over three years in a lifetime spent on this tedious daily routine. If the government would finally acknowledge this fact, they may develop a law to prevent such a poor way of spending time.
ReplyDeleteThe government's duty is to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," or so says the United States Constitution. If the the government allows its citizens to carelessly shed themselves of precious time, then it is not fulfilling its responsibilities to its people. To prevent this potential failure, the government must invoke a law to rid this country of its useless threads of keratin. The simplest solution: shave their heads from birth. No hair, no curling, no straightening, no styling, no waste of time.
Satire: Texting
ReplyDeleteTexting is the relationship of the future. Talking, laughing, crying, it can all be expressed through the use of well placed letters. Lol (laughing out loud) provides all the laughter one may need throughout the day. And who really wants to listen to the sobs of a friend, saying "nm (not much) just a bad day" will suffice. The time saved by texting can be used to research the newest and fastest network to take that relationship to a deeper level. Driving to meet a friend, talking on the phone, or writing a letter is all a foolish waste of time. When texting one can be embedded in a heartfelt conversation while catching up on the news and folding the laundry. This is true, undying commitment. Real communication truly expresses itself in typed out electronically transferred characters. Nothing makes a lonely girl's heart flutter like the "<3" heart showing its lovely face on her cell phone screen. One knows they are truly special when the message they receive exceeds the 160 character limit and is passionate enough to require two messages. Now beware, for if a message is three pages long then the friend may be desperate, over committed, or needy. However a four page message is nothing more than a sign of devotion and love. A wonderful benefit of the texting relationship is the honesty that penetrates the pixels of the screen. One can see the true attitude and feelings of the other in the conversation by using an exclamation point or a frown face. Finding one's soul mate can only be found through the uses of well made, mechanically assisted, and completely sincere text message.
SATIRE
ReplyDeleteTexting is an amazing invention. There is no longer a need to strain your voice when you wish to communicate with another person. Think of the multitude of sore throats that have been avoiding simply because they no longer have to vocalize their ideas. You can instantly communicate with someone across the world or across the room. All you have to do is type out your message on the tiny keys of your phone and send your words to the other person. Your words pop up on their phone's screen and that person can see what you have said without having to strain their ears; who knows how much better people's hearing will become simply because they rarely have to listen to someone's voice blare in their ears. Truly, it is remarkable the amount of voice and ear strain this generation will avoid thanks to the invention of texting.
Feet are not the instruments for walking, running, and jumping. Feet are objects used for stomping. They are puppets controlled by the puppeteer strings inside of our loosely fragmented minds. To make sense of these fragments, the obvious solution is to stomp on top of those who are inferior to us. We must go about our business day after day, constantly squashing those who don't mean a penny to us. Why should we care about the concerns of others? It is to our highest advantage to be worried only about ourselves. We must discourage and threaten those who get in our way. What else could feet be used for but for breaking down others? Our hands are workers, our ears are tools, our eyes are mechanisms, but our feet, oh our feet, how they can subtly degrade even the smallest pleasure someone may experience. We are the merciless giants, and everyone standing with wide eyes and shaking hands around us is the unarmed figurines hovering in terror. We must demand our superiority to them, all the while we should never stop stamping on those who are of little meaning to us.
ReplyDeleteSatire: Facebook
ReplyDeleteFacebook. More like my best friend! I used to be a skeptic, thinking there was no significance in the little blue "f" in the top left corner. However, FB (Facebook) has changed my life. We used to be on a binary basis of friendship, but now we have reached a whole new level. FB is where I found the love of my life. Since October 5, 2003 I have been married to Joe R. Jonas. He had me at hello. FB can still cause some relationship stress, too. I caught Joe talking commenting on Ashley Tisdale's wall. Our friendship status is now "Complicated".
FB has also helped me in the corporate world. I can barely make it through a day or work in my smelly office corner without my eyes dancing down to the notification box to see if there is a little red thought box telling me how many people have commented, posted, and sent things to me. I have never felt so "real" with people. Whenever they want to get down to the heart of issues, all they are required to do is send me a secret message that i can hold in my inbox and let my true colors flow through my responses.
