In everybody¡s life, there is always someone that has a greater influence on him or her more than anyone else would. In Willa Cather¡s My Antonia, Antonia Shimerda is that person in Jim Burden¡s life. ¡§I¡d have liked to have you for a sweetheart, or a wife, or my mother or my sister-anything that a woman can be to a man. The idea of you is a part of my mind; you influence my likes and dislikes, all my tastes, hundreds of times when I don¡t realize it. You really are a part of me.¡(p.152) That is how Jim Burden himself described the influence of Antonia on him. They will always be close to each other no matter wherever they are.
             The influence of Antonia on Jim begins when they both migrated to the Nebraska prairie. After Jim¡s parents died, he moved to live with his grandparents. In adapting his new home, Jim felt abandoned. ¡§Between that earth and that sky I felt erased, blotted out.¡(p.7) The Shimerda family is the neighbor of the Burdens and Mr. Shimerda wanted Jim to teach Antonia English. They became friends quickly and Antonia gave her ring to Jim as a gift. The first influence Antonia made on Jim is that she made Jim wanted to be like the ¡§big men.¡ Although they were good friends, since Antonia is four years older than Jim and she always has been protectiveness toward Jim. This superiority changed when Jim killed a rattlesnake with a spade after Antonia screams at him in Bohemian to warn him. After this adventure, Antonia brags about how Jim killed the snake, and she begins to treat him equally. Jim enjoyed the bragging although he knew it was an easy task because the snake was old. Another influence Antonia has on Jim is her love for nature. They always go out together to explore the prairie. They would discuss the badger¡s holes, wind and all the sights during their reading lessons. Jim and Antonia established camaraderie when they were lying on the barns during a thunderstorm, that they cou...