WITH RELATED READINGS AssessmentManual · 2010. 8. 23. · 6 ASSESSMENT MANUAL / MY ÁNTONIA 2 0 0...

My AntoniaWilla Sibert Cather

WITH RELATED READINGS

Assessment Manual

THE EMC MASTERPIECE SERIES

Access Editions

EMC/Paradigm PublishingSt. Paul, Minnesota

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Staff Credits

ISBN 0-8219-2510-5

Copyright © 2003 by EMC Corporation

All rights reserved. The assessment materials in this publication may be photo-copied for classroom use only. No part of this publication may be adapted, repro-duced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without permis-sion from the publisher.

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ASSESSMENT MANUAL / MY ÁNTONIA 1

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Table of Contents

Notes to the Teacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

ACCESS EDITION ANSWER KEYAnswers for Book I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Answers for Book II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Answers for Books III–IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Answers for Book V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Answers for Introduction to the 1926 Edition of My Ántonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Answers for Letter to Frances Samlund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Answers for excerpt from History of the State of Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Answers for “The Fir Tree” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Answers for “Riding into California” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Answers for “Mint Snowball” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Answers for “The Prairie Grass Dividing”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERSGraphic Organizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Graphic Organizers Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

VOCABULARY AND LITERARY TERMS REVIEWVocabulary Review, Books I–II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Vocabulary Review, Books III–V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Vocabulary Review, Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Vocabulary Worksheet, Books I–II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Vocabulary Worksheet, Books III–V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Vocabulary Worksheet, Related Readings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Cumulative Vocabulary Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Literary Terms Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Literary Terms Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Vocabulary and Literary Terms Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

EXAM MASTERSExam, Books I–II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Exam, Books III–V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Exam Answer Key, Books I–II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Exam Answer Key, Books III–V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

EVALUATION FORMSEvaluation Form, Writing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Evaluation Form, Writing Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Evaluation Form, Writing Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Evaluation Form, Compositions/Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Evaluation Form, Analytic Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Evaluation Form, Holistic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Evaluation Form, Writing: Revising and Proofreading Checklists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Evaluation Form, Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Evaluation Form, Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

2 ASSESSMENT MANUAL / MY ÁNTONIA

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Notes to the Teacher

About The EMC Masterpiece Series Access Editions

The EMC Masterpiece Series Access Editions have been designed to make great works of literatureaccessible to all levels of students. Each Access Edition contains a complete literary masterpiece aswell as a unique integrated study apparatus crafted to guide the student page by page throughthe entire work. This feature does away with the inconvenience of switching between a literarywork and a study guide, since both are included in each Access Edition.

Each EMC Masterpiece Series Access Edition contains the following materials:• The complete literary work• A historical introduction including an explanation of literary or philosophical trendsrelevant to the work

• A biographical introduction with a time line of the author’s life• Art, including explanatory illustrations, maps, genealogies, and plot diagrams, asappropriate to the text

• Study apparatus for each chapter or section, including Guided Reading questions;Words for Everyday Use entries for point-of-use vocabulary development; footnotes;Responding to the Selection questions; Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine questions(including questions to ensure that your students conduct a close and accessible read-ing of the text); and Understanding Literature questions

• Source materials used by the author of the work (where appropriate)• A list of topics for creative writing, critical writing, and research projects• A glossary of Words for Everyday Use• A handbook of literary terms

Many titles also include:• Related Readings with CriticalThinking questions

• Critical Viewing questions

Guided Reading questions guidestudents through the work byraising important issues in keypassages.

Footnotes explain obscure refer-ences, unusual usages, and termsmeant to enter students’ passivevocabularies.

Words for Everyday Use entriesdefine and give pronunciations fordifficult terms meant to enter stu-dents’ active vocabularies.


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CHAPTERS 1–3 3

Respond to the Selection

What do you long for as strongly as Billy does coonhounds? What mightyou do to obtain this thing you want? Try to come up with some steps youmight take to achieve this goal.

Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine

Recall: GATHERING FACTS1a. What event in chapter 1 sparksmemories in the narrator?

2a. In chapter 2, what is the “dis-ease” that affects Billy, the narrator?What is Billy’s parents’ reaction tothis problem?

3a. In chapter 3, what actions doesBilly take to make his dreams anddesires come true?

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

4a. Compare and contrast Billy’sworld to your own. Look at wherehe lives, what happens there, hisfamily and the relationships betweenfamily members, and then comparethem to your own. In what ways isyour life similar to Billy’s?

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

5a. Why might Billy’s repeatedrequests for hunting hounds be espe-cially hard on his parents? How doyou think Billy’s requests and the wayhe states them make his parents feel?

Interpret: FINDING MEANING1b. What emotions do these memo-ries cause the narrator to feel?

2b. Why is it especially difficult forBilly to get what he wants to curethis “disease”? Why don’t his par-ents’ solutions help?

3b. What does the way Billy setsabout achieving his goals revealabout him as a character?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

4b. Billy lives in a very rural area ofthe Ozark Mountains, probably inthe 1920s. Predict how you thinkBilly would be different if he lived ina big city in your time. Where mighthis family live? What might they dofor a living?

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

5b. Billy worked hard to earn hiscoonhounds. How would his feelingstowards them be different if he hadgotten them from his parents thefirst time he asked?

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Understanding Literature

Setting. The setting of a literary work is the time and place in which it happens.Describe the setting of this story in your own words. In what way would youdescribe the attitude toward hunting in this particular time and place? In whatway does this attitude differ from that of a modern wildlife conservationist? Whymight hunting have been particularly important in Billy’s time and place?

How the Assessment Manual Is Organized

This Assessment Manual is divided into five parts: the Access Edition answer key, which providesanswers to the Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine and Understanding Literature questions in thetext; a selection of activities that allow students to use graphic organizers to further their com-prehension of the work; a vocabulary and literary terms review, which tests students’ knowl-edge of the Words for Everyday Use and literary terms defined in the work; the exam master,which contains a full exam that tests students’ overall comprehension of the work through bothobjective and essay questions; and evaluation forms for self-, peer, and teacher assessment ofcreative writing, critical writing, and research projects.

How to Use the Access Edition Answer Key

The Access Edition answer key contains answers to the Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine,Understanding Literature, and Related Reading Critical Thinking questions included in the AccessEdition. In some cases, where no specific answer is required, possible responses are given. Youwill notice that no answers are provided for the Guided Reading questions found throughout theAccess Edition. This is because the answers to the Guided Reading questions can easily be foundin the text in the passages marked by gray bars.

Respond to the Selection is a reader responseactivity designed to connect the students emo-tionally to the literature and allow them torelate the work to their own lives.

Recall questions address comprehension of keyfacts from the selection.

Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine questionstake students through the work step by step,building from their individual responses a com-plete interpretation of the work.

Synthesize questions ask readers to integrate,restructure, predict, elaborate, and summarize.

Understanding Literature questions providestudy of literary movements, genres, and tech-niques as they relate to the literary work.

Interpret questions evoke interpretations basedon evidence from the selection.

Analyze questions ask readers to classify, compareand contrast, and identify relationships betweenideas.

Extend questions allow readers to try out theirunderstanding in different situations.

Evaluate questions ask readers to appraise,assess, critique, and justify certain aspects of aselection.


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How to Use the Graphic Organizer Activities

Graphic organizers enable students to represent in a visual way information about the plot orcharacters in a book. The activities in the second section of this manual ask students to usegraphic organizers, such as gradient scales, cluster charts, Venn diagrams, sequence charts, storymaps, and plot pyramid, to examine certain aspects of the literary work.

You can use the graphic organizers in this book in a variety of ways to supplement your lessonplan. For your convenience, they are designed as blackline masters. They can be assigned for stu-dents to complete as they read the work as a way to promote active reading, after students haveread the book as a way to explore the book in more depth, or as a study aid before the exams asa way to review ideas presented in the book. These activities can also be incorporated into amidterm or final exam.