I have never felt so included with such a great mass of kind hearted souls. It's also an easy way to tell who your true friends are. If you don't send me three bumperstickers a day then we are mere aquaintences, that's my policy. I'm so thankful that I have my 24/7 connection with my very best friends that all live out of state. It's like they are sitting in the room with me.
One day a teenage boy hurried downstairs and ran into the kitchen, where his mother was busy baking an extravagant dinner for Thanksgiving. The boy, Jacob, ran up to where his mother was working and stood on his tippy-toes, domineering over her. He then began to scream, “HURRY MOM!! GO GO GO ! YOU NEED TO GO FASTER! COOK THE POTATOES; GET THE GREEN BEANS OFF THE STOVE; THE POT IS BOILING OVER! NOW, GET THE PUMPKIN BREAD OUT OF THE OVEN. THE TIMER IS BEEPING!!!! HURRY, GO GO GO!” The flustered mother then turned to Jacob and shrieked, “What is your problem, Jacob? Why are you acting like this? You’re stressing me out! Stop!” Jacob, now calm, said, “I just wanted you to know how I feel when you’re yelling at me from the sidelines of my basketball games.”
ReplyDelete"There was only -- spring itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness, the vital essence of it everywhere: in the sky, in the swift clouds, in the pale sunshine, and in the warm, high wind -- rising suddenly, sinking suddenly, impulsive and playful like a big puppy that pawed you and then lay down to be petted. If I had been tossed down blindfold on that red prairie, I should have known it was spring." (78)
ReplyDeleteI think this is an excellent example of Willa Cather's style and I love this quote is beautiful in it's description of the prairie. If this description had been used in a real estate catalog, I would be the first to sign up and move there because it sounds absolutely perfect.
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ReplyDelete"The autumn colour was growing pale on the grass and cornfields" (34). This quote foreshadows what happens toward the end of Book I. The fact that the colors of fall are fading shows the feelings of Peter and Pavel. They are reminded of the tragedy that happened when they were in Russia. Mr. Shimerda is unable to provide for his family and because of this he is depressed. The money is falling short and so are the cornfields and the grass. Willa Cather uses what is happening in nature to set the tones and feelings of what is to happen in the near future.
ReplyDelete"I do not remember crossing the Missouri river, or anything about the long day's journey through Nebraska. Probably by that time I had crossed so many rivers that i was dull of them"(6). this quote shows how the author uses a little humor to show us the description of the journey to nebraska
ReplyDeletethe wolves were bad that winter, and everyone knew it, yet when they heard the first wolf-cry, the drives were not much alarmed."(38)
ReplyDeleteWilla Cather uses the as an example of foreshadowing even before we hear the wolves. There is a happy wedding and no one is even scared when they hear the wolves; also this is a very dark scene with only moonlight to light the night.
LUKE R.
"The road ran about like a wild thing, avoiding the deep draws, crossing them where they were wide and shallow."(15) This quote shows the image of the road being alive. Her writing style shows her appreciation for the untamed state of the American west.
ReplyDelete"July came on with that breathless, brilliant heat which makes the plains of Kansas and Nebraska the best corn country in the world. It seemed as if we could hear the corn growing in the night; under the stars one caught a faint crackling in the dewy, heavy- odoured cornfields where the feathered stalks stood so juicy and green" (88). This shows how Willa Cather used her language in order to make the plains of Kansas and Nebraska come alive. She paints a picture of the beautiful landscape and this makes Antonia wish that her father could have lived to have seen this sight.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the book, Cather is describing Otto Fuchs. She says, "He might have stepped out of the pages of Jesse James. He wore a sombrero hat, with a wide leather band and a bright buckle, and the ends of his mustache were twisted up stiffly, like little horns. He looked lively and ferocious, I thought, and as if he had a history. A long scar ran across one cheek and drew the corner of his mouth up in a sinister curl. The top of his left ear was gone, and his skin was as brown as an Indian's. Surely this was the face of a desperado" (7). This quote stuck out to me because of her amazing description. Jim is getting off the train and getting ready to travel to his grandparents house. This description symbolizes the mysteriousness and fear of his journey so far. It is a beautifully written passage that describes Jim's feelings and emotions through a description of a character.
