Antonia Mimicry

For several weeks after our drive over there, we heard nothing from the Mendez’s. My mother and I had both caught a cold and were stuck in bed. One night at dinner Daddy told us he had seen Mr. Mendez out job hunting.
Dane said. “Alex came along in the hallway at school yesterday where I was at my locker and showed me the 5 dollars he had found. He asked me if it was enough to buy food. I tried to tell him no, but he just looked like he was smarter then me and put it back in his wallet and walked off.”
The next morning I went down stairs and mom said “Now, Nicole,” mom was saying, “I need you to help me prepare some food for the Mendez’s”
After breakfast my whole family climbed into the warm van. As we approached the Mendez’s', we saw Alejandra, her hair tied up and her dress blown about her, throwing all her weight on the spicket as it turned. She heard our van, looked back over her shoulder, and, grabbing her bucket of water, started at a run for the tiny little hut.
The old man was sitting on a stool near the stove, crouching over as if he were trying to hide from us. Rosa was on the floor at his feet, her kitten in her lap. Alejandra was washing dishes in the corner. The crazy boy lay under the only window, stretched on a tiny little mattress. As soon as we entered, he threw a towel over the crack at the bottom of the door. The air in the hut was stifling, and it was very dark, too.
Dane and Mason soon came in with the basket. Then the poor woman broke down. She dropped on the floor and sat crying bitterly. Grandmother paid no heed to her, but called Alejandra to come and help empty the basket. She left her corner reluctantly. I had never seen her crushed like this before.
When my brothers went out, Martin crawled along the floor and stuffed up the door-crack again. Then, quietly as a shadow, Mr. Mendez came out from behind the stove. He stood brushing his hand over his smooth grey hair, as if he were trying to clear away a fog about his head. He was clean and neat as usual.
Mr. Mendez made my mom sit down on the only chair and pointed his wife to a stool beside her. Standing before them with his hand on Alejandra's shoulder, he talked in a low tone, and his daughter translated. He wanted us to know that they were not beggars in the Mexico; he made good wages, and his family was respected there. He left Mexico with more than ten thousand dollars in savings, after their passage money was paid. He had in some way lost on exchange in Texas, and the railway fare to North Carolina was more than they had expected. By the time they paid for the land, and bought everything that they needed, they had very little money left. He wished mom to know, however, that he still had some money. But the snow and the bitter weather had disheartened them all.
Alejandra explained that her father meant to build a new house for them in the spring.
While mom encouraged and gave them advice, I sat down on the floor with Rosa and let her show me her kitten. Martin slid cautiously toward us and began to exhibit his webbed fingers. Martin was always trying to be agreeable, poor fellow, as if he had it on his mind that he must make up for his deficiencies.
Mrs. Mendez grew more calm and reasonable before our visit was over, and, while Alejandra translated, put in a word now and then on her own account. As we rose to go, she opened her wooden chest and brought out a bag, stuffed full of something. When Mrs. Mendez opened the bag and stirred the contents with her hand, it gave out a nasty smell, very pungent. She measured a teacup full, tied it up in a bag, and presented it ceremoniously to my mom.
“For cook,” she announced. “Little now; be very much when cook,” spreading out her hands as if to indicate that the pint would swell to a gallon. “Very good. You no have in this country. All things for eat better in my country.”
Alejandra undertook to explain. “This very good, Mrs. Kilbourne, Cook with anything—oh, so good!”
That night, while my mom was getting dinner, we opened the package Mrs. Mendez had given us. It was full of little brown chips that looked like the shavings of some root.
She said, “I'm afraid of them. Anyhow, I don’t want to eat anything that had been shut up for months.”
She threw the package into the trash can, but I bit off a corner of one of the chips, and chewed it tentatively. I never forgot the nasty taste.

Questions:

When does language interfere with equal opportunity for immigrants?

They can’t get jobs at any place where they need to deal directly with people or any where that a person does not hire for not speaking the language.

How does one’s culture pre-destine a person for a specific lifestyle?

If the culture says that a girl only has one purpose and that is in the kitchen then probably they will be a housewife.

Which characters are able to step out of their pre-destined position?

I think that Antonia can step out of her position as a housewife when she becomes a dancer.

Which characters struggle with their assigned place? Why does Cather allow the reader to see this struggle? How is it part of the American Dream?

I think that Mr. Shimerda struggles and eventually feels that he wants to struggle no more and kills himself.

Where do boundaries occur in the novel?

There are boundaries when it comes to how well of a person can be and how hard a person has to work

Identify the different immigrants and indicate each one’s circumstance.

Antonia – she can speak better English then the rest of her family so she will be able to succeed more then them
Ms. Shimerda – wants material things is never happy, was the one that made the family move from Bohemia to Nebraska
Mr. Shimerda – sad because he can’t take care of his family or speak enough English to work with other people
Ambrosch – hard worker and though he doesn’t speak very much English he can get a job on a farm because he can do the work
Yulka – very young and can learn English with her sister will probably end up in school and be able to take care of the family farm
Krajek – evil man who only wants to rip people off so he can get money, needs to learnthat there is more to life then money
Marek – a retarded boy who will probably not go far and will need someone to take care of him for the rest of his life