How to Use the Vocabulary and Literary Terms Review

The vocabulary review tests students’ comprehension of the Words for Everyday Use defined inthe Access Edition. Because active vocabulary is learned most effectively in context, the vocabu-lary review is conducted contextually; the review exercises involve sentence completion drawingfrom the Words for Everyday Use. The literary terms review tests students’ comprehension of theliterary terms defined in the Understanding Literature section of the Access Edition. Students’understanding of vocabulary and literary terms is also included in the exam in the exam mastersection.

How to Use the Exam Master

The exam master section contains exams that test students’ recall and interpretation ofMy Ántonia. You may decide to use multiple choice and/or matching as check tests in conjunc-tion with discussion, or you may decide to incorporate graphic organizer activities into theexams.

Each exam is worth 100 points and consists of objective questions in the form of multiple choiceand matching, as well as a vocabulary check test, short essay, and long essay questions. Answers,or possible responses, are given for all exam questions. Note: You can use ScanTron answersheets to correct the objective part of the test.

How to Use the Evaluation Forms

The Assessment Manual contains evaluation forms to help you assess student performance acrossthe entire range of language arts skills. The forms include writing evaluation forms, a project eval-uation form, and a revising and proofreading checklist that can be used for writing instruction.

Access EditionAnswer Key


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Answer KeyBook I

Investigate, Inquire, Imagine, page 89Recall1a. The manuscript was written by Jim in response to a conversation he had with an old

friend on a train. At the last minute, he added the word “My” to “Ántonia.”

2a. Ántonia is fourteen at the beginning of the book and fifteen at the end of it. Shecan’t go to school with Jim because she has to help Ambrosch run the farm.

3a. Pavel and Peter are two brothers from Russia. Pavel tells a story about wolves eatingthe members of a wedding party. He himself threw the bride and groom to thewolves to lighten the load of his sledge. As a result, he and Peter were run out oftown, and the story followed them everywhere they moved in Russia. Eventually,they came to the United States and settled in Black Hawk.

4a. Mr. Shimerda crosses himself, kneels in front of the Christmas tree, and prays. Mr.Burden says that the prayers of all good people are good.

5a. Mr. Shimerda kills himself in his barn. Jim senses that his soul is in the Burdens’house and that it is on its way back to Bohemia.

Interpret1b. The word “My” both expresses Jim’s affection for Ántonia and emphasizes that the

details he includes about her are just those that have remained in his individualmind. The addition of this word makes the manuscript less an objective descriptionof Ántonia and more a reflection of Jim’s feelings about Ántonia.

2b. She seems older because she has to work like an adult. Jim’s going to school high-lights the age difference between them when she says that “school is all right for lit-tle boys.” It also highlights the difference in economic class; Jim’s grandparents arewealthy enough that they can pay Otto and Jake so that Jim does not need to workon the farm. Ántonia’s family cannot afford hired help.

3b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Pavel probably tells the story to clearhis conscience before he dies. Ántonia and Jim are fascinated by the horror and vio-lence of the story, and Jim’s dream indicates that he associates the story with hisown childhood somehow. The theme of nature as violent and hostile to humanbeings is echoed in the harsh landscape of the prairie. While wolves are not a riskthere, the bitter winters take their toll. The violence of Pavel’s story also foreshadowsthe violence of Mr. Shimerda’s death.

4b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Mr. Shimerda’s action turns theChristmas tree into a holy object when before it had been just a decoration. Also,Jim is probably unfamiliar with the Catholic gestures, since his family is Protestant.Mr. Burden’s comment indicates that he is more broad-minded and respectful ofreligious differences than even his wife thinks.

5b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Homesickness, harsh living condi-tions, the loss of his friends Pavel and Peter, and frustration at having been finan-cially comfortable in Bohemia when he can barely support his family here all con-tribute to Mr. Shimerda’s death. Jim probably identifies with Mr. Shimerda because

Jim, too, has had to leave his home behind. Jim is also intrigued by the man’s dig-nity and cultured demeanor.

Analyze6a. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might point out that gender

roles seem to be clear to characters in the novel: work in the fields is called “men’swork,” and women spend most of their time working indoors, especially in thekitchen. For Jim and Ántonia, however, these roles are virtually reversed. Jim seemsto spend a lot of his time with his grandmother, helping in the garden and in thekitchen, whereas Ántonia has to help in the fields, especially after her father dies.Ántonia also seems protective of Jim early in the book, a fact that Jim resents. Thischanges somewhat when Jim kills the rattlesnake, and Ántonia praises him: “You isjust like big mans.” As it turns out, though, the danger against which Jim believeshe has defended Ántonia turns out not to be much of a danger after all: the rat-tlesnake was old and slow compared to those he sees in the coming years.

Synthesize6b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might suggest that Ántonia

is pointing out that Jim has advantages that she does not have. He is a nativespeaker of English and comes from a financially more comfortable background.These advantages, in Ántonia’s mind, will make his life easier than hers. Many stu-dents will say that Ántonia has not answered Jim’s question. Others might explainthat Ántonia means she has to “try to be like Ambrosch” because of the disadvan-tages she faces relative to Jim. She can’t “be nice like this” all the time because hercircumstances force her to do hard, physical labor.

Evaluate7a. Responses will vary. You might discuss with students the shift here in Jim’s feelings

toward the landscape. The night before, he felt overwhelmed by it, “erased, blottedout.” Now, however, he feels a part of it. While the vast open space first made himfeel small, it now makes him feel a part of something much larger. Discuss with stu-dents whether they’ve ever experienced this kind of happiness, and if so, underwhat circumstances.

Extend7b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Some students might say that the

happiness that comes from beautiful surroundings is available to everyone, regard-less of background. Others might argue that the Shimerdas’ worries prevent themfrom enjoying their surroundings, and that they don’t have the free time to enjoythem that Jim has. Students might mention the following obstacles: a language bar-rier, an unfamiliar culture, financial troubles, lack of farming experience, and igno-rance of the climate. Have students predict how they think these barriers will affectÁntonia in the rest of the novel.


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Book IAnswer Key


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Book IAnswer Key

Understanding Literature, page 901. Narrator. Jim Burden is the narrator of My Ántonia. Responses will vary.

2. Frame narrative. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students mightpoint out that the frame narrative gives the reader information about how this booksupposedly came to be. It gives a rationale for Jim being the narrator and for hisfocus on himself for much of the story. It also lets the reader know a little bit aboutwhat Jim’s adult life is like before reading about him as a child.

3. Setting. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students should accuratelydescribe the prairie landscape and should identify the time period as the late nine-teenth century. Students might interpret the critics’ statement to mean that the set-ting functions like a character because it has a huge influence on the behavior andemotions of the other characters. It demands that they be strong, hardy, and deter-mined. It also demands that they be able to withstand isolation, especially duringsnowstorms like the one described in book 1.

4. Conflict. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might name anyof the following conflicts: the pioneers versus the land and climate, Mr. Shimerdaversus himself, Jim versus Ántonia, Jake against Ambrosch, the Burdens versus theShimerdas, frontier life versus European life, Ántonia versus the circumstances con-spiring to make her life more difficult than Jim’s.

Inquire, Investigate, Imagine, page 163Recall1a. The hired girls are girls from the country who move into town to work for families

and small businesses there. They include Ántonia, Lena, the three Marys, and Tiny.Most of them come from immigrant backgrounds. Ántonia works for the Harlings,Lena works for the dressmaker, and Tiny works at the hotel. When Mrs. Gardener isout of town, d’Arnault gives a performance, and the men come out into the diningroom to dance with the girls.

2a. The Vannis are an Italian family who come to town to put up a dancing pavilionand teach dancing lessons.

3a. Jim dedicates his graduation speech to Mr. Shimerda.

4a. They see the image of a huge plow outlined against the setting sun. As the sundrops in the sky, the image returns to normal size.

5a. Wick Cutter comes home unexpectedly and comes into Ántonia’s room, where Jimis sleeping. He gropes at Jim, thinking he is Ántonia. The two struggle, and both areinjured before Jim escapes back home.

InterpretResponses will vary. Possible responses are given.

1b. Students might suggest that the hired girls seem excited about the opportunitiesavailable to them in town and that they might be glad to escape the harsh life inthe country. Since Tiny works at the hotel, the girls and Jim come into contact withtraveling businessmen and the occasional performer. They are intrigued by thesepeople because they represent life outside of small-town Nebraska. The girls arestrictly forbidden to interact with the men at the hotel, much less dance with them.The thrill of doing the forbidden, plus the excitement of dancing for the first time,leaves Jim and Ántonia very excited.

2b. All of the teenagers love to dance. Students might discuss how dancing introducesthem all to a new way of interacting as men and women and how if reflects theiremerging sexuality. The dances make clear that the town boys are drawn to thehired girls, but also that the townspeople don’t consider the hired girls as possiblelong-term partners for the boys. There is a split between the two classes of people,and they are not encouraged to be romantically involved across that split.

3b. Students might suggest that Jim dedicated his speech to Mr. Shimerda because Mr.Shimerda lived a refined life in Bohemia, and Jim associates him with education andculture. Others might say that, by dedicating his speech to Mr. Shimerda, Jim wastrying to make up for the fact that Ántonia had not had the educational opportuni-ties Jim had. Jim might have remembered Mr. Shimerda asking the Burdens to teachÁntonia. Clearly, Mr. Shimerda valued education and wanted that for his daughter.

4b. Jim and the others are likely to associate the plow with their lives in the country,lives that they have, to varying degrees, left behind to pursue other opportunities.Students might say that the sight makes them feel sad or nostalgic about the past.


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Book IIAnswer Key


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Book IIAnswer Key

The fact that it grows smaller as they watch it might mean that the past is recedingfrom them or becoming a smaller part of their lives. Since farm work is still a bigpart of their families’ lives, they are likely to have mixed feelings about leaving itbehind. In the larger context of the novel, the shrinking and disappearance of theplow reflects increasing urbanization and movement away from a simpler, morerural lifestyle.

5b. Some students are likely to say that Jim blames Ántonia for putting him in the posi-tion of being molested by Wick Cutter. Others might say that he is also humiliatedin her eyes. The situation placed Jim in the position of a sexual victim, which is athreat to his view of himself as a man. Students might make a connection betweenthis compromised manhood and Jim’s desire to seem like a “big man” when hekilled the snake in front of Ántonia.

Analyze6a. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might point out that the

boy Jim was on the prairie spent most of his time with Ántonia and his grand-mother, in other words, with women. When he moves to town, he is suddenlyspending more time with other boys. He learns how to fight, tease girls, and useswear words, things he never did when he lived in the country. Essentially, he learnshow to be a boy. Jim has mixed feelings about Black Hawk. He loves the hired girlsand the prairie surrounding the town, but he feels restless there and eager to grad-uate from high school and move on. He struggles through the bitter winters and isoften bored with the social life in town. There is nothing much for Jim to do in theevenings: he can go to the saloon, but he is soon advised against that. He can talktaxidermy at the cigar factory or visit with the night telegrapher at the railroad sta-tion, who also longs to go somewhere “where there was some life.” Jim also dislikesthe concern for respectability that means the Black Hawk boys do not take the hiredgirls seriously as romantic prospects. This dissatisfaction is very different from his fer-vent love for the prairie when he first arrived. Jim has learned a lot and gained acertain degree of sophistication from living in town, but he has lost the happiness ofhis first year on the prairie.

Synthesize6b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Most students will agree that Jim and

Ántonia are now expressing their genders more conventionally. Jim learns from theother boys to tease girls and swear, and Ántonia turns from hard physical labor todomestic work. Students might suggest that they become conventional becausethey are now living closely with other people and are taking their cues from thoseothers. Students might also recognize that Black Hawk is a fairly conventionaltown—as Jim says, people there have a great respect for respectability—and thatthe pressures to be conventional in such a place are intense.

Evaluate7a. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might cite Jim’s mention of

the “docile subservience” in Samson’s voice and Samson’s small “negro” head, theuse of the term pickaninny, the comparison of his desires to “animal desires,” refer-


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Book IIAnswer Key

ences to his piano-playing as “barbarous” and “savage,” and the comparison ofSamson to “some glistening African god of pleasure, full of strong, savage blood.”You might want to discuss with students the outdated notions that people of Africandescent are more physical, sensual, or free than are people of European descent.These ideas, while repugnant to us today, played an important part in the HarlemRenaissance, which started shortly after My Ántonia was published. During theHarlem Renaissance, many white people looked to dark-skinned people to see anexpression of their own repressed desire for pleasure and sensuality.

Extend7b. Responses will vary.

Understanding Literature, page 1641. Simile. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given in the chart below.

Simile Tenor Vehicle

The thunder was loud and metallic, thunder rattle of sheet ironlike the rattle of sheet iron…

…as if the shaggy grass were a sort of shaggy grass loose hideloose hide, and underneath it herds ofbuffalo were galloping, galloping…

The road ran about like a wild thing… road wild thing

Before I knew Lena, I thought of her Lena something wild that hadas something wild, that had always always lived on the prairielived on the prairie…

2. Personification. Responses will vary. A possible response is given. This image suggeststhat the sun is, at least in this instance, gentle, like a mother brushing a child’s hairfrom its forehead. Examples will vary. Possible examples include the rabbits “dash-ing…as if they were playing a game,” page 27; the small, green insect on page 27;or the winter wind singing a bitter song on page 113.

3. Subplot. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might suggest thatÁntonia’s story about the threshing machine emphasizes the difficulty of life on thefrontier, especially for people without money. Others might note that it mirrors Mr.Shimerda’s suicide and the violence of Pavel’s story of the wolves. Both of those sto-ries also emphasize the harshness of Nebraska life. Students might also mentionother subplots; in each case, they should speculate about the contribution eachmakes to the novel as a whole.


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Answer Key

Inquire, Investigate, Imagine, page 210Recall1a. Virgil’s hope was to bring the Muse to his country, in other words, to put his coun-

try on the literary map. Jim suspects this was also Cleric’s hope. Jim associates “Thebest days are the first to flee” with Lena.

2a. Lena comes to visit Jim.

3a. Lena has distracted Jim. Whenever he gets excited by his studies, he finds himselfthinking about Ántonia, Lena, and the other women he associates with his past.Gaston Cleric recommends that Jim transfer to Harvard to finish his degree. Jimagrees.

4a. Ántonia has been left by her fiancé. She is pregnant with his child. When Jim hearswhat has happened, he initially feels scornful of Ántonia, although he later decidesto visit her. Ántonia says her purpose in life is to be a good mother to her child.

5a. Tiny Soderball ends up founding a hotel in Alaska and making a fortune. She thenmoves to San Francisco, where she also runs a hotel. At Tiny’s urging, Lena alsoends up living in San Francisco.

Interpret1b. Jim, whether he means to or not, is also bringing the Muse to his country, which is

the Nebraska Divide. This is also what Cather accomplishes with this novel. This lineis also the epigraph of the novel. It expresses Jim’s longing for an irretrievable past.

2b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might say that this visit linkshim to his past and reminds him of his relationships with the hired girls.

3b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Lena is probably compelling for Jimbecause she connects him to his past. She and the other people he thinks con-stantly about represent the old life at a time when he is moving toward somethingnew. Cleric’s suggestion evokes mixed feelings in Jim: he knows that he would get agreat education at Harvard and that his academic career is going nowhere in Lena’spresence, yet it is hard for him to leave her, and Nebraska, behind.

4b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Jim says of Ántonia that he “couldnot forgive her for becoming an object of pity” and that he tried to “shut her out ofhis mind.” Some students might interpret this to mean that Jim is scornful of Ánto-nia because he is unable to face his sadness for her. Others might say that by mov-ing to Lincoln and then to the East coast, he has moved too far from their friend-ship and, at first, is unable to sympathize with her. Ántonia’s fortitude and contin-ued warmth toward Jim emphasize the strength of her character and her desire tostay connected both to the past and to people.

