My Antonia: Metaphors 5 key examples

As a child from faraway Virginia, the protagonist is overwhelmed by the sheer size of the prairie. It’s so enormous compared to anything else he’s seen that it ceases to be real to him, as “if one went a little further there would only be sun and sky.” The grassland seems to extend endlessly into the “light air” where he believes the world itself ends. Jim is so absorbed by the prairie that even the air around him feels “light,” and he is unable to imagine anything beyond his surroundings.

This use of “light” is also significant because it symbolizes change throughout the novel. Jim’s world has so utterly altered that he has moved to a place of “light,” where the land is so unfamiliar it “ends” and disappears. His old world ends at the border of the “red grass,” which he believes is the last thing between him and the “edge of the world.” This metaphor of nothingness serves to underline the profound impact of the prairie on Jim's developing character and personality, while also setting up Nebraska as a place of new beginnings and almost magical potential.

Sunflowers denote the paths of settlers and pioneers in the novel, as they pursue the idea of “Manifest Destiny.” This cultural belief espoused the idea that American "pioneers" were destined to migrate as far west as the continent would allow them to travel. The sunflowers symbolize these early American settlers' perseverance. They follow the road “wherever it looped or ran,” giving the paths of the settlers who came before a “gold[en]” quality.

Later, in Book 1, Chapter 4, Jim describes how Mormons use sunflowers to mark their progress across the prairie. The “gold ribbon” they leave behind created a trail for their loved ones to follow as they escape religious persecution:

The next summer, when the long trains of wagons came through with all the women and children, they had the sunflower trail to follow. [...] that legend has stuck in my mind, and sunflower-bordered roads always seem to me the roads to freedom.

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For Jim, the “sunflower trails” symbolize not only the past, but also a guide to the future when his own horizons expand beyond his prairie youth. The “roads to freedom” delineated by sunflowers lead him out of the prairie and Black Hawk, and then eventually back to it as a mature adult. Sunflowers are also traditionally aligned with light, which Cather uses to symbolically signal change in My Ántonia. As Jim follows his path toward his unknown future, he is like a sunflower, "turning" toward the light down whichever road it leads him.

Sunflowers denote the paths of settlers and pioneers in the novel, as they pursue the idea of “Manifest Destiny.” This cultural belief espoused the idea that American "pioneers" were destined to migrate as far west as the continent would allow them to travel. The sunflowers symbolize these early American settlers' perseverance. They follow the road “wherever it looped or ran,” giving the paths of the settlers who came before a “gold[en]” quality.

Later, in Book 1, Chapter 4, Jim describes how Mormons use sunflowers to mark their progress across the prairie. The “gold ribbon” they leave behind created a trail for their loved ones to follow as they escape religious persecution:

The next summer, when the long trains of wagons came through with all the women and children, they had the sunflower trail to follow. [...] that legend has stuck in my mind, and sunflower-bordered roads always seem to me the roads to freedom.

Cite this Quote

For Jim, the “sunflower trails” symbolize not only the past, but also a guide to the future when his own horizons expand beyond his prairie youth. The “roads to freedom” delineated by sunflowers lead him out of the prairie and Black Hawk, and then eventually back to it as a mature adult. Sunflowers are also traditionally aligned with light, which Cather uses to symbolically signal change in My Ántonia. As Jim follows his path toward his unknown future, he is like a sunflower, "turning" toward the light down whichever road it leads him.

Cather uses the metaphor of a rattlesnake here—a dreaded but common threat on the prairies of Nebraska—to highlight how Krajiek endangers the Shimerda family. The Shimerdas are unable to escape Krajiek’s hold over them at this point in the book, as they owe him money and cannot communicate with their neighbors unless he translates for them. They "keep" him in their "hole" and feed him, just as “prairie-dogs” and “brown owls” sometimes house rattlesnakes in their dens. They don't know how to get rid of him and believe it would be dangerous to do so. The author shows Krajiek's predatory behavior at various points before and after this: through his sale of a ruinous farm to the Shimerdas, his selfishness and his financial dishonesty. Calling someone a “snake” means that they are sneaky and underhanded—and Krajiek is compared to a particularly predatory kind of snake.

Comparing the Shimerdas to “the prairie-dogs and the brown owls” suggests that they are placed in the same position of prey animals forced to share their den. They are endangered by both the predator (Krajiek) and the threat of its displeasure if they kick it out. The horrible cave that the Shimerdas are forced to live in by Krajiek is more like an animal's dwelling than a human house, which is also why Cather refers to it as a “hole.” This metaphor illustrates the difficulty of the Shimerda family’s living situation as new arrivals: they have no money, no common language with their neighbors, and no cultural experience in their new country.

In this passage, the narrator compares Pavel to "a child with croup," an infection that makes young children cough loudly and constantly. Through this simile, the author emphasizes the severity of Pavel’s illness and his struggle to breathe. This simile creates a vivid image of Pavel's physical discomfort while also provoking a sense of empathy for his suffering. The comparison to a child with croup also highlights Pavel's vulnerability. As he's a grown man, comparing him to a child makes him seem even more fragile than he might otherwise.

The other simile Cather employs in this passage compares Pavel’s body to something that is already dead. Cather writes that his "spine and shoulder-blades" stick out from his body "like the bones under the hide of a dead steer left in the fields." This comparison to a corpse foreshadows Pavel's upcoming demise. The image of a dead steer left in the fields also reminds the reader of the precarious nature of life on the prairie: everyone is one accident away from a similar fate.

Cather also uses a metaphor to describe Pavel's body as he lies still, struggling for breath. She describes his body as a "hollow case," which emphasizes the delicacy of his physical form as he struggles to survive his injury. This metaphor suggests that Pavel's body has wasted away to a mere shell, with all the contents inside gone. The phrase "a hollow case" also evokes sadness and loss for the reader, as Pavel had previously been a joyful and vivacious person. The simile and metaphor work together in this passage to create a poignant image of Pavel's tragic situation.

In the above passage, the author uses a metaphor to portray the idea of destiny as a road that Jim follows throughout the course of his life. In a novel full of long journeys and far-flung places, Cather frames life itself as a journey, and destiny as the predetermined path that one must follow. The “road of Destiny” takes Jim and Ántonia through their trials and successes and deposits them at their current positions in life, which implies that these characters have little control over what fate has in store.

Roads are everywhere in this novel, and whatever road Jim Burden is on, it always leads him back to Ántonia Shimerda. In first arriving in Nebraska, he found her for the first time; in coming back to Nebraska, he comes back to her. Through this circular tale, Cather implies that life itself is as cyclical as the seasons the prairie farmers rely on. The phrase "little accidents of fortune” as it’s used here suggests that Jim doesn’t always understand the workings of fate. Unbeknownst to him at the time they're happening, seemingly random events make up parts of the destiny that "predetermines" his whole life. Journeys, whether exploratory or planned, are still just people walking the "road" of destiny in its "little circle" in this novel.