ReplyDelete" They hated Krajiek, but they clung to him because he was the only human being with whom they could talk or from whom they could get information...They kept him in their hole and fed him for the same reason that the prairie dogs and the brown owls house the rattlesnakes-because they didn't know how to get rid of him."(23) Krajiek is the only person that can help the Shimerdas. He is the only one that understands them, yet he rips them off by overcharging them for things they need. They want to get rid of him and hate him but they can't. Without him, they would be seperated by the language barrier. Willa Cather compares the the rattle snake to the prairiedog as to Krajiek to the Shimerdas. This is portraying how the Shimerdas are trapped by the language barrier just like prairiedogs are when a rattlesnake comes into their nest. Krajiek is the rattlesnake and is praying on the Shimerdas. The significance is that the Shimerdas are new and don't speak English. Mr. Shimerda is already having a hard time and this is adding to the situation. Willa Cather depicts this altercation with such imagery and diction. She uses this is such a way so the reader can interpret the situation and the analogy she is trying to make.
ReplyDelete"The sky was brilliantly blue, and the sunlight on the glittering white stretches of prairie was almost blinding." (42)
ReplyDeleteThis quote is giving a vivid image of the scenery and setting of the book. The style in which she writes has great imagery and gives the reader a sense that they are they in prairie.
pg 71
ReplyDelete"All afternoon, wherever one went in the house, one could hear the panting wheeze of the saw or the pleasant purring of the plane. They were cheerful noises, seeming to promise new things for living people:"
Here, Willa uses a lot of diction and words that have positive connotation. This is a very nostalgic quote, and the memory is one of good times
"There, along the western sky-line it skirted a great cornfield, much larger than any field I had ever seen"(12).
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"Everywhere, as far as the eye could reach, there was nothing but rough, shaggy, red grass, most of it as tall as I"(12). This quote paints a picture of how vast and large the green grass is and about the landscape of the plains and wilderness of Nebraska.
"As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running"(12).
ReplyDeleteIn this quote, Willa Cather, uses a vast amount of description to create imagery. She compares the grass to the country and the water to the sea. She also uses personification when she says the country "seemed, somehow, to be running." The tone Cather creates here is a magical, poetic tone. This quote is significant because the detail and imagery used truly captures the beauty of the country.
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ReplyDeleteWilla Carther uses details to describe the setting and give the reader a feel for the atmosphere. Carther describes Nebraska in saying, "The sky was brilliantly blue, and the sunlight on the glittering white stretches of prairie was almost blinding"(page 42).This description of the area they live in creates a beautiful image of bright bold colors and long flat plains. The word "stretches" gives one the feeling of distance and open space along with the "blinding" affect made by the sun. This could also be referring to the way Jim feels lost and small in this huge bright space.
ReplyDelete"Presently he began to sing for us- a thin, rusty little chirp." (27)
ReplyDeleteThe word use in this sentence is very good. The description of the bird chirping paints a perfect picture in the readers mind. You can imagine a light out of practice squeak coming out of a small bird. This is a great deal better than, "the bird chirped."
"the sky was like a sheet of the metal; the blond cornfields had faded out into ghostliness at last; the little pond was frozen under its stiff willow bushes. Big white flakes were whirling over everything and disappearing in the red grass." (41-42) This gives a great description of how different the world looked with the new snow. This allows me to visualize the scene better because of the metaphors used. This is through Jim's perspective and it shows how everything has changed and is like a new world.
ReplyDelete"The road from the post office came directly by our door, crossed the farmyard, and curved round this little pond, beyond which it began to climb the gentle swell of unbroken praire to the west." (12)
ReplyDeleteThe description is immaculate and paints the picture of a flat, dull landscape. The use of "gentle swell of unkbroken prarie"conjures an image of unending farmland. This is much better than if the author had written "the land was dull and unending".
"We stood panting on the edge of the ravine, looking down at the trees and the bushes that grew below us. The wind was so strong that i had to hold my hat on, and the girls' skirts were blown out before them" (19).
