The Hired Girls

In My Antonia, by Willa Cather, winter is greatly associated with suffering, bleakness, and darkness. In the first part of My Antonia, winter seemed to bring the death of Mr. Shimerda, and it brought cold and suffering with it. In the second part of the book, winter is described in a not so pleasant way by Jim. "Winter comes down savagely over a little town on the prairie. The wind that sweeps in from the open country strips away all the leafy screens that hide one yard from another in summer, and the houses seem to draw closer together. The roofs, that looked so far away across the green tree-tops, now stare you in the face, and they are so much uglier than when their angles were softened by vines and shrubs. In the morning, when I was fighting my way to school against the wind, I couldn't see anything but the road in front of me; but in the late afternoon, when I was coming home, the town looked bleak and desolate to me. The pale, cold light of the winter sunset did not beautify—it was like the light of truth itself." His idea of winter as a bleak, colorless, and dark season carries throughout the town. The people of the small town of Black Hawk, which now houses Jim, his grandma, and his grandpa, long for the spring, and many of them are not fond of the harsh weathers. However, they still find pleasure in the bleakness of the cold season. They have indoor activities like charades, singing, dancing, and costume parties, cooking, and group talks. This passage indicates the strength of the pioneers during hard times. Just like the Shimerdas carry on throughout the years, even after the suicide of Mr. Shimerda, the pioneers carry on through the winter. Also, their strength comes from each other. The families stay together helping and protecting each other, but they also care and protect for their neighbors and friends.