Critical passage about Willa Cather's My Antonia - Essay Example

Willa Cathers "My Antonia" In chapter seven of the book the tries to bring in the theme on immigrants’ experience in the United States of America. This is seen when Jim gets annoyed by the fact that Ántonia had alerted him about the snake in her native Bohemian instead of doing in English. Most of the immigrants were expected to conform to the US way of life despite the fact that they had their own cultures. In chapter seven it can be seen how much the author makes good use of imagery to depict occurrences during the incidents entailed.

For instance, you will notice that the writer does use words to depict Ántonia’s admiration toward Jim after Jim uses the spade that he was carrying to kill the snake that Ántonia had warned him about.Through this chapter there are some characteristics of Jim that are brought to light. For instance, the fact that he reacts to Ántonia’s alert swiftly without any hesitation or fear depicts him as a brave person. Jim says that, “I ran up and drove at his head with my spade, struck him fairly across the neck, and in a minute he was all about my feet in wavy loops” (Cather 202).

Given the description of the size of the snake in question, many people would have had a hard time gathering the courage to do what Jim did. This is even confirmed by the fact that his family is amazed when they see the size of the snake that he had killed.The author of the book also uses to use a unique form of syntax for this chapter. There is the use of both short and long sentences in this chapter. The use of active voice brings more meaning of the chapter because of the fact that it makes it easier for readers to relate the situations in the chapter to real life.

An example of the use of active voice is when Jim claims that, “What did you jabber Bohunk for” You could have told me there was a snake behind me.”Work citedCather, Willa. My Ántonia. New York: Penguin Books, 2012. Print.