My Antonia by Willa Cather is a coming of age story by Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda. Jim, recently orphaned, moves to Blackhawk Nebraska to live with his grandparents. On his trip from Virginia to Nebraska, Jim first sees the bohemian immigrant family that settles near the Burdens. Because the Shimerdas do not speak English, they are quickly defrauded and moved into a small lean-to on the side of a hill. Jim's grandmother is a very kind woman and accepts that Jim helps Ántonia learn English. The two spend a lot of time together and have many adventures with Jim's pony, Dude. It is in some of these adventures that the reader can see how much the protagonists mature. On one of these trips, Ántonia gains a lot of respect and begins to view Jim as an equal after saving them both by cutting off the head of a huge rattlesnake. They proudly carry the enormous reptile home and Ántonia brags about Jim's courage to her grandparents and their farm workers. Not all of Jim and Antonia's times together were pleasant, although....