At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles President Reagan pointed with pride to the American Olympic Team. The President's pride was not in the number of gold, silver or bronze medals the team had won, but in the ethnic diversity of the team.
Most countries sent a national team comprised of a single national ethnic group. The team from the United States was, ethnically speaking, a world team.
Today it would be difficult to take seriously anyone who would argue that the true strength of this country is based on the accomplishments of just a single ethnic group. On the other hand, most would agree that the true greatness of America is its great cultural diversity. America is referred to as a cultural melting pot, and I think most of us are proud of that. If America is going to continue to grow and develop it must draw even more deeply from its cultural diversity. We must rely more on the rich cultural heritage of the Black, Native American and Asian cultures. The problem America faces today is its in ability to assimilate these cultures as effectively as it had assimilated the European cultures.
The European cultures were not assimilated into the basic Anglo-Saxon culture without some resistance. Willa Cather makes a strong case for the inclusion of non-Anglo-Saxon European cultures into mainstream American culture.
The immigrants of the late 1800's and early 1900's had a great deal to contribute to American culture. They came to America for many of the same reasons the immigrants of the 1600's and 1700's came; they shared the same dreams, had the same ambitions.
Cather describes two Americas at the turn of the century. The first America is the old America which is white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. The second America is the America of the newly arriving immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, who were Catholic, Orthodox or Jewish. These two Americas come together in Cather's My Antonio.
On a train bound for Black Hawk, Nebraska, Cather has both Americas on board. Jim Burden rides in what must have been first class, and Antonia Shimerdas rides in the immigrants' car.
On the train Cather introduces the prejudices that the new immigrants would have to overcome. The two Americas are separated not only by railroad cars, but also by hostile feelings. Jim is asked by the conductor if he would like to meet a little girl he describes as being as bright as a new dollar. Jim, out of shyness, refuses the conductor's invitation. Jake, who is Jim's adult chaperon, approving of Jim's decision says, "You were likely to get diseased from foreigners."
When Jim does meet Antonia he is immediately captivated. Cather has brought the two Americas together by using the innocence of youth. It is through Jim's young eyes that we meet this new Bohemian family. Cather, however, presents more than a Bohemian family. This family symbolizes all the new immigrants coming from southern and eastern Europe.
Mr. Shimerdas is the epitome of a Europe that is old, dignified and dying. The Hapsburg Europe of Mr. Shimerdas lay in rubble about the same years as My Antonio was published. Cather describes Mr. Shimerdas through Jim: "I noticed how white and well-shaped his hands were. They looked calm, somehow, and skilled . . . everything about this old man was in keeping with his dignified manner." Mr. Shimerdas' suicide symbolized the burning of the bridge to the past. Only the future matters to these immigrants.
Mrs. Shimerdas symbolizes the new Europe of the common people, the Europe where the unwashed masses were in charge. Jim describes Mrs. Shimerdas as crude and lower class but a survivor. "Her face was alert and lively, with a sharp chin and shrewd little eyes." It was also Mrs. Shimerdas who persuaded the father to leave the old country so that her son, Ambroz, will have a chance for economic success.
During the early years on the farm Cather plays on both human prejudice and compassion as she introduces the reader to the Shimerdas family. Cather creates a strong and warm attachment to Antonia, because she represents everything that is pure and honest. She was going to succeed as a new American. With other members of the Shimerdas family she creates both a hot and cold feeling. They were hard working, and could be humble and thankful. At other times however, they were less attractive: for example, Mrs. Shimerdas expects handouts; she refuses to pay the full amount for the cow; Ambroz borrows the horse-collar and fails to return it in good condition. But, the Shimerdas family, above all, worked hard. They were American pioneers.
Cather moves us off the farm and into town as we meet more of the two Americas and how they relate to each other. The relationship is still one of master-servant. Antonia and the other immigrant girls work as domestic servants for the town's leading citizens. Yet these immigrants are pictured as healthy and hard working with a special beauty not found in those they serve. The description of the three Bohemian Marys best describes this: "they, tried to make up for the years of youth they had lost. But everyone of them did what she had set out to do, and sent home those hard-earned dollars. The girls I knew were always helping to pay for ploughs and reapers, brood sows, or steers to fatten."
Lena and Tiny both can be described as Horatio Alger success stories. By working hard, both girls reach a high level of financial success. Through her strength of character Antonia pulls herself together and makes a success out of her life after falling victim to the unscrupulous Larry Donovan.
Cather was not an active reformer of the early 20th Century as were her contemporaries, Jane Addams, Dorothea Dix and Ida Turball. However, she was exposed to the plight of the immigrants on the prairie while growing up in Nebraska. Later, as a writer in New York, she was exposed to city ghettoes that were home to the hordes of newly arriving immigrants. She must have been touched deeply by this struggle and by the will of these people to create a new life for themselves. In telling us their story Cather helped to bridge a culture gap between the two Americas of her day.
Today's
reader cannot help being moved by this pioneer story and having a renewed
appreciation of their unique contribution to the story of America.