This novel is entitled My Antonia. It was written by Willa Carter and was published in 1918.We are going to study Book one and Chapter one. The first chapter is entitled «The Shimerdas».It focuses on the journey from Virginia to Nebraska. Jim Burden, who is ten years old, is an orphan and he is going to live in his grandparents in Nebraska more precisely in Black Hawk. In this episode, we have a presentation of our two principal characters, Antonia and Jim, they meet each other for the first time here. During this journey, we have the real representation of the spirit pionner of the nineteenth century through the driver of the train. To begin, we are going to speak about Antonia, after we interested in Jim and to finish we are going to speak about the spirit pionner which is really present in this chapter.

The name of Antonia appears in the first sentance of the chapter. « I first heard of Antonia » (l.1), we understand that she is one of the principal character of the story, she is the core of the book. There are any other detail or indication about her. After some sentances about Jim, we know more about Antonia, in particular presented as an attractive girl contrary to her family.
Indeed, when the train's driver makes a description of Shimerdas, she is perceived as different from her family. First because she is the only one to know how speak English but also because she is physically pretty and attractive. Moreover, we have a comparaison « bright as a new dollar » which proves us her beauty. The Shimerdas are represented as a very enourmous bunch but Antonia stands out thanks to her natural charm and her intelligence.

The second principal character of the story is Jim. He is the narrator in this chapter and until the end of the book. We learn anything about his past, we only know that is parents are dead but no more. He speaks about his coming to Nebraska and uses only one sentence to speak about his parent's death, but we have no indication on how