My Antonia - Exploring the Shimerda Family

The Shimerda family was Bohemian immigrants embarking on a new life in America. They arrived in Nebraska with no idea how to sustain themselves and no way to communicate, save the use of crude sign language. Needless to say, times were more than rough for the Shimerdas.

Mr. Shimerda was the rock of his family. He was well respected, not only in his own country, but here as well. He tried hard to adapt to life in America, but found it too difficult. Mr. And Mrs. Burden and Jim all have a great deal of admiration for Mr. Shimerda. Of the few moments of happiness he is able to find in this country, most are in the Budens' kitchen. Shortly after their first Christmas here Mr. Shimerda gave in to his intense sadness and committed suicide. Even after his death, throughout the rest of the book, Mr. Shimerda is thought of kindly and respectfully.

Mrs. Shimerda is not the same type of person her husband is at all. She is rude and pushy, even to people she barely knows. It is because of Mrs. Shimerda that their family has come to America. It appears that Mrs. Shimerda expects others to help take care of her family. Even after receiving much help from neighbors and others, Mrs. Shimerda still complains. It seems that she is never satisfied with anything. She is not much of a homemaker either, as Mrs. Burden mentions in the book. Mrs. Shimerda always expects too much from everyone and cares little to none about reciprocity.

The Shimerda children are Yulka, Marek, Ambrosch, and Antonia. Yulka is the youngest. She is very nice and sweet. She loves being in the company of Jim and Antonia. After Antonia has to start doing work in the fields, Yulka began to take English lessons from Jim. Later, after Antonia has children, Yulka stays with her to help care for her family.

Marek is the younger of the two boys. Not only does he suffer from physical deformities, he is also mentally impaired. Many people refer to him as being "crazy" and he often exhibits animal-like sounds and behaviors. Near the end of the book we learned that he "had got violent" and had to be "sent away to an institution".

Ambrosch is the eldest son. After his father's death, Ambrosch assumes the role of head of the family. His mother has always catered him to throughout his life. The whole reason they had moved to America was in Mrs. Shimerda's hopes that Ambrosch could have the opportunity to become a rich man here. His character is very much like Mrs. Shimerda in the way of being unmannerly and boorish. Ambrosch is gruff and rarely has anything nice to say, especially to Antonia. When she gives birth to a child out of wedlock, Ambrosch says "'You'd better put it out in the rain barrel'". It was in very few cases that Ambrosch is presented as anything other then horrible. When Antonia was to be married he gave her the wages she had earned and paid to him her first year at work. The others view his behavior at this point as quite uncharacteristic of him.

Antonia is the child that is closest to Mr. Shimerda. The relationship between the two is different than with the other children. Antonia is loved by nearly everyone that meets her. She is a sturdy girl, eager to learn but ready to go to work when it's necessary. She is depicted as being more mature than the other girls her age. We see Antonia as a caregiver from the time she is a child. Scarcely does a complaint escape her lips. She is also very assertive and will stand up for herself when she feels it necessary. While living with the Harlings she is given an ultimatum: either quit going dancing or lose the job and move out. Antonia loves dancing and refuses to stop. She decided to leave the job rather than give in to their wishes. She sometimes exhibits a little stubbornness, but it isn't so much that it is a fault. Her importance to people she grew up with can be summed up in a quote from the introduction; "More than any other person we remembered, this girl seemed to mean to us the country, the conditions, the whole adventure of our childhood."