“Optima dies… bombig fugit, inch (Virgil). This simple yet powerful assertion is the offer chosen simply by Willa Cather to set the expectational theme for her 1918 novel My personal Ántonia. Vintage adage means “the ideal days are definitely the first to flee”, which will perfectly communicates My Ántonia’s general styles of hoping, perception in the past, and fondness of memory. When Jim includes a fruitful child years filled with remiss optimism for the future, his supreme fate is usually to lead a bland adult life. This kind of reality directs Jim to be constantly trapped in the past, getting out the present. Since an adult, this individual glamorizes his adolescent previous a realistic point in order to prevent the inevitable future. On the contrary, Ántonia is satisfied and content with her life, as misfortune humbles her. The epigraph’s nostalgic tone anticipates a tough juxtaposition between Jim’s romanticized childhood and Ántonia’s satisfaction with her lifestyle.
Jim lives his more youthful years prejudiced by the honest happiness that accompany being a kid. He under no circumstances has purpose to be concerned, with a financially satisfied, happy, and fortuitous family. Once Jim delivers, “this was the road over which Ántonia and i also came about that night whenever we got off of the train at Black Hawk and were bedded down in the straw, wondering kids, being considered we knew not whither” (Cather 247), he patently knows nothing at all of precisely what is in store for his future, when he and Ántonia are simply “wondering children”. For her portion, Ántonia is really immersed in pauperdom and pennilessness, yet develops her relationship with Jim because an escape. They will share various thrills, such as when “[their] tree became the discussing tree with the fairy tale, tales and reports nestled like birds in its branches” (Cather 59). Rick holds her in substantial regard just for this trait, this lady has humble delight despite persevering through scenarios Jim could never envision. In his teenage years, Jim says, “I examine ‘The Switzerland Family Robinson’ aloud to her, and I sensed that the Swiss family had no positive aspects over all of us in the way of a daring life” (Cather 48). These are the ideal pair, as Ántonia admires Jim for his possession of what she desires, while Ántonia’s lifestyle provides her an adventurous appeal pertaining to Jim. Since a child, Jim easily refrains by concerning him self with real-world problems, when Ántonia has no option. This kind of contrast demonstrates that a child-like mentality mounted on memories is actually a primary contributor to Jim’s preference to get living in yesteryear.
Ántonia is less impacted by comparing her current way of living to her earlier because they are so similar, while living with issues eases Jim’s ability to recollect fond recollections. He declares, “This is usually reality, if you like it or not-all those frivolities of summer season, the light and shadow, the living face mask of green that trembled over almost everything, they were lies, and this is exactly what was underneath. This is the truth” (Cather 119). Jim, in whose life is among the most product of bland greens and white, can think about his multi-colored childhood and mistake these vivid activities for fun. Actuality hits Jim hard, and offers quite a distinction to his fantastical the child years. Before growing up, Rick effortlessly mocked the routine life-styles of those living in cookie-cutter houses, never suspecting the articles of this kind of witticism to become his eventual fate since an adult. This kind of disappointing truth causes John to continuously dawdle within the last, as thorough in the next quote: “Some memories will be realities, and are also better than whatever can ever happen to a single again” (Cather 220). Meanwhile, Ántonia constantly lives in a real possibility filled with suffering and give up hope, and is less affected by the lack of gaiety. The girl tells John, “If I live below, like you, that is certainly different. Items will be easy for you. Nonetheless they will be hard for us, inch (Cather 97). This mentality aids Ántonia in rising her youthful years honestly for what they can be, rather than with relativity to the present, since she knows the future to bring not any promises.
Throughout Jims life, via childhood to adulthood, his reflections as well as perception with the past happen to be altered drastically by evaluating himself to Ántonia. Yet Ántonia hasn’t a idea what to expect of her upcoming. As the girl recalls through Jim, “A girl like me has got to consider her good times when the girl can. Maybe there will not be any tent next year” (Cather 142). The unpredictability provides her with an opportunity intended for hope and optimism. Contrary to Ántonia, John has a preconception of a powerful future and for that reason expects absolutely nothing less. His relationship with Ántonia is strengthened by his worth for her adventurous life. That being said, for the teenagers, the suicide of Mr. Shimerda does not have an effect on Jim straight because he was close to Mister. Shimerda, but instead because of his close companionship with Ántonia. He is saddened by her being annoyed, and ultimately can sympathize, yet hardly ever empathize. Sean admires Ántonia so much as a teenager that he under no circumstances wants his opinion being tainted, even when he is an adult adult. He muses, “I did not want to find her aged and broken, I seriously dreaded it. In the course of 20 crowded years one parts with many illusions. I did not desire to lose the early ones. A lot of memories will be realities, and are also better than something that can ever happen to one particular again” (Cather 220). John, as the, knows that his best times have fled, as the epigraph foreshadowed, and fixates on memories to re-experience his ideal days.
If the best days are definitely the first to flee, in that case Jim’s foremost experiences already are behind him. Ántonia is aware from the start that her children will be the acme of her life, and thus strives to generate her age of puberty ideal. Rick finds out later, through encounter, that his early years would be the pinnacle of his your life, after the time passes for him to really savor the adventures. Jim frequently reminds himself of better days, a habit which explains why this individual lingers in the adventures with Ántonia: “As I went back alone over that familiar road, I can almost believe that a boy and girl ran along close to me, because our shadows used to do, laughing and whispering to each other in the grass” (Cather 218). In this manner, Jim changes his recollections, making them more vivid and adventurous in order to flee through the agony of reality along with having grown up.
This idea of Rick and Ántonia’s perceptions with the past is easily applicable to the real world. Very much like Rick, people who shortage true pleasure in their lives have a tendency to fabricate thrill through memory, whilst people like Ántonia cannot afford to live in the past when remembrances are just while bad because the present. The way in which a person interprets days gone by is easily altered by evaluating a former life-style to a current lifestyle, a friend’s harder lifestyle, or maybe lack of optimism for a long term lifestyle. These kinds of real-life designs which connect directly to My Ántonia happen to be, once more, present in the clever words of Virgil: “Optima dies… bombig fugit. “
