My Antonia Quizzes

My Antonia Quiz 1

1 What state do Jim's grandparents live in?
Oklahoma, on the frontier

Missouri, on the frontier

Ohio, on the frontier

Nebraska, on the frontier
2 What are Jim's reasons for narrating and recording this tale?
He is dedicating the book to Ántonia after her recent death.

He intends the book to be an anniversary present to Ántonia, who is his wife.

He wants to write the story before he dies of cancer.

He is writing his memoirs after meeting a friend who also knew Ántonia.
3 How does Jim feel about Otto Fuchs?
He doesn't see Otto enough to form any real opinion of him.

He is fascinated by Otto and spends a lot of time spying on him.

He is impressed by him, and the two instantly become friends.

Jim is afraid of Otto, who is violent and surly.
4 Although Jim and Ántonia instantly get along when they first meet, she does something that he disapproves of. What does she do?
She criticizes his grandmother.

She tries to kiss him

She asks him for money to buy candy.

She tries to give him her ring.
5 Who is Marek?
Mr. Shimerda's fellow musician from the old country

the Shimerdas' Russian neighbor

Ántonia's mentally challenged younger brother

a Bohemian money-lender
6 Why do the Shimerdas hate Krajiek?
He tries to seduce Mrs. Shimerda when her husband is out working in the fields.

He owes them money and refuses to pay.

He is Austrian, and they are Bohemian (Czech).

He is the only Bohemian nearby, but he is dishonest and gives them bad advice.
7 Why does Mr. Shimerda promise to give Jim his gun one day?
He does not believe in private ownership of property.

He is following the customs of his homeland and being generous and friendly.

Grandfather has given Mr. Shimerda a new gun, and Mr. Shimerda wants to return the favor.

He wants Jim to teach his sons how to hunt.
8 What does the huge snake that Jim kills symbolize?
The evils of knowledge.

The death of Christianity.

The dangers of nature.

The treachery of women.
9 What is the secret that Pavel tells on his deathbed?
That he is an escaped convict from Russia.

That he and Peter are lovers.

That he abandoned his wife and children in Russia.

That he let his friends be eaten by wolves after a winter wedding in Russia.
10 What happens when Jim and his grandmother go to visit the Shimerdas during the winter?
Mrs. Shimerda offends Grandmother by calling her stingy, and Grandmother vows never to return again.

Ántonia and Jim run behind the barn and kiss until Mr. Shimerda calls them back.

They are impressed by how well the Shimerdas are adapting to their new home, and they trade some vegetables.

Grandmother is appalled because Ántonia and her sister are sleeping in a cave, and she gives the family some food.
11 What does Mrs. Shimerda give Grandmother after her winter visit?
The first payment for a cow.

A Bohemian drawing of Jesus.

Dried mushrooms.

Flour.
12 Why don't the Burdens go to town to buy Christmas presents?
Grandfather doesn't believe that Christmas should be commercialized.

