Old Mr Shimerda example essay topic

People migrate from different parts of the world to America to start a better life. But they do not estimate the hardships that they will go through to get settled in a foreign land. In the novel My Antonia, Willa Cather portrays all the hardships the immigrant's have to go through. One of the known difficulties is the communication barrier.

Willa Cather shows this particular barrier in the Shimerdas family, they do not know English very well or at all, so they have many problems communicating. "They can't any of them speak English, except one little girl, and all she can say is 'We go Black Hawk, Nebraska" (Page 6). There is only one person in their whole family that knows a few words of English, but she is not fluent at all. They do not have a social life with anyone in the country besides each other because of this immense barrier. Furthermore locals are scared of the foreigners because they think that they are not pure. "Jake nodded at me approvingly and said you were likely to get disease from foreigners" (Page 6).

Many people discriminate against foreigners because they think that they might be contagious. Furthermore, immigrants do not know the market value of the property or the merchandise they buy. "The Bohemian family, grandmother told me as we drove along, had bought the homestead of a fellow countryman, Peter Krajiek, and had paid him more than it was worth. Their agreement with him was made before they left the old country, through a cousin of his, who was also a relative of Mrs. Shimerda. The Shimerdas were the first bohemian family to come to this part of the country. Krajiek was their only interpreter, and could tell them anything he chose".

(Page. 15-16.) The immigrants were fooled and got taken advantage of, due to the lack of knowledge of the market value. The Farmhouse is not in a condition where someone can live. They trusted a person because that was the only far relative they had in a new country, they believed whatever he told them. They did not have enough money left after buying an over priced property. They did not have any way to verify the value of the property since the agreement was made before they even moved to America.

They could not take any advice from anyone else due to the barrier of communication. Furthermore, the Shimerdas are not ready for the winter, Mr. Shimerda was a craftsman in his old country, and he does not know how to farm and how to prepare for the winter. "Mrs. Shimerda opened the door before we knocked and seized grandmother's hand. She did not say "how do!" as usual, but at once began to cry, talking very fast in her own language, pointing to her feet which were tied up in rags... Mrs. Shimerda snatched off the covers of two barrels behind the door, and made us look into them.

In one there were some potatoes that had been frozen and were rotting, in the other was a little pile of flour". (Page. 48-49) The immigrants did not have proper clothing to protect them from the harsh winter weather. They did not have enough food, and what they did have was rotting away. This also shows the lack of communication when Mrs. Shimerda talks fast in her language. She was really depressed and did not know what to do, so all she could do was to cry.

Furthermore, the immigrants go through more hard times when they find the man of the house dead. "Old Mr. Shimerda is dead, and his family are in great distress. Ambrosch came over here in the middle of the night, and Jake and Otto went back with him". (Page. 62.) Mr. Shimerda committed suicide because he was in great depression. He did not know what to do; his life was going downhill since he moved to the new country.

He was trying to get attention of the neighbors, so they can help is family. In addition, the Shimerdas lost a family member after migrating to a new country. This was a mental hardship they had to go through and will for the rest of their lives. "I wish my papa live to see this summer.

I wish no winter ever come again, ... if I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us". (Page. 90.) Antonia is really sad and misses her dad. She realizes that she has to go through the hardships because she is an immigrant.

She wishes that her father was still alive after the harsh winter and was alive to see the beautiful summer. In conclusion, immigrants have to go through many obstacles and hardships in their lives when they move to a different country. Some of these hardships are mental, and others are physical. Even though they have to face all these obstacles, most of the time they are successful.