My Ántonia by Willa Cather. My Ántonia (/ˈæntəniə/ AN-tə-nee-ə) is a novel published in 1918 by American writer Willa Cather, considered one of her best works. It is the final book of her "prairie trilogy" of novels, preceded by O Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark.The novel tells the stories of an orphaned boy from Virginia, Jim Burden, and the elder daughter in a family of Bohemian immigrants, Ántonia Shimerda, who are each brought as children to be pioneers in Nebraska towards the end of the 19th century. Both the pioneers who first break the prairie sod for farming, as well as of the harsh but fertile land itself, feature in this American novel. The first year in the very new place leaves strong impressions in both children, affecting them lifelong.This novel is considered Cather's first masterpiece. Cather was praised for bringing the American West to life and making it personally interesting.The title refers to Ántonia, a young woman immigrant to the western prairies of the US. The story is told by her friend Jim, who arrives there at age 10 to live with his grandparents. Jim thinks of her as his close friend, my Ántonia. The name is pronounced as it would be in the Czech language.CharactersJames Quayle "Jim" BurdenThe narrator and protagonist of the novel, Jim grows up in Black Hawk, Nebraska from age 10 and becomes a successful lawyer in New York City.Josiah and Emmaline BurdenJim's grandparents, who live on a farm in Nebraska. Mrs. Burden is 55 when her grandson arrives. This is the first time they see him, having moved to Nebraska ten years earlier. Mr. Burden is a religious Protestant and a successful farmer, who becomes a deacon in the Baptist church when they move to town.Jake MarpoleFarm hand from Virginia at the Burden place.Peter KrajiekFellow countryman of the Shimerda family; allegedly helpful to them.Otto FuchsFarm hand from Austria at the Burden place.Ántonia "Tony" Cuzak, née ShimerdaThe bold and free-hearted young Bohemian girl who moves with her family to Black Hawk, Nebraska. Her name is always pronounced as her father said it, (/ˈæntəniə/ AN-tə-nee-ə).Mr. and Mrs. ShimerdaÁntonia's immigrant parents from Bohemia.Ambrosch, Marek and Yulka ShimerdaÁntonia's brothers and sister.Anton CuzakÁntonia's husband and father of their ten children. He accepted her daughter Martha, born when Ántonia's first love deceived and deserted her, leaving her with child and socially disgraced.Lena LingardHired girl come from the countryside to work as a dressmaker in Black Hawk.Tiny SoderballHired girl who came from the countryside to work at the Gardener Hotel in Black Hawk. She opens a sailor's boardinghouse in Seattle, then makes her fortune in the Klondike gold rush, by feeding the gold miners, working her own claim and becoming a founder of the town of Dawson City in the Yukon. Then she settles in San Francisco, bringing Lena to settle there as well.Gaston ClericJim's teacher in Lincoln at the University of Nebraska and at Harvard.Mrs. Harling and her familyNorwegian immigrant neighbor to the Burdens when they move to town, she hires Ántonia, age 17, as housekeeper for her, her husband Christian, and their children, Frances, Charley, Julia, Sally and Nina.Minor characters include: Peter and Pavel, Ole Benson, Mr. and Mrs. Cutter, Widow Steavens, Larry Donovan, Anton Jelinek, Ántonia's children Martha, Rudolph, Anna, Yulka, Ambrosch, Leo, Charley Jan, Lucie, and Nina.Cather chose a first-person narrator because she felt that novels depicting deep emotion, such as My Ántonia, were most effectively narrated by a character in the story. The novel is divided into sections called Books: I The Shimerdas, II The Hired Girls, III Lena Lingard, IV The Pioneer Woman's Story, V Cuzak's Boys.Orphaned Jim Burden rides the trains from Virginia to Black Hawk, Nebraska, where he will live with his paternal grandparents.