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Book 4, Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Antonia, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Immigrant Experience
Friendship
The Prairie
The Past
Innocence and Maturity
Gender
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Jim goes to see Ántonia at the Shimerda's farm. She is thinner and looks "worked down." They sit near Mr. Shimerda's burial plot, and Jim tells Ántonia how he plans to practice law in New York City and that Cleric has recently died. She responds that she would rather live "where all the ground is friendly."
Jim and Ántonia shared a love of the prairie, but Jim allowed himself to be diverted into a life of "success," as it would be defined by the "refined" people of Black Hawk. Ántonia stayed true to her love—the land.
Themes
Jim then tells Ántonia that he thinks of her more often than anyone else, and that she is a part of him. She responds that she will always remember him and will tell her daughter about their youth together. They walk home, and Jim wishes he could be a little boy again.
