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Foreshadowing
Introduction
Explanation and Analysis—Framing Ántonia:
In the introduction to My Ántonia, the author establishes a frame story that provides context for the second, much longer section of the book. An unnamed narrator and their friend Jim Burden reminisce about a shared childhood together, with particular attention to the figure of a mutual friend:
[O]ur talk kept returning to a central figure, a Bohemian girl whom we had known long ago and whom both of us admired. More than any other person we remembered, this girl seemed to mean to us the country, the conditions, the whole adventure of our childhood. To speak her name was to call up pictures of people and places, to set a quiet drama going in one’s brain.
Related Themes:
Book 1, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—"Selah!":
In Book 1, Chapter 2 of My Ántonia, Cather alludes to the Hebrew word "Selah" as Jim's grandfather reads aloud from the Bible. This provides context for the novel's periods of reflection, and also implicitly refers to to the frame story the book begins with:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Grandfather put on silver-rimmed spectacles and read several Psalms. His voice was so sympathetic and he read so interestingly that I wished he had chosen one of my favourite chapters in the Book of Kings. I was awed by his intonation of the word “Selah.” “He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah.” I had no idea what the word meant; perhaps he had not. But, as he uttered it, it became oracular, the most sacred of words.
Related Themes:
