Figurative Language In My Antonia

Words: 2098
Pages: 9

TITLE: My Ántonia PUBLICATION DATE: 1918
The title itself is a possessive noun referring to the fact that Ántonia belongs to Jim, or more reasonable, belongs to his heart.
The title includes Ántonia’s name and not Jim’s because even though the story is told by Jim, Ántonia is a character that greatly influences Jim throughout his life.
AUTHOR: Willa Cather NATIONALITY: American
Willa Cather was born on December 7, 1873 in Gore, Virginia and died on April 24, 1947 in New York.
Her family settled in Red Cloud, Nebraska in 1885.
Cather moved to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln to continue her education, where she first focused on studying science and medicine. She then realized that writing was impeccable for her and knew she would become a writer.
She published her first book of
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The alliteration effect of “furrows, full of fruit” adds an element of fun to the passage and furthermore describes the many plentiful bushes in the plains.
“Peter, his companion, was a very different sort of fellow, short, bow-legged, and as fat as butter.” (25).
Imagery in this quote is being used to describe the character of Peter. As the reader pictures his physical appearance, the simile of describing him as a fat kind of person adds on and helps their mental picture develop.
“He [a snake] was as thick as my leg, and looked as if millstones couldn’t crush the disgusting vitality out of him.
This suspenseful part of the novel is being described and the simile used, being as thick as his leg, portrays the kind of animal Jim is up against. The exaggerated effect of “looking as if millstones couldn’t crush...him” has the reader realizing that the snake is extremely dangerous and unstoppable.
“Pavel strained himself lifting timbers for a new barn, and fell over among the shavings with such a gush of blood from the lungs that his fellow-workmen thought he would die on the spot.”