CFA 1 Theme & Summary

Passage 1: from My Antonia
 by Willa Cather
 Ten-year-old Jim has recently moved from Virginia to his grandparents’ farm in Nebraska and become friends with Antonia Shimerda, whose family arrived in Nebraska at the same time as Jim. The Shimerdas came from Bohemia, a region in central Europe that today forms much of the Czech Republic. Peter and Pavel are two brothers from Russia who live near the Shimerdas.

1            After Mr. Shimerda discovered the Russians, he went to see them almost every evening, and sometimes took Antonia with him. She said they came from a part of Russia where the language was not very different from Bohemian, and if I wanted to go to their place, she could talk to them for me. One afternoon, before the heavy frosts began, we rode up there together on my pony.

2            The Russians had a neat log house built on a grassy slope, with a windlass well beside the door. As we rode up the draw, we skirted a big melon patch, and a garden where squashes and yellow cucumbers lay about on the sod. We found Peter out behind his kitchen, bending over a washtub. . . . He took us down to see his chickens, and his cow that was grazing on the hillside. He told Antonia that in his country only rich people had cows, but here any man could have one who would take care of her. The milk was good for Pavel, who was often sick, and he could make butter by beating sour cream with a wooden spoon. Peter was very fond of his cow. He patted her flanks and talked to her in Russian while he pulled up her lariat pin and set it in a new place.

3            After he had shown us his garden, Peter trundled a load of watermelons up the hill in his wheelbarrow. Pavel was not at home. . . . Peter put the melons in a row on the oilcloth-covered table and stood over them, brandishing a butcher knife. Before the blade got fairly into them, they split of their own ripeness, with a delicious sound. He gave us knives, but no plates, and the top of the table was soon swimming with juice and seeds. I had never seen anyone eat so many melons as Peter ate. He assured us that they were good for one—better than medicine; in his country people lived on them at this time of year. He was very hospitable and jolly. Once, while he was looking at Antonia, he sighed and told us that if he had stayed at home in Russia perhaps by this time he would have had a pretty daughter of his own to cook and keep house for him. He said he had left his country because of a “great trouble.” 

4            When we got up to go, Peter looked about in perplexity for something that would entertain us. He ran into the storeroom and brought out a gaudily painted harmonica, sat down on a bench, and spreading his fat legs apart began to play like a whole band. The tunes were either very lively or very doleful, and he sang words to some of them.

5            Before we left, Peter put ripe cucumbers into a sack for Mrs. Shimerda and gave us a lard-pail full of milk to cook them in. I had never heard of cooking cucumbers, but Antonia assured me they were very good. We had to walk the pony all the way home to keep from spilling the milk.

My Antonia by Willa Cather. In the public domain.
Passage 2: Home Is Far Away
 
6             “It’s exceedingly small,” I said.

7             “Why, yes, Louisa, yes it is,” my mother whispered, looking around the tiny, empty apartment with melancholy eyes. “We’ve moved to an expensive city,” she sighed, “and since this is our only option, we’re going to make the best of it. Why don’t you go outside on such a beautiful day and explore the neighborhood while I get the kitchen set up and make us something delicious?”

8              I groaned, but not loud enough that she could hear it, because too often, I found her untiring optimism to be exhausting. It wouldn’t bother me so much if I didn’t know it was all a performance; her eyes always gave it away.
    
9              It was a cloudless, warm day, and a lot of beaming, shouting kids were racing up and down the sunlit street, but they just made me feel trapped and tired. Still, the sidewalk was wide and lined with trees, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to take a walk and listen to music, since music always lifted my mood and made me feel less isolated.

10            I had just begun my stroll when a tap on my shoulder drew such a loud shriek out of me that I was probably more startled than the person who had done the tapping. After taking a few seconds to catch my breath, I pulled off my headphones and stared into the dark eyes of the girl standing before me, smiling broadly.

11            “Yes?” I asked, not trying very hard to conceal my annoyance.

12           “Sorry!” she said with a tone so sugary that I could feel the insincerity oozing off her cloying smile. “I noticed you walking alone, and since I’ve never seen you before, I thought I might welcome you to the neighborhood!”

13           “Yes, I just moved in and it’s nice to meet you,” I mumbled as I turned away and began to put my headphones back on. But she grabbed my arm. Great, I thought. She’s not finished.

14           “I don’t want to keep you because you seem so busy, but I just want to let you know you can stop over at my place anytime! It’s that really big stone house, right over there on the corner,” she beamed while pointing down the street to what looked like a mansion. “We have an enormous backyard with a pool, and we’re always hosting super-fun neighborhood parties! You should come!”

15            I stared at her hand, which was still grasping my arm, until, finally realizing she should stop, she let go. I replied icily, “Thank you, but, as you said, I am incredibly busy, and I need to be going.” Putting on my headphones, pulling up my hood, and turning around quickly to keep her from detaining me any longer, I drifted into the comforting, solitary world of lyrics and beats.

“Home Is Far Away” written for educational purposes.

Now answer the questions. Base your answers on the passages “from My Antonia” and “Home Is Far Away.