I need some help writing an essay on this topic- Discuss how realism affects the way a reader might approach the different issues in "My Antonia" such as suicide, the representation of the harshness of the prarie, or Jim's views of life.

Question

I'm not sure what to write about. The only people I can think of that commited suicide in this book were Mr. Shimerda and I think Mr. Cutter and the fact that both those deaths in my opinion affected Antonia though her fathers more than Mr. Cutter"s death. And I think everyone dealt with some kind of hardship on the prarie and everyone dealt with their families hardships in a different way. I also have no clue on how to even start to try to explain Jim's views on life. HELP ME PLEEAASEE!!

From your 2nd paragraph, you should probably write about the hardships on the prairie. There are many, many details about that topic to include.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/antonia/
See especially the section called Themes, Motifs, & Symbols.

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