Friendship Theme in My Antonia

In the mid to late 1800s on the American prairie, friendship with neighbors was important to every family's survival and wellbeing. Neighbors provided both a social outlet and the physical help necessary for survival. The Burdens befriend the Shimerdas, the Shimerdas befriend Peter and Pavel, and Jim befriends Jake and Otto. Yet it's Jim's friendship with Ántonia, with its many ups and downs, that is central to My Ántonia. The novel begins with their pure and simple childhood friendship, and follows their many separations and reunions as they grow up. Through it all, both characters remain loyal to the memories of their childhood, and in doing so they preserve an allegiance to each other.

Friendship ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Friendship appears in each chapter of My Antonia. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.

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Friendship Quotes in My Antonia

Below you will find the important quotes in My Antonia related to the theme of Friendship.

This was enough for Ántonia. She liked 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.

Related Characters: Jim Burden (speaker), Ántonia Shimerda

Page Number and Citation: 41

Explanation and Analysis:

Jim has confessed that although he likedÁntonia, it bothered him that she would speak to him in a superior tone because she was older. He recalls an occasion when he andÁntonia decided to dig into the prairie-dog holes, only to be attacked by a rattlesnake. Jim kills the snake with a spade, impressingÁntonia; in this passage, Jim announces that "she never took a supercilious air with me again." On one level, this story reflects the kind of innocent dynamics of power and courage that dominate childhood friendships. Despite the danger the snake poses, Jim frames the whole episode as an Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit

I never forgot the strange taste; though it was many years before I knew that those little brown shavings, which the Shimerdas had brought so far and treasured so jealously, were dried mushrooms. They had been gathered, probably, in some deep Bohemian forest...

Related Characters: Jim Burden (speaker), Mrs. Shimerda, Ántonia Shimerda, Mr. Shimerda, Yulka Shimerda, Ambrosch Shimerda

Page Number and Citation: 59

Explanation and Analysis:

Jim has described the Shimerda's poverty, which was so terrible that during one winter they are forced to share a single overcoat and subsist on prairie-dogs. When Jim and his grandmother bring the Shimerdas food, Mrs. Shimerda gives them some brown shavings in return; the shavings taste strange, and later Jim realizes they must have been dried mushrooms brought from Bohemia. This passage emphasizes the way in which an item as simple as dried mushrooms can take on huge and complex significance within the drama of immigrant and pioneer life. By offering the mushrooms to Jim and his grandmother, Mrs. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetu

"Why aren't you always nice like this, Tony?" "How nice?"

"Why, just like this; like yourself. Why do you all the time try to be like Ambrosch?"

She put her arms under her head and lay back, looking up at the sky. "If I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us."

Related Characters: Jim Burden (speaker), Ántonia Shimerda (speaker), Ambrosch Shimerda

Page Number and Citation: 99

Explanation and Analysis:

School is out for summer, and Jim andÁntonia have been spending more time together. One night, while they sit on a roof to watch a lightning storm, Jim asks whyÁntonia isn't always "nice like this."Ántonia replies that life is different for her family than for Jim, and this is why she behaves as she does.Ántonia's response shows that she has understood that there is a division between herself and Jim––a division born out of economic disparities, and that will widen as they grow older. Her prediction that "things... will be hard for us" is correct: while Jim eventually goes to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et.

Yet the summer which was to change everything was coming nearer every day. When boys and girls are growing up, life can't stand still, not even in the quietest of country towns; and they have to grow up, whether they will or no. That is what their elders are always forgetting.

Related Characters: Jim Burden (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 136

Explanation and Analysis:

Jim has stated that he and the Harling children were never happier than in the first weeks of spring, when they helped Mrs. Harling andÁntonia garden after the end of winter. However, this idyllic scene is overshadowed by the coming summer, which Jim hints will "change everything." His description of the way that time moves for young people further emphasizes the idea that the coming events will prompt a loss of innocence. Indeed, Jim's words highlight a subtle connection between the innocence of children and the innocence of "the quietest of country towns"; like the land itself, children begin life Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mol

I was bitterly disappointed in her [Ántonia]. I could not forgive her for becoming an object of pity, while Lena Lingard, for whom people had always foretold trouble, was now the leading dressmaker of Lincoln, much respected in Black Hawk.