ReplyDeleteThis quote gives the image of them sitting on a ravine and feeling alive with the wind blowing through his hat and the girls' skirt. This paints the reader a very strong image because they are looking below them and feeling like they are on top of the world.
"They hated Krajiek, but they clung to him because he was the only human being with whom they could talk or from whom they could get information.[...] They kept him in their hole and fed him for the same reason that the prairie-dogs and the brown owls house the rattlesnakes."(23) This shows the imagery of helping to get a mental picture of what is really going on and how the Shimerdas were taken advantage of by him and how he stayed at their home and ate whatever they fed him, but it also shows in a way that they needed him, but they did not know how to get rid of him.
ReplyDelete"I wanted to walk straight on the through the red grass and over the edge of the world, which could not be very far away. The light air about me told me that the world ended here..." (13)
ReplyDeleteThis passage sums up Willa's ability to describe how vast the countryside was without having to be too literal. You can literally visualize the land almost to a point to where you can feel the breeze. It makes the reader want to be with the character to experience this feeling. Something so simple then seems so special.
"The snow began to fall. The flakes came down so thickly that from the sitting room windows I could not see beyond the wind mill - its frame looked dim and gray, unsubstantial like a shadow." Cather is describing the beginning of the Christmas storm. The last time that the burden's see Mr. Shimerda is at there Christmas tree. the imagery about the windmill fading like a shadow, symbolic of Mr. Shimerda's fading as well. He commits suicide soon after.
ReplyDelete"I used to love to drift along the pale-yellow cornfields, looking for the damp spots one sometimes found at their edges, where the smartweed soon turned a rich copper colour and the narrow brown leaves hung curled like cocoons about the swollen joints of the stem."(21) this is talking about when he was little back in his old country and about how much he loved it. he talks in great detail about it because they are his favorite memories of his old home.
ReplyDeletethe quote was on page 53
ReplyDelete"All about us the snow was crusted in shallow terraces, with tracings like ripple-marks at the edges, curly waves that were the actual impression of the stinging lash in the wind." Willa Cather writes about the "stinging lash" the winter wind unleashes on the land and the people in Nebraska. Cather doesn't just tell the reader how harsh the wind is, she shows the reader a picture.
ReplyDelete"On those bitter, starlit nights, as we sat around the old stove that fed us and warmed us and kept us cheerful, we could hear the coyotes howling down by the corrals, and their hungry, wintry cry used to remind the boys of wonderful animal stories; about grey wolves and bears in the Rockies, wildcats and panthers in the Virginia mountains."(45). Willa Cather creates a beautifully vivid image in this quote. I feel like I am in the Rocky Mountain wilderness when I read this. Willa Cather's mastery of elements such as diction and imagery allows her paint this mental image with her words.
ReplyDelete"The new country lay open before me: there were no fences in those days, and I could choose my own way over the grass uplands, trusting the pony to get me home again" (21). Cather uses the diction of the "open country" to describe the freedom Jim has to explore and be himself as a young boy. This freedom would not be present in the boy's life if it wasn't for the openness of the landscape.
ReplyDelete"The air in the cave was stifling, and it was very dark, too. A lighted lantern, hung over the stove, threw out a feeble yellow glimmer." p. 49. This quote describes the setting of the cave and the conditions that they now live in. It paints a solemn picture in your mind of a very dim and dark place.
ReplyDelete"I can remember exactly how the country looked to me as I walked beside my grandmother along the faint wagon-tracks on that early September morning. Perhaps the glide of long railway travel was still with me, for more than anything else I felt motion in the landscape; in the fresh, easy-blowing morning wind, and in the earth itself, as if the shaggy grass were a sort of loose hide, and underneath it herds of wild buffalo were galloping, galloping. . . ." PAGE 13
ReplyDeleteWilla Cather describes the surroundings so well that you can almost feel the movement of the grass, wind, and flowing railway ride. The buffalo add another affect showing that the whole setting flows together as one creating a beautiful picture for the reader.
"Winter comes down savagely over a little town on the prairie. The wind that sweeps in from the open country strips away all the leafy screens that hide one yard from another in summer, and the houses seem to draw closer together," (111). This quote expresses Willa Cather's distaste for winter. It brings to mind an image of destruction with the word "savage". The word sweeps produces the image of a violent force. This violent force is further described with the word "strips", as this word also alludes to violence. All this adds to the drama of the situation.
ReplyDelete"There was only--spring itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness, the vital essence of it everywhere: in the sky, in the swift clouds, in the pale sunshine, and in the warm, high wind--rising suddenly, sinking suddenly,impulsive and playful like a big puppy that pawed you and then lay down to be petted" (78). In this quote, Willa Cather uses imagery to go into depth and portray the coming of spring. She also uses a simile to compare the season of spring to an everyday animal like a puppy. Throughout the novel, Willa uses descriptive, colorful words to paint pictures of various scenes.
ReplyDeleteTyler aberg-
ReplyDelete"On one of those bitter, starlight nights, as we sat around the old stove that fed us and warmed us and kept us cheerful." PG. 45
Willa Cather uses diction and color to paint a mental picture of the family crowding around the stove to warm themselves.
Cather describes, "biggest snake I had ever seen [...] lying in long loose waves, like a letter "W." He twitched and began to coil slowly. He was not merely a big snake, I thought- a circus monstrosity [...] looked as if millstones couldn't crush the disgusting vitality out of him"(31).
ReplyDeleteCather describes everything with great detail. She describes every single character like she does this snake. This helps tremendously when reading and trying to picture the people in one's head.
page 28
ReplyDelete"As far as we could see, the miles of copper-red grass were drenched in sunlight that was stronger and fiercer than at any other time of the day. The blond cornfields were red gold, the haystacks turned rosy and threw long shadows. The whole prairie was like the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed."
Willa Cather alludes to the Bible when she compares the praire to the burning bush. The allusion refers to Moses and the burning bush, where Moses encounters a bush in flames. Her detailed description also paints an image of an abundance of colors including red, gold, and copper. The grass is not green, but a burnt color because of the extreme sunlight. Jim calls this, "a sudden transfiguration, a lifting-up of the day." Jim and Antonio viewed the prairie as a wonderful image, a "triumphant ending."
"July came on with that brilliant, breathless heat which makes the plains of Kansas and Nebraska the best corn country in the world. It seemed as if we could hear the corn growing in the night; under the stars one could hear the faint crackling in the dewy, heavy-odoured cornfields where the feathered stalks stood so juicy and green. If all the great plain from the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains had been under glass, and the heat regulated by a thermometer, it could not have been better for the yellow tassels..." (88). In these few lines, Willa Cather uses lots of personification. The descriptions that she gives paint a picture in your mind and protray the exact feeling that the athor is trying to relate.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Dreps-
ReplyDelete"On those bitter, starlit nights, as we sat around the old stoves that fed us and warmed us and kept us cheerful, we could hear the coyotes howling down be the corrals, and their hungry, wintry cry used to remind the boys of wonderful animal stories; about the gray wolves and bears in the Rockies, wildcats and panthers in the Virginia mountains." PAGE 44
Willa Cather describes the feelings that the people would get sitting around at night listening to the animals. It reminded them of memories they had living before they moved to Nebraska
"I remembered what the conductor had said about her eyes. They were big and warm and full of light, like the sun shining on brown pools in the wood. Her skin was brown, too, and in her cheeks she had a glow of rich dark colour.(17)"
ReplyDeleteThis quote shows how she looks like the woods. This could be a foreshadowing to the story of the people in the woods.
Wow! What great examples of Willa Cather's style. She does have a beautiful way of describing the everyday things we sometimes take for granted. Our class has produced a variety of images, analogies, and memories from the prairie. Keep reading! Spring break is coming. Mrs. Pollock
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ReplyDelete"Perhaps the glide of long railway travel was still with me, for more than anything else i felt motion in the landscape; in the fresh, easy-blowing morning wind, and in the earth itself, as if the shaggy grass were a sort of loose hide, and underneath it herds of wild buffalo were galloping, galloping...." (13). This is Antonia talking about the landscape and her surroundings. she expresses her feelings about her surroundings to the reader.
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