5b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might say that Jim feelssorry for Tiny as someone who has lost the ability to be interested in anything.Others might say that Jim does not entirely approve of the path Tiny has taken.Such students could cite the fact that he describes her as being “a thin, hard-facedwoman” who cares for little but making money.

Book III and Book IV


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Answer KeyBook III and Book IV

Analyze6a. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Lena and Ántonia are alike in that

both come from immigrant farm families. Both were poor and had to work in thefields, and both became “hired girls” in town. In other ways, however, they are verydifferent. Lena rejects life in rural Nebraska, moving first to Lincoln and then to SanFrancisco. She also rejects family life, citing a list of bad experiences from a child-hood with many siblings and saying, of married life, “it’s all being under some-body’s thumb.” Lena seems to want to escape the past. Ántonia, on the other hand,returns to rural Nebraska and says, “I like to be where I know every stack and tree,and where all the ground is friendly. I want to live and die here.” She also embracesmotherhood, claiming that her purpose in life is to take care of her daughter. Ánto-nia embraces the past and wants to tell her daughter all about it. Jim loves bothLena and Ántonia, though he is far more drawn to Ántonia: he wishes he coulddream about Ántonia kissing him rather than Lena. He also seems somewhat judg-mental of Lena’s decision to move to San Francisco.

Synthesize6b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might say that Cather

devotes so much space to Lena because she is so different from Ántonia. Her rejec-tion of farm and family life highlight Ántonia’s love of that life. In this sense, she is afoil for Ántonia. Others might say that the story is really mostly about Jim’s develop-ment and that Cather included an entire section about her because she was impor-tant to Jim during the time he was in Lincoln.

Evaluate7a. Responses will vary. Many students will agree that Jim romanticizes Ántonia and

Lena. His failure to consider where they are now suggests that they are important tohim as much as ideas or symbols of emotional states as they are important as indi-viduals. To Jim, these women are especially significant to him because they are apart of his growing up and his past.

Extend

7b. Responses will vary. Students might suggest that Jim has personalized the memoriesof Ántonia and Lena so much that the memories now mean more to him than theactual people. Students might discuss how one forgets the minute details over time,and only the larger gestures and the emotional impact of the memory remain. Also,the mixed feelings fade, and the emotion seems much more distilled.


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Answer KeyBook III and Book IV

Understanding Literature, page 2111. Allusion. Responses to the purpose of the allusion will vary. Possible responses are given.

The Virgil allusion embodies nostalgia, the sense that the past is much sweeter thanthe present. It also captures the irretrievable nature of the past, which is drivenhome in several ways throughout the novel.

Biblical Verse Page Passage Purpose of Allusion

“And the angel of the 28 “The whole Cather, through Jim, isLord appeared unto him prairie was like trying to convey thein a flame of fire out of the bush that way the landscape isthe midst of a bush: and burned with fire transformed into some-he looked, and behold, and was not thing very special, eventhe bush burned with fire, consumed.” holy, at that hour of theand the bush was not evening. Later, on pageconsumed.” Exodus 3:2 115, Ántonia says that the

sun was so hot that shethought it “was going toburn the world up.” Thisline picks up on the earlierallusion, but in thisinstance, it foreshadowsthe violent story to come.

“And the Lord God said 32 “He seemed like By thinking of the snakeunto the woman, What is the ancient, eldest as the serpent in thethis that thou hast done? Evil. Certainly his Garden of Eden, JimAnd the woman said, The kind have left intensifies his ownserpent beguiled me, and horrible uncons- heroism in rescuingI did eat. And the Lord God cious memories Ántonia from it. Also,said unto the serpent, in all warm- by killing the snake—Because thou hast done blooded life.” “bruising its head”—this, thou art cursed Jim fulfills God’s curseabove all cattle, and above on the animal.every beast of the field;upon thy belly shalt thougo, and dust shalt thoueat all the days of thy life:And I will put enmitybetween thee and thewoman, and between thyseed and her seed, it shallbruise thy head, and thoushalt bruise his heel.”Genesis 3: 13-15


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Book III and Book IVAnswer Key

Biblical Verse Page Passage Purpose of Allusion

And out of the ground 53 “Our tree became This allusion foreshadowsmade the Lord God to the talking tree Mr. Shimerda’s kneelinggrow every tree that is of the fairy tale; before the tree, thuspleasant to the sight, and legends and transforming it from agood for food; the tree of stories nestled fanciful decoration into alife also in the midst of the like birds in sacred thing. Life in ruralgarden, and the tree of its branches. Nebraska, like the tree,knowledge of good and Grandmother said is full of stories, andevil.” Genesis 2:9 it reminded her these stories bring

of the Tree of knowledge of good andKnowledge.” evil.

“The Philistines seized 118–125 Reference to Blind This allusion might be[Samson, leader of the d’Arnault, whose intended to lend an air ofIsraelites], gouged out his first name is heroism to Samsoneyes, took him down Samson d’Arnault. He had beento Gaza, bound him in born under “the spiritbronze chains, and put him of slavery, if not the fact,”to grinding in the prison.” just as Samson was madeJudges 16:21 to work as a slave.

Nonetheless, bothSamsons did the work ofGod.

2. Image and Imagery. Responses will vary. Possible reasons that Cather uses so muchsun imagery include the way the position of the sun indicates the passage of time(an important theme in the novel), the importance of the sun—and of weather ingeneral—to farm communities, and the symbolic value of the sun as a source ofwarmth and light.

3. Foil. Mr. Harling seems principally concerned with his business. He travels often andspends little time with his family. He tends to make decisions about his family’s lifewithout consulting the other family members; for example, he decrees that Ántoniacannot go to dances and continue to work for his family despite the fact that therest of his family loves Ántonia. Mr. Harling is successful but seems lacking inhumanity. Mr. Shimerda, on the other hand, is consummately humane. He takes Jimseriously, looking him in the eye, and he listens sympathetically to the insect Ánto-nia brings home to him. Mr. Shimerda does not insist that his decisions stand; infact, he came to the United States against his judgment because his wife wanted tocome. Mr. Shimerda is not successful in the same sense that Mr. Harling is; he isunable to withstand life in Nebraska. Discuss with students which character istreated more sympathetically. With which set of values does Jim align himself?Which set does Cather seem to be advocating?


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Book VAnswer Key

Inquire, Investigate, Imagine, page 243Recall1a. Jim goes twenty years before visiting again. When he does visit, he is struck by how

many children there are. He also notes the children’s affection for Ántonia and howmuch they know about him and about Ántonia’s past in general.

2a. The Cuzaks speak Bohemian at home. The children recognize Jim because Ántoniahas told them so much about him and has shown them the pictures he sent to herfrom Bohemia. She has also shown them a picture of Jim that appeared in theChicago paper.

3a. She says that she “loved them as if they were people” and that “they were on [her]mind like children.”

4a. Anton is drawn to urban life and misses Bohemia: “He liked theaters and lightedstreets and music and a game of dominoes after the day’s work was over.” He saysthat he never expected to be “a settled man.”

5a. He finds evidence of the original road leading from Black Hawk to his grandfather’shouse and on to the Shimerdas’ house.

Interpret1b. Jim speculates that it was cowardice that kept him away so long. He did not want

to be confronted with reality and lose the romantic images of his past. He was alsoafraid of finding Ántonia “aged and broken.” Responses will vary. Possible responsesare given. Students might suggest that Jim is so moved because Ántonia is not bro-ken: while she looks weathered by the years, she still possesses the qualities that heoriginally recognized in her: sensitivity, enthusiasm, intelligence, warmth. Othersmight point out that Ántonia is living a life that Jim has left behind. She lives con-nected to the land, whereas he travels and is often away from home for weeks at atime. She has children while he has none.

2b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Speaking the Bohemian language athome is one way that Ántonia keeps the past alive. Her children are connected totheir heritage through the language. She has also shared with the children stories ofher childhood and Jim’s and has shown them the old photographs.

