The Costs of Immigration: An Analysis of Cather’s My Antonia, by Marwah Ayache

Immigrants go through many hardships when they first come to America: homesickness, the inability to speak English, cultural and religious differences. Most leave behind family, culture, language, and precious memories. It is hardworking, determined, and resourceful people who made America more powerful and prosperous than any other country. The Shimerda family in Willa Cather’s My Antonia went through unimaginable hardships when they first came to America. From leaving their families, culture, and past behind to backbreaking labor in inhospitable Nebraska, their efforts and many sacrifices paint a picture of the cost of the American Dream. While Antonia Shimerda finally achieves her version of the dream, many others, including her father, perish before they see it through.

The cost of the American Dream is reflected by the first challenges that the Shimerdas face when they arrive in America. To begin with, the whole family knows nothing of the English language or American culture. This is an issue they had to overcome in order to fit into Nebraskan society. Unfortunately, it made the Shimerda family vulnerable to corrupt people who take advantage of them. The Shimerda family does not know enough English to let others know what they want or to even ask for advice A countryman named Peter Krajiek is their only interpreter and he is able to tell them anything he wants to. The Shimerda family buys land from Krajiek, who cheats them by charging them for more than the land is actually worth. He also charges them more for the animals and stove he sells to them (Cather 16).

 Additionally, the Shimerda family deals with the struggle of leaving their own country and culture behind to come to America. This hardship has the biggest effect on the Shimerda family since it causes them to suffer emotionally. They wrestle with feelings of alienation, depression, and nostalgia for their native land and how things once were. This has a huge impact on Mr. Shimerda since he did not want to leave Bohemia in the first place, but was forced by his wife in order to achieve the American Dream. He had money, a good job, and was well-respected in the old country, but is treated like a second-class citizen in America. His inability to become accustomed to the new land, life, and customs take a huge toll on him, which causes him to commit suicide (Cather 66; Stefanovici 111).

The daily hardship the Shimerda family struggles with is the hard farm labor on the harsh frontier of Nebraska. People on the frontier have to work harder just to get by in life. This could not have been more true for the Shimerdas. They depended on the land for their livelihood just to get by, so any changes to the landscapes had a significant effect on them. When Jim asks Antonia if she is going to school, she says, “'I ain't got time to learn. I can work like a man now. My mother can't say no more how Ambrosch do all and nobody to help him. I can work as much as him. School is all right for little boys. I help make this land one good farm” (Cather, 85). To assure her family’s survival after her father dies, Antonia works all day on the harsh Nebraskan frontier to make it a better farm instead of going to school. She actually does the same amount of hard work as her brother, Ambrosch, so he is not doing it all by himself.

The many hardships the Shimerda family go through is a reflection of the true cost of the American Dream. Unlike Antonia, who achieves her idea of the American Dream, others fail to achieve that goal. Antonia is able to live out what is truly in her heart and what she wants out of life, which is a simple, agrarian lifestyle with her husband and children. When Jim visits Antonia after almost twenty years, he notices:

…how little it mattered--about her teeth, for instance. I know so many women who have all the things that she had lost, but whose inner glow has faded. Whatever else was gone, Antonia had not lost the fire of life. Her skin, so brown and hardened, had not the look of flabbiness as if the sap beneath it had been secretly drawn away. (Cather, 223)

 Even though Antonia has lost a lot, she never loses her fire of life since she is able to live out her dream. However, this is not the case with the two Russians, Pavel and Peter, who come to United States to achieve the American Dream. They come to America since they were seen as outsiders in Russia. They attended a wedding as groomsmen in Russia. On their way home from the wedding, they were attacked by wolves and pushed the bride and groom off the sleigh in order to save themselves. Once they settle down in America, things become difficult for them. Eventually, Pavel becomes gravely ill and dies. This forces Peter to sell everything they owned and leave the country (Cather 40-42). Their idea of the American Dream is to leave their past behind to start a new and better life in America, but they fail to see it through. While Antonia is able to fulfill her idea of the American Dream, many immigrants are not able to achieve their own dream.

Immigrants go through many hardships when they first come to America. They have to leave behind memories, families, and their culture in order to pursue the American Dream. While many immigrants fail to achieve their dream, the successful ones become some of the more hardworking and resourceful people, making America a more prosperous nation. However, the cost that many of them pay daily is that they live away from their homeland, their aging parents, and extended family they rarely ever see. They have strong nostalgic feelings about the past and the old country. More often then not, this struggle is what successful immigrants face all alone. Immigrants feel stuck in-between America and their homeland, neither here nor there fully. These hardships reflect the true cost of the America Dream, and while some are able to achieve their idea of the dream, like Antonia, others fail to see their dream through.