Sample Book Report

Following is a sample of the type of report I would like you to write for each of your book reviews.  At the bottom of this document you will find comments and suggestions regarding how to write your book review.

Elizabeth Arnstein
Ms. Arnstein – Period 3
Book Report #1
August 26, 2008

[a1]

Overcoming Discriminatory Attitudes in My Antonia[a2]

    Willa Cather’s classic book My Antonia [a3] follows the childhoods of Antonia Shimerda and Jim Burden – neighbors and close friends – as they grow up on the prairies of Nebraska. [a4] At the beginning of the novel, both Antonia and Jim arrive in the town of Black Hawk, Nebraska; Antonia has arrived with her parents and siblings from Bohemia, and Jim has traveled from Virginia to live with his grandparents following the death of both of his parents. The two instantly become friends, and Jim spends his days teaching English to and playing with Antonia and her younger sister Yulka. The children also spend their days visiting neighbors and hearing their stories, poking around the prairie dog town (where they come upon a massive rattlesnake), riding Jim’s pony, and learning about each other’s lives. Antonia’s family suffers calamity when Mr. Shimerda, Antonia’s father, commits suicide, and her family subsequently struggles to build a house, plow their fields, grow crops, and make ends meet after the devastating loss of their father. In the novel’s second section, Jim and Antonia both move into town – Jim to live in his grandparents’ new house and attend school, and Antonia to work for the Burdens’ neighbors and contribute to her family’s income. [a5] In town, the two continue their friendship and become friends with “the hired girls” – girls, who, like Antonia, have moved from their prairie homesteads to help their families make money. The novel then breaks into smaller sections: one recalls Jim’s college experiences and his affections for a hired girl named Lena Lingard; another focuses on Antonia’s life as a young woman whose life is very nearly ruined when she becomes pregnant out of wedlock by a man who leaves her – an event that causes Jim great anger at Antonia for what he perceives to be her foolishness. At the end of the novel, Jim and Antonia are middle-aged adults, and Jim decides to visit Antonia – whom he realizes he has always loved as both a friend and a woman – to meet her husband and 12 children. During the visit, the two rekindle their friendship, and Jim sees how deeply happy Antonia is in spite of her challenging life.[a6] 
    One of the most interesting features of My Antonia is the change in Jim’s attitudes toward immigrants. [a7] In the first section of the novel, Jim has a narrow-minded view of the immigrants and fails to recognize the reasons they come to America or the difficulties they face. One afternoon, Antonia explains to Jim how depressed her father is and how he does not like the United States because he misses his livelihood as a weaver and his many friends. Jim responds harshly saying, “People who don’t like this country ought to stay at home….We don’t make them come here” (Cather 59) [a8] – a response that demonstrates Jim’s lack of compassion toward the immigrants. [a9] But during the section of the novel entitled “Hired Girls,” Jim’s attitude changes. He understands that the immigrants have very difficult lives, and he is appalled at the attitude of the Black Hawk residents who felt that their daughters were “’refined’” but the immigrant girls “’were not.’” He recalls, “I thought the attitude of the town people toward these [immigrant] girls very stupid,” and he goes on to say that the resident of Black Hawk believed that “[a]ll foreigners were ignorant people who couldn’t speak English” (129) – a notion that deeply angers Jim. [a10] In fact, Jim would prefer to be friends with the immigrant girls than with [a11] the other young people in Black Hawk – a fact that exemplifies his respect and admiration for the immigrants and their difficult lives. My Antonia is one of my favorite classic books; it is an excellent, slow-paced book[a12] , that examines prairie life in the late 1800’s and teaches lessons of tolerance and respect for those who are perceived as different from us.[a13]

Work Cited

Cather, Willa. My Antonia. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.[a14]