My AntoniaI think My Antonia, written in 1918, is one of Cather's finest works. The critic HL Mencken considered it the most accomplished and, shortly after its publication in 1919, he wrote: “Her style has lost all self-consciousness; his sense of form became instinctive. And she has such a mastery of her materials. ..I know of no novel that makes the remote people of the western prairies more real...and I know of none that makes them seem more worth knowing." One of the strong points of the story is the tragic case of Mr. Shimerda's death In this character, Cather shows an almost obsessive longing for the past. A revered man, Antonia's father cannot handle the difficulties he encounters in Nebraska and longs for his life in. Bohemia. He clings to his Old World wardrobe and foods... "a knitted gray waistcoat and, instead of a collar, a dark bronze-green silk scarf, carefully crossed and held in place." together by a red coral pin." Homesick for his native country, Mr. Shimerda commits suicide. Some critics find Cather's recurring preoccupation with the past destructive. T. K. Whipple said there was an element of passion in the theme. "To have cared deeply about something is not to have lived in vain." I think the theme of immigrants in search of the past was entirely appropriate. Most Midwestern prairie settlers were immigrants, and most were desperately trying to hold on to their past while building a new life in the American melting pot. Difficulties faced by immigrants were not uncommon. Many were forced to go to the city to become a "hired girl", as Antonia did before returning to the agricultural work she enjoyed, where she discovered city life in dance clubs. My favorite thing about reading My Antonia is the beautiful descriptions of the terrain and other little details. In this story, Jim Burden is not only a narrator for Cather, but also for the land. Throughout the story, his descriptions bring an eloquent style to his writing and capture the reader in the story. “Everywhere, as far as the eye could see, there was only red grass, rough and shaggy, almost as tall as me.” In a phrase that now appears on Cather's headstone, he comes to accept the power of the earth over him, saying: “It is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great..