3b. As a child, Jim used to go visit the trees as if they were people. Ántonia feels as ifthe trees in her orchard are people. Indeed, they are much like the hardy settlerswho struggled to put down roots on the Nebraska prairie.

4b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Some students might say that Antonappears resigned to the life that he lives and that Ántonia is a strong enough forceto sustain him, even in a landscape that does not feel like home to him. Othersmight argue that he seems sad to be so isolated and so far away from theBohemian cities he loves. You might ask students in what way Anton’s feelingsabout Nebraska resemble and differ from Mr. Shimerda’s feelings. What do studentsthink of Anton’s decision to stay where he is? of Ántonia’s urging him to stay?


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Book VAnswer Key

5b. This discovery reminds him of his childhood and, especially, of his arrival inNebraska late at night. It brings the novel full circle by referring back to the veryfirst pages, in which Jim travels along that very road out to his grandfather’s farm.

Analyze6a. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Ántonia is compared to “a rich mine

of life” and “the founders of early races.” She is associated with fertility (both interms of children and in terms of the orchard), with an inner glow, with strengthand determination, and with an ability to reveal the meaning in common things.Several times throughout the novel, various characters remark on the fact that shecan never believe anything bad of the people she loves. She seems to represent aconnection to the past and to the land, as if her connection to both has enabledher to bring forth new life. Her goodness has yielded children who are kind, gentle,and fun-loving. She stands for strength, endurance, and belief in human goodness.

Synthesize6b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might say that Ántonia con-

nects Jim to a life he left behind when he left Nebraska. He lives a life that is fairlydisconnected, traveling much of the time. Ántonia seems to have the kind of happi-ness Jim experienced during his first day on the prairie as a child. Jim celebrates thevalues Ántonia represents: connection, kindness, enthusiasm, maternity, althoughhe seems to have trouble embodying them himself. Since Jim’s life bears such aresemblance to Cather’s, students might speculate that Cather shares Jim’s appreci-ation of those values and his difficulty living them.

Evaluate7a. Responses will vary.

Extend7b. Responses will vary.

Understanding Literature, page 2441. Symbol. The snake Jim kills becomes associated with “the ancient, eldest Evil,” the

serpent in the Garden of Eden who convinces Eve to eat from the Tree ofKnowledge.

The small, chirping insect reminds Ántonia of a beggar woman who used to sing tothe children in the Shimerdas’ town. The insect becomes a symbol for the OldWorld and for the fragility of life embodied in a woman who has to beg for food.The children find the insect in the fall, and it is clearly doomed to die as winter setsin. In this sense, the insect’s plight mirrors Mr. Shimerda’s futile struggle to survivein his new, difficult life. He, too, will die over the winter.

Outlined against the sun, the plow, representing farm life, seems majestic and pow-erful. As the sun continues to set, however, the plow appears to diminish in sizeuntil it is no longer visible. This progression seems to mirror Jim’s relationship torural Nebraska life: it was everything to him when he first arrived, but it now plays


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Answer Key

a smaller role in his life, and as the novel continues, he will move even further fromthat lifestyle. The way the plow seems gigantic in the light of the setting sun alsomight be read as a symbol of the way memory can make certain figures, like Ánto-nia, loom large in one’s mind.

The old, overgrown road connects Jim symbolically to his past, and specifically tohis arrival in Nebraska for the first time.

2. Archetype. Ántonia’s fertility plays an important role in the novel. She is comparedto a “rich mine of life” and to “the founders of early races.” She has given birth toat least ten children, whom Jim describes, as they emerge from the cave as if fromthe center of the earth, as a “veritable explosion of life.” Ántonia also has a specialrelationship to the trees in her orchard, having worried about them and cared forthem when they were young. She lives in a house that, in the summer, is “buriedin” hollyhocks. Her life follows the rhythms of the seasons, which play a large partin the novel. In general, Ántonia lives close to the earth and brings forth life from it.

3. Theme. The past is the stuff out of which this novel is ostensibly composed, sincethe novel is billed as a collection of Jim’s memories. The epigraph—“The best daysare the first to flee”—expresses both the glory of the past and the impossibility ofrecapturing it. These two qualities of the past inform much of the book: Jim is tornbetween his drive for progress and his love of the place where he grew up and ofthe people from his childhood. Mr. Shimerda misses the past too much and cannotmove forward into the future; he has to kill himself. Ántonia stays close to her pastand keeps it alive through her children and her way of life. Lena, like Jim, movesaway from her past, but unlike Jim, she is not drawn back to it. Students might sug-gest that Jim dwells too much on the past and that it deprives him of the pleasureof the present. Why, for example, does he stay in what seems like a lifeless marriageto Genevieve Burden—described in the introduction—rather than finding someonehe loves as much as he loves Ántonia? In fact, one of Ántonia’s strengths is her abil-ity simultaneously to stay connected to the past and to experience fully eachmoment as it happens, bringing out, as Jim says, “the meaning in common things.”

Introduction to the 1926 EditionCritical Thinking, page 2511. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Most obviously, the italics set the

introduction apart from the rest of the text, making it even clearer that its eventsoccur in a different time period from the rest of the novel. The italics might also beused to show that the passage has a different narrator than the rest of the novel.

2. The reader is supposed to infer that the manuscript became the novel he or she isabout to read. This leap is not a very big one, since the title Jim adds to the manu-script is the same as the title of the book.

3. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might mention any of thefollowing: Genevieve Whitney’s family and romantic history; Genevieve’s involve-ment in the suffrage movement and union activities; details about how Jim hashelped young men raise money for new business ventures; the physical description

Book V and Related Readings


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Related ReadingsAnswer Key

of Jim; Jim’s “sympathetic, solicitous interest in women”; the agreement betweenJim and the narrator that they would both write about Ántonia; and Jim’s warningthat his account of Ántonia would also have to say a great deal about him. Askstudents to consider what each of these bits of information adds to the novel andwhy Cather might have chosen to cut each.

4. Responses will vary. You might ask students to weigh the greater length of the origi-nal introduction against the additional background it provides. To get a sense of theway Cather condensed the language of the introduction for her second version, askstudents just to compare the first sentence of each version. Ask students which ver-sion they find more effective, and why.

Letter to Frances SamlundCritical Thinking, page 2541. Anna describes how disappointed the family was when they saw “them pretty

houses duged in the banks of the deep draws.” Clearly, the dugouts are not “prettyhouses,” but just chimneys sticking out of the earth. Later, she writes: “And beholdour surprise in sieng such beuttiful building and our first meal there was corn mealmush ana molasses that was what the peaple lived on and wild fowls and rab-bits….” The word beautiful here is a second example of verbal irony.

2. The Sadileks were disappointed by their new home. Charlie Krecek had led them toexpect beautiful houses and lots of trees. Instead, they found open prairie andmakeshift homes dug out of hills. Anna reports that the first winter was very hard,with little heat and little food.

3. According to Anna, her father was “a clean man in every way.” He didn’t drink,swear, or gamble. He was cheerful and had many friends in Bohemia. He was skilledwith his hands. He might have been somewhat idealistic or naïve in believingKrecek’s reports about Nebraska.

4. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. In Anna’s version, Mr. Sadilek killshimself during the day rather than after dinner, and there seems to be little doubtthat the cause of his death was suicide. Cather might have implicated Krajiek inorder to add another element of suspense to the novel. Also, Cather’s version of thestory includes many more details. For example, she describes in more graphic detailhow the corpse looks. It makes sense that Anna would not want to dwell on thosedetails. Cather also includes a great deal of information about how the man’s deathimpacted the neighbors, including Jim. These details were probably unknown toAnna.

5. Responses will vary.

from History of the State of NebraskaCritical Thinking, page 2611. History began, according to this writer, with the first white settlers in 1870. Before

that date, Chief Red Cloud held war councils in the area.


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2. This writer’s statement implies that Native American activities do not count as history.

3. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. This history is not entirely objective,despite the publishers claim that this work is “the most elaborate and perfect his-tory of a State ever written.” Even the title of the volume indicates that the historydescribes the advantages (not the disadvantages) of towns as well as the “marvel-lous” development of the area’s natural resources. Within the text of this excerpt,the location of Red Cloud is described as “pleasant,” which is a statement ofopinion rather than fact. The residence of ex-Governor Garber is said to be “magnif-icent.” The attractiveness of Red Cloud is stressed and supported with details about“fine buildings,” “neat design,” and shade trees that “add much to the beauty ofthe town.”

4. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Histories are often written to informreaders about the past, and this history probably shares that aim. It also seemsdesigned to promote Red Cloud, and Nebraska in general, as a desirable place tolive. In this sense, its purpose is to persuade.


“The Fir Tree”Critical Thinking, page 2701. The fir tree regrets that it didn’t enjoy itself while it still could.

2. The moral of this story appears to be that one should appreciate life as it happensrather than always wishing for something better.

3. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. The gold star represents the tree’shappiest night. Some students might suggest that the boy has stolen that happinessfrom the tree, since the tree died for the children’s pleasure. Others might arguethat the boy’s wearing of the star reflects his enjoyment of the moment and indi-cates that the boy will not make the tree’s mistake of missing out on happiness inits youth.

4. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. The tree listens to stories from theanimals of the forest. In this way, it learns the fate of both the large and small treesthat are cut down and taken away. These stories add to the tree’s knowledge of theworld and feed its dreams for the future. Since they are ostensibly true stories, thetree’s aspirations based on them are at least somewhat realistic.

At Christmas, the tree hears the story “Humpty Dumpty.” Because the storyteller is“a nice man,” the tree mistakenly assumes that the story is true, like those the treeheard from animals in the forest. Based on this mistake, the tree hopes that it, too,might meet a happier future, and it clings to this hope throughout the long winterin the attic. In this case, the story gives the tree hope, even if it is misguided hope.

The tree also tells stories of its life to the mice in the attic. By telling these stories,the tree comes to recognize how happy it once was. Although this realization istragic, since the past happiness cannot be recaptured, it does give the tree insight.The same stories also add to the mice’s knowledge of the world.


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6. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Like any allusion, this one adds depthto the novel. It also echoes and expands upon the epigraph: “The best days are thefirst to flee.” In fact, this epigraph applies almost as well to the fir tree as it does toJim; both of these characters confront the impossibility of recapturing the past.

The theme of stories and storytelling in “The Fir Tree” is also echoed in My Ántonia.Jim and Ántonia learn a great deal about the world through the stories they over-hear from adults. Like the fir tree, they later pass these stories on to others: Ántoniato her children and Jim to the reader by writing his manuscript about Ántonia.

Finally, the wooded setting of “The Fir Tree” echoes the forest scenes mentioned inassociation with Mr. Shimerda’s life in Bohemia.

“Riding into California”Critical Thinking, page 2721. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. If the role of the ancestors is to bless

one’s new life, then being one’s own ancestor must mean finding a way to blessone’s own life, to protect one’s self in a new land. Some students might interpretbeing one’s own ancestor to imply taking a high degree of responsibility for one’sown success or failure. To the degree that being one’s own ancestor entails self-reliance, the task is distinctly American. Other students might argue that beingone’s own ancestor means forging one’s own connections to the past, staying con-nected to the past through memory rather than relying on ancestral presences toforge that connection.

2. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Since Bruce Lee is a well-knownChinese American, the speaker of the poem might look to him as the closest thingshe has to an ancestor in this country. Adopting him as her hero might help herforge some degree of connection to her culture, even if only to a commercializedversion of it.

3. Images include the veterans in the mobile home park, the oil rigs “like giant frozenbirds,” and the white crowd at the Amtrak station in Fullerton. Responses will vary.Possible responses are given. These images convey a desolate landscape far from theglamorous image many people have of southern California. The images create acold, lonely mood.

4. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. The speaker’s challenges include find-ing a way to make a home here without family or obvious connections to her homeculture, learning to believe this land is real, and living with the loneliness of beingavoided because she is obviously Asian.

5. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. The Shimerdas also faced the chal-lenge of making a home in a place where they had no family, or knew no one otherthan Krajiek, who is certainly too untrustworthy to bless their arrival. Like thespeaker of the poem, the Shimerdas were isolated by their ethnic background; noone else spoke their language, so they could not go to town or easily make friends.


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Like the speaker in the poem, they rode on the train into a foreign place that wasnothing like they expected. On the trip, they might have faced discrimination likethat described in the poem, especially if Jake’s comment on page 8 that one is likelyto get diseases from foreigners was typical of the attitudes of others on the train.

Students who have read Anna Pavelka’s letter might note that the Sadileks, like thespeaker in this poem, confronted the difference between the beauty they expectedto find in America and the reality they did find. Others might point out that Jimworried, upon arrival in Nebraska, that his ancestors, namely his mother and father,wouldn’t be able to find him there because they would still be looking for him inVirginia. In some ways, Jim is in exile like the speaker of this poem.

“Mint Snowball”Critical Thinking, page 2751. He was famous for his mint snowball recipe.

2. It made her think of winter, but also of her ancestor’s home in Switzerland. It repre-sented a connection to her family and to her past. For this reason, she wanted to beable to duplicate the recipe.

3. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might suggest that, on onelevel, following the word refreshment back to its spring might mean being able toduplicate the recipe for the mint snowball. It might also mean getting back to thevalues the narrator associates with the mint snowball: the care her great-grandfathertook in creating each treat, the slowness she associates with that life, and hermother’s sense of a bright future ahead (“something fine and fragrant still to hap-pen”). It might mean feeling more at home in a world where the narrator currentlyfeels out of step.

What seems to be missing for the narrator are the values she associates with hergreat-grandfather and the mint snowballs he created. These values might be foundthrough a greater connection to the past.

4. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. The mint snowball, as a symbol forthe lost values of a past era, might be the thing for which the narrator feels wistful,even though she never experienced it herself. The fact that the mint snowball, likethe values it represents, no longer exists might explain why she feels out of step inthe modern world.

5. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students might say that this narra-tor’s longing for the past reminds them of Jim’s. Like Jim, she seems to long for val-ues that have faded away. In this case, though, the narrator is longing for a past shenever experienced herself, whereas Jim is longing for his own personal past.


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“The Prairie Grass Dividing”Critical Thinking, page 2771. The speaker of the poem demands close companionship with the people of “inland

America.”

2. Their looks ask the question “Who are you?”

3. The fact that they are associated with this question indicates that they do notaccept outside authority; instead, they say to political leaders, “Who are you to tellme what to do?”

4. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. The speaker mentions that these peo-ple live in the “open atmosphere,” which suggests a rural life. Students might envi-sion these people as hardy, suntanned, and strong from physical work. The peopledescribed in the poem also “go their own gait”; in other words, they are independ-ent and don’t imitate anyone else. They are leaders rather than followers. They arebold, pure, passionate, and uninterested in obeying authorities outside of them-selves.

5. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. The prairie grass is a symbol for—orhas a “spiritual correspondence” to—the people of inland America. By “prairiegrass,” Whitman can be assumed to mean “calamus leaves,” which were especiallystrong, hardy, and distinctive in their smell. Similarly, the people of inland Americaare strong, hardy, and distinctive in their personal convictions.

6. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Ántonia lives in “inland America.” Shepossesses the physical qualities mentioned by the speaker: she is strong, rugged,and weathered by the “open atmosphere.” She is certainly passionate about herchildren, the land, and her past. In addition, she is leader enough that she has con-vinced her husband to stay on the land despite his preference for the city.

GraphicOrganizers


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Graphic Organizer

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________

Venn Diagram

Use the Venn diagram below to compare and contrast Lena and Ántonia. List each char-acter’s different qualities in the separate parts of the circles and the qualities they share inthe interlocking space.