Related Characters: Jim Burden (speaker), Ántonia Shimerda, Lena Lingard

Page Number and Citation: 205

Explanation and Analysis:

The summer after finishing college and before he begins studying at Harvard Law School, Jim returns to Black Hawk. Here, he learns thatÁntonia is pregnant, and that her fiancee has deserted her; meanwhile, Lena Lingard is incredibly successful, "the leading dressmaker in Lincoln." The disparity between the two girls' fates highlights how dramatically the lives of people who grew up together can diverge. Indeed, Jim points to the unpredictability of the course of life when he mentions that "people had always foretold trouble" for Lena. This further proves the ignorance of people's judgments and expectations of recent immigrants.Jim's feelings aboutÁntonia's Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qu

As I went back alone over that familiar road, I could almost believe that a boy and girl ran along beside me, as our shadows used to do, laughing and whispering to each other in the grass.

Related Characters: Jim Burden (speaker)

Related Symbols: The Prairie, Light

Page Number and Citation: 221

Explanation and Analysis:

Jim has gone to seeÁntonia at the Shimerda's farm, where she looks thin and worn down. They have a warm, pleasant conversation, and as Jim goes to leave, Ántoniatells him that his presence remains with her on the prairie, just as her father's does. As Jim walks away, he imagines a boy and girl running alongside him––the ghosts (or "shadows," continuing the novel's imagery of light) of his andÁntonia's childhood selves. This image emphasizes the way in which the past remains part of the present. Just asÁntonia feels Jim's lingering presence in the prairie, so does Jim imagine that he Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Oc

In my memory there was a succession of such pictures, fixed there like the old woodcuts of one's first primer: Ántonia kicking her bare legs against the sides of my pony when we came home in triumph with our snake; Ántonia in her black shawl and fur cap, as she stood by her father's grave in the snowstorm; Ántonia coming in with her work-team along the evening sky.

Related Characters: Jim Burden (speaker), Ántonia Shimerda

Related Symbols: The Prairie, The Plough, Light

Page Number and Citation: 239

Explanation and Analysis:

Jim has metÁntonia's children, andÁntonia has shown him photographs she keeps of when they were young. That night, Jim sleeps next toÁntonia's children and brings to mind memories ofÁntonia, which appear like "old woodcuts" in his mind. In each memory,Ántonia is slightly different, both in terms of the situation she is in and her stage of development. Each image involves a feature of the natural landscape: in the first, the pony and snake, in the second, the snowstorm, and in the third, the evening sky. Taken together, they traceÁntonia's growing maturity as she is faced with increasingly difficult challenges in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Re

For Ántonia and for me, this had been the road of Destiny; had taken us to those early accidents of fortune which predetermined for us all that we can ever be. Now I understood that the same road was to bring us together again. Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past.

Related Characters: Jim Burden (speaker), Ántonia Shimerda

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 251

Explanation and Analysis:

Jim has leftÁntonia's farm, promising to return soon. He takes the train to Black Hawk, only to find that most of his old friends are not there, having died or moved away. He watches the sunset and reflects on the fact that, although "fortune" has led him and Ántonia to live vastly different lives, they are inevitably bound together by "the precious, the incommunicable past." These thoughts highlight the way in which the past, present, and future are implicated in one another. Although they could not have known it at the time, Jim andÁntonia's futures were "predetermined" by small moments Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut ve

Friendship Theme Analysis

Friendship ThemeTracker

Friendship Quotes in My Antonia

Book 1, Chapter 7 Quotes

Book 1, Chapter 10 Quotes

Book 1, Chapter 19 Quotes

Book 2, Chapter 8 Quotes

Book 4, Chapter 1 Quotes

Book 4, Chapter 4 Quotes

Book 5, Chapter 1 Quotes

Book 5, Chapter 3 Quotes