Sarah Molloy
Mr. Stalker
History/Literature
02/22/2024
“The Best Days Are the First to Flee”
One of the first motifs that jumps out at the reader of My Antonia is that of nostalgia.
Nostalgia is a powerful tool that Cather uses to create vivid memories and experiences for the
characters in her story. The most notable nostalgic tones are seen when Antonia is describing her
homeland and things she misses and when Jim reflects back on his times with Antonia when they
were younger. Nostalgia serves as an emphasis to the past, which both Antonia and Jim have
fond memories of. Perhaps one of the most notable instances of this is in Book Four, after Jim
visits Antonia, when he writes “As I went back alone over that familiar road, I could almost
believe that a boy and girl ran along beside me, as our shadows used to do, laughing and
whispering to each other in the grass” (Cather, 219). Jim forever looks back to his “optima
dies;” the days spent laying around the pumpkins, playing and spending time with Antonia, the
picnics with the girls and Antonia, and so on.
Perhaps Jim has a struggle between living in the present and remembering the past.
Antonia, after Jim moves away to attend college, makes a life for herself (however
unconventional and inappropriate it is); she still remembers the past, but continues to live in the
present. Jim, on the other hand, seems to have a difficult time moving past his boyhood into his
adult life, not wanting to let go of the memories and the experiences of his youth. His childhood
was the best days of his life so far; everything seems to have gone away so fast, and all that
remains are his memories. Twenty years later, when he visited Antonia, his thoughts were “I did
Mr. Stalker
History/Literature
02/22/2024
“The Best Days Are the First to Flee”
One of the first motifs that jumps out at the reader of My Antonia is that of nostalgia.
Nostalgia is a powerful tool that Cather uses to create vivid memories and experiences for the
characters in her story. The most notable nostalgic tones are seen when Antonia is describing her
homeland and things she misses and when Jim reflects back on his times with Antonia when they
were younger. Nostalgia serves as an emphasis to the past, which both Antonia and Jim have
fond memories of. Perhaps one of the most notable instances of this is in Book Four, after Jim
visits Antonia, when he writes “As I went back alone over that familiar road, I could almost
believe that a boy and girl ran along beside me, as our shadows used to do, laughing and
whispering to each other in the grass” (Cather, 219). Jim forever looks back to his “optima
dies;” the days spent laying around the pumpkins, playing and spending time with Antonia, the
picnics with the girls and Antonia, and so on.
Perhaps Jim has a struggle between living in the present and remembering the past.
Antonia, after Jim moves away to attend college, makes a life for herself (however
unconventional and inappropriate it is); she still remembers the past, but continues to live in the
present. Jim, on the other hand, seems to have a difficult time moving past his boyhood into his
adult life, not wanting to let go of the memories and the experiences of his youth. His childhood
was the best days of his life so far; everything seems to have gone away so fast, and all that
remains are his memories. Twenty years later, when he visited Antonia, his thoughts were “I did