Lena Lingard Ántonia Shimerda Cuzak


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Graphic Organizer

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________

Cluster Chart

Ántonia comes to mean a great deal to Jim; she is associated with a variety of qualitiesand values that are important to him. Use a cluster chart like the one below to record thepassages that describe Ántonia’s significance to Jim. Each time you encounter a passagethat gives you a clue about Ántonia’s importance to Jim, draw another circle connectedto the center circle. Copy the quote and the page number on which it is found into thenew circle. Then, draw lines from the quotation circle to other circles explaining the quali-ties and values with which Ántonia is associated in that quotation. An example is pro-vided to get you started.

connection tothe past

“More than any otherperson we remembered, thisgirl seemed to mean to us the

country, the conditions,the whole adventure ofour childhood” (3).

childhood

Ántonia’sSignificance


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Graphic Organizer

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________

Seasons Chart

Weather and climatic conditions played a huge role in nineteenth-century life on theprairie. Use the chart below to trace the passing of the seasons throughout the novel. Foreach season, record in the top half of the chart the sensory details Cather uses todescribe that season. What does she make the reader see, hear, taste, smell, and feel? Inthe bottom half of the chart, record the most significant events that take place duringeach season. Can you see any connections between the seasons and the events that takeplace during them?

Fall

SensoryDetails

Winter Spring Summer

Events


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Graphic Organizer

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________

Climax

DénouementExposition

Risin

gActio

n

FallingAction

IncitingIncident

Resolution

PlotPyramid

Plot Diagram

Using the plot pyramid below, chart the plot of My Ántonia. Briefly describe on the spacesprovided the elements of the novel’s plot: exposition, inciting incident, rising and fallingaction, climax, resolution, and dénouement.

Graphic Organizer Answer Key


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Venn Diagram

Responses will vary. Completed Venn diagrams might include the following:

rejects life inrural Nebraska;lives in cities:

Lincoln and SanFrancisco;

rejects family lifeand marriage;wants to escape

past;becomes profes-sional dressmaker.

returns to ruralNebraska;embraces

motherhood;embraces marriage;celebrates andpreservesthe past;

works at homewith her family.

Lena Lingard Ántonia Shimerda Cuzak

bothcome from

immigrant farmfamilies;

both were poorand had to work in

the fields;both became“hired girls” in

town.


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Cluster Chart

Responses will vary. Completed cluster charts might include the following:

childhood

maternity/fertility

strength

health

enthusiasm

“…there was a newkind of strength…ardour” (207).“Whatever…

fire of life”(221).

relish for life

joviality

gentleness

independence

“[Ántonia and Mrs.Harling] had strong,

independent natures….life…” (117).

heartfeltconversation

“Everything …heart” (115).

connection tothe past

“More …childhood”

(3).

Ántonia’sSignificance

“Whatever…incommunicable

past” (242).

“She was a richmine … races”

(231).


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Seasons Chart


Fall

SensoryDetails

Winter Spring Summer

Events

big yellow pumpkins;pale yellow cornfields;copper-coloredsmartweed;ripe cucumbers;amber sunlight with“shiver of coming winter”in air;tall asparagus turned to a“mass of slimy green”;grasshopper’s “rusty littlechirp”;smell of drying grass;air “clear and heady aswine.”

sky like a sheet of metal;ghostly cornfields;stiff willow bushes;blinding sunlight reflectingoff snow;wind with “burning tasteof blowing snow”;stinging cold outside;stupefying warmthindoors;howling wind;aching hands;hunger for color;uglier looking roofs andangles;pale cold light;wind singing of harshreality.

“nimble air”;light restlessness;throb of life;swift clouds;pale sunshine;warm, high wind “like apuppy that pawed youand then lay down to bepetted”;smell of burning grass.

breathless, brilliant heat;crackling of the growingcorn;feathered stalks, “so juicyand green”;burning sun;milky ears;close, hot nights;thunderstorm.

reconciliation withShimerdas;Ántonia wishes her fathercould have seen summer;dancing comes to BlackHawk;teenagers discoverdancing and escapeoppressive social life intown.

Shimerdas’ new house;Ántonia begins workingfields;Jim starts first term ofschool;feud with Shimerdas;move to Black Hawk;hired hands set out fornew adventures.

roads are obliterated;children are stuck inside;Mr. Shimerda killshimself;no priest can reach themthrough winter weather;Jim grows restless andmoody.

arrival in Nebraska;impending death of littlegrasshopper;killing the rattlesnake;Pavel’s worsening illnessand death;Mr. Shimerda’s deepeningdepression.

Plot Diagram

Responses will vary. Please refer to pages 246–249 of the Access Edition for a plot analysisof My Ántonia.

Vocabularyand

Literary TermsReview


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Books I–II

abominable, 31acquit, 65affable, 126affliction, 120afford, 139amiable, 119anarchist, 24antagonist, 44appease, 102archly, 105arroyo, 43autocratic, 103avouch, 161bantering, 8barbarously, 122beneficent, 71boisterously, 60brandishing, 26caper, 113caustic, 140clemency, 76confer, 119confidence, 7conscientiously, 44contemptuous, 37cordially, 81countenance, 124covet, 67creditably, 65credulousness, 153cultivation, 130decorum, 11defer, 59degraded, 22demonstrative, 11demure, 105derision, 115desolate, 113despoiled, 30

disapprobation, 147disconcerted, 86disconsolate, 142disposition, 2dissolute, 137dissuade, 95docile, 37doleful, 26domestic, 103emaciated, 37encumbered, 8enterprising, 98entreat, 100evasively, 107executive, 2exemplary, 127exorbitant, 35exultation, 28famished, 22fastidious, 138fetid, 32forestall, 83fraternal, 7furtive, 33futurity, 29gaudily, 26gaunt, 88genteel, 101gesticulations, 24gorging, 110gully, 13hectoringly, 110imperial, 103implore, 159incessantly, 123incivility, 160indolence, 81infirmity, 120ingenuousness, 132

inquisition, 72insensible, 67insinuating, 86insinuations, 139intercessor, 69interminable, 7interval, 58inveterate, 137joviality, 117jurisdiction, 9laconically, 33lassitude, 98liability, 99licentiousness, 138limpid, 157loath, 95loathsome, 31luminous, 88luxuriant, 152malcontent, 142maxim, 137mediocre, 2meritorious, 83mettle, 131mollified, 110notoriety, 46obliterate, 52oracular, 13perfunctory, 98petulantly, 32piquant, 131primeval, 122propitiate, 142propitiatory, 76quay, 88rake, 162reconciliation, 84repose, 100reprove, 128

reticent, 99rout, 98score, 129shrewd, 78singular, 85slavishly, 64solicitous, 119solidarity, 130spry, 27stark, 48stoutly, 67stupefy, 43subsequent, 33subservience, 120subterranean, 22supercilious, 34surly, 59taciturn, 72temperamentally, 2torpor, 29transfiguration, 28uncouth, 18unmollified, 102unscrupulous, 124vermilion, 15vindictive, 48vitality, 31vitalize, 122

Vocabulary Review


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Books III–VVocabulary Review

artless, 174chivalry, 187commodious, 170compromise, 186conformation, 200congenial, 185cynicism, 180dejection, 218detain, 182disposition, 236

droll, 232duplicity, 234elliptical, 171enfeebled, 169epithet, 187grizzled, 219idyllic, 180immoderately, 183impertinent, 229impetuously, 220

incongruous, 170jaunty, 230naïveté, 184menial, 198parsimonious, 170platitude,171quizzical, 233renunciatory,190retract,187self-possession, 182

sentiment, 183skepticism, 180squander, 235utmost, 186tarry, 230veritable, 223


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Related ReadingsVocabulary Review

aspect, 258audacity, 277comprise, 258copious, 276

eddy, 258edifice, 260elixir, 273flamboyant, 273

gait, 277garret, 267gild, 264mortify, 263

permeate, 274quell, 277solace, 274taper, 264


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Books I–IIVocabulary Worksheet

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________

Exercise: Short Answer

Briefly answer each of the following questions.

1. Describe a time when you might be expected to acquit yourself with decorum. Whatwould happen if you were petulant instead?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2. Describe a time when you mollified someone who was being surly or vindictive.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. How might you express solidarity with someone? Under what circumstances could yourbehavior be described as propitiatory?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Exercise: Matching

Next to each vocabulary word, write the letter of its synonym.

