ELIT 48C Class #7

Lie and Lay

• To lay is to place something or put something down, and it must be followed by a noun or pronoun, a thing; to lie is to recline. A lie is an untruth, and to lie also means "to tell an untruth." Examples: Lay that package on the mantel, will you please? Bridgette would like to lie in the hammock near the pool. Sometimes it's tempting to lie when you're in trouble, but a lie only makes things worse. (Hint: Lay sounds like place; lie sounds like recline. But be careful: lay is also the past tense of the verb to lie: Jay lay on the couch all day yesterday.)

AGENDA

• Discussion: My Antonia Book II 1-8• Style

• Themes

• Questions

• QHQs

Style: Consider Cather’s ideas in "The Novel Demeuble." Has she taken her own advice in writing My Antonia?

Cather's superb prose style is disarmingly clear and simple, relying on a straightforward narration of facts. Yet it is also subtle, using carefully selected images to create a rich portrayal of the prairie environment.

• I found myself wondering why this section was not as riveting as the others had been for me. I blamed my frame of mind while I was reading, but I think that may not be entirely the case. In the light of Willa Cather’s manifesto about throwing everything unnecessary out, why did she include this domestic, slower paced, arguably (don’t kill me) boring section?

Style: Imagery and SymbolsCather's sparse but allusive style relies on the

quality and depth of her images. She consciously uses the land, its colors, seasons, and changes to suggest emotions and moods.

Summer stands for life (Ántonia can’t imagine who would want to die during the summer)

Winter stands for death (Mr. Shimerda commits suicide during the winter).

Animals are used as symbols of the struggle for survival experienced by the Shimerdas during their first winter. The essential grotesque image of the cost of this struggle is that of Mr. Shimerda’s corpse frozen in his blood

His coat and neck cloth and boots are removed and carefully laid by for the survivors.

What other images come to mind?

Style: Realism

Jim Burden gives voice to a romanticism, or overly sentimental or positive outlook, that seems to be close to. The homesteading German, Danish, Bohemian, and Scandinavian settlers were the embodiment of a cultural tradition she cherished. However, the novel is saved from sentimentality by the evocative depiction of the harsh realities of pioneer and immigrant life and the complexity of the characters, who are rarely, if ever, only sympathetic or only despicable. British modernist E.M. Forster coined the phrase “round” to describe these complex characters.

Consider examples of the “complexity” of Cather’s characters.

• In Forster‟s lecture series Aspects of the Novel, he

describes flat and round characters: “The really

flat character can be expressed in one sentence

such as „I will never desert Mr. Micawber.‟ There

is Mrs. Micawber — she says she won‟t desert Mr.

Micawber; she doesn‟t, and there she is. These

characters are easily recognised when first

introduced and easily remembered afterwards, and

their memorability appeals to our yearning for

permanence.”

“A round character by contrast has further

dimensions to their personality, which are

revealed as events demand them. A flat

character never surprises us with their

behaviour, but a round character may well

surprise us with these unsuspected aspects of

their nature; and the test of a round character is

whether it is capable of surprising in a

convincing way. Even if events never require

these characters to extend themselves, they

nevertheless have the capacity.”

Theme: Change and Transformation

•What are the contrasts that are being

developed between the characters in

this section?

Questions

• What is the importance of

independent women in this section,

and why has Cather chosen to develop

these characters here?

• Can we connect Mina Loy to this

movement of women?

QHQ DISCUSSION

Q: To Willa Cather what is being “mannish,” or “lady-like?” What gender roles are expected of females growing up?

Q: What is the relationship between Peter and Pavel?

Q: What is the purpose of including Samson’s *d 'Arnault] story?

Q: How much of the narrator’s opinions are Cather’s own? How much are used to point out social issues?

What does it take for a woman to gain in respect in Jim’s society?

Q: How does Willa Cather describe the gender roles of a male?

Q: What was the point of the story of the transient’s suicide in chapter 6?

Q: What was the importance of the dead man’s request for alcohol and the poem in his pocket? Do either of those points allow for comparisons to Mr. Shimerda?

HOMEWORK

Read My Antonia (1918) Book II Chapters 9-15

Post #7: Answer one of the following prompts:

1. Discuss the differences Jim sees between the country girls and the town girls.

2. Explain the importance of the dance pavilion to both Jim and Antonia.

3. Explain why Willa Cather has chosen to devote one of the books of her novel to Lena Lingard.

4. Discuss the importance of the Jim Burden leaving Black Hawk for college life.

5. Write your own QHQ