______ 4. affable

______ 5. clemency

______ 6. fastidious

______ 7. indolence

______ 8. laconically

______ 9. piquant

______ 10. solicitous

a. laziness

b. excessively delicate or careful

c. mischievous

d. leniency

e. apprehensive

f. friendly

g. concisely


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Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________

Exercise: Multiple Choice

On the line next to each question, write the letter of the best answer.

11. Which of the following scenarios could be described as a transfiguration?a. someone moves a desk from one side of the room to the otherb. an old warehouse is turned into an attractive shopping complexc. a phrase in Spanish is expressed in Englishd. a sunny day turns cloudy

12. Which of the following is most likely to be described as oracular?a. a minister’s sermonb. a sitcom on televisionc. a musical instrumentd. a cash register

13. A person who is shrewd is unlikely to be .a. mistaken for someone elseb. fooled into an unwise business decisionc. found in a saloond. chosen for the varsity basketball team

14. A person would be most likely to experience disapprobation as aresult of .a. winning an awardb. getting an after-school jobc. performing well on a standardized testd. breaking a rule

15. Someone who is behaving cordially toward you would be least likelyto .a. insult youb. compliment youc. praise youd. take you out to lunch

16. Someone who is disconsolate could also be described as .a. enterprisingb. propitiatoryc. unable to be mollifiedd. demure

17. A synonym for abominable would be .a. desolateb. loathsomec. beneficentd. demonstrative


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Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________

18. If you are encumbered, you are most likely .a. weighted down by somethingb. carried away by somethingc. entertained by somethingd. annoyed by something

19. Someone who is genteel would be unlikely to .a. hold the door open for someoneb. thank a service person as he or she brings the foodc. get into a fightd. write a letter to his or her congressperson

20. To say that something is “out of your jurisdiction” means that it is.

a. not on your propertyb. out of your reachc. out of your realm of controld. outside the realm of possibility


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Books III–VVocabulary Worksheet

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________

Exercise: Sentence Completion

Complete the sentences by filling in each blank with a word from the list below. Do notuse any word more than once.

EX. Greeting cards often contain so much sentiment that people find them sappy.

1. That mayoral candidate exhibited when she reversedher opinion from one day to the next.

2. It’s easy to a lot of money at the arcade.

3. When my great-grandmother finished dinner in arestaurant, she would pack any leftovers, all of the sugar packets, and any extranapkins in her purse before leaving.

4. by a long illness, Kate was unable to march in theFourth of July parade.

5. The neighborhood association decided to have the party at the Tans’ housebecause it was the most house on the block, andthey expected a large crowd.

6. The on Mrs. Gomez’s face indicated to the class thatshe didn’t believe Tarin’s excuse that her younger sister had ripped up herhomework.

7. When I read my literature text out loud, my cat gives me a(n)look, as if he is trying to understand what I’m saying

to him.

8. Saturdays tend to be taken up by household chores, errands, and othertasks.

9. Kris was embarrassed when she realized how herformal dress was at the casual Homecoming Dance.

10. Some people criticize José for being when heinterrupts the teacher to express his opinions.

commodiousduplicitydejectionenfeebled

idyllicimpertinentincongruousmenial

parsimoniousquizzicalrenunciatoryself-possession

sentimentskepticismsquanderveritable


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Related ReadingsVocabulary Worksheet

Exercise: Short Answer

Briefly answer each of the following questions.

1. Describe a time when you or someone you know acted with audacity.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2. How is an edifice different than a garret?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. How would something with a gilded aspect look?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Exercise: Multiple Choice

On the line next to each question, write the letter of the best answer.

4. In which of the following situations would you most likely encounter ataper?a. in battleb. at a fancy dinner partyc. at the zood. in an old, abandoned barn

5. If a letter is permeated with affection, it might also be described as.

a. altered from its original stateb. curled around the edges from being handledc. filled with loving thoughtsd. made unforgettable by its contents

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________


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Related ReadingsVocabulary Worksheet

6. Which of the following characters from My Ántonia is least likely to giveÁntonia solace?a. the Widow Steavensb. Jim Burdenc. Wick Cutterd. Lena Lingard

7. If a fight has been quelled, it isa. unlikely to continueb. apt to become more violentc. nonexistentd. irrational

8. Which of the following is most likely to mortify someone?a. being asked out on a date by someone one likesb. tripping and falling while walking onto a stage to receive an awardc. getting a lower grade on a test than one had hopedd. spending several hours outside in cold weather

9. In which of the following places would you be most likely to encounter anelixir?a. at a clothing storeb. at the hairdresser’sc. in a toyboxd. in the medicine cabinet

10. Another word for gait is .a. strideb. entrywayc. figurined. bridle

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________


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Cumulative ExamVocabulary Review

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________


Complete the sentences by filling in each blank with a word from the list below. Do notuse any word more than once.

1. Jamal expressed with his brother, who he thoughtwas grounded unfairly, by staying home himself.

2. The teacher’s trigonometry lesson was so that I don’tthink she even wanted us to understand it.

3. He ate , with his elbows on the table, his fingers inhis food, and his head bent low over his plate.

4. Knowing her mother was angry and wanting to her,Rachel cleaned the whole house when she got home from school.

5. Spending a whole weekend on the couch in front of the television is a display of.

6. I would have gone to the concert if the ticket prices hadn’t been so.

7. Despite her mother’s efforts to comfort her, the tired baby remained.

8. Cheryl often buys things and later, after thinkingabout it, realizes she doesn’t really need them.

9. The advocated overthrowing the government.

10. The last period of the last day of school can feel .

abominableanarchistbarbarouslycommodious

derisionellipticalexorbitantimpetuously

indolenceinterminablejurisdictionpropitiate

solidaritysolicitoussuperciliousunmollified


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Literary Terms Review

Books I–II

conflict, 91

frame narrative, 90

narrator, 90

personification, 165

setting, 90

simile, 164

subplot, 165

Books III–V

allusion, 211

archetype, 244

foil, 213

image, 213

imagery, 213

symbol, 244

theme, 245


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Literary Terms Worksheet

Name _____________________________________ Class_____________________ Date____________


Complete the sentences by filling in each blank with a literary term from the list below.Do not use any term more than once.

EX. Lena’s relationship with Ole is one subplot of My Ántonia.

1. “The road ran about like a wild thing” is an example of a(n).

2. Because Ántonia has so many children, is nurturing, and lives close to the earth,she resembles the earth mother .

3. Another way to refer to the Introduction would be to call it a(n).

4. Lena is a(n) for Ántonia.

5. Jim’s struggle within himself to decide whether to remain in Nebraska near hisfriends or go to the East Coast in pursuit of education is an example of a(n)

.

6. Memory is one important of My Ántonia.

7. When Cather uses the small green insect to represent the fragility of life, the insectis a(n) .

8. The reference to “the talking tree of the fairy tale” is a(n)to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Fir Tree.”

9. The of My Ántonia is Nebraska in the nineteenthcentury.

10. When Jim refers to the wind singing a “bitter song,” he is using.

allusionarchetypeconflictfoilframe narrative

imagenarratorpersonificationsettingsimile

subplotsymboltheme


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Vocabulary and Literary TermsAnswer Key

Vocabulary Worksheet, Books I–II

Vocabulary Worksheet, Books III–V

Vocabulary Worksheet, Related Readings

Cumulative Vocabulary Exam

Literary Terms Worksheet

1.–3. Responses will vary.4. f5. d6. b7. a8. g

9. c10. e11. b12. a13. b14. d

15. a16. c17. b18. a19. c20. c

1. duplicity2. squander3. parsimonious4. enfeebled

5. commodious6. skepticism7. quizzical8. menial

9. incongruous10. impertinent

1.–3. Responses

WITH RELATED READINGS AssessmentManual · 2010. 8. 23. · 6 ASSESSMENT MANUAL / MY ÁNTONIA 2 0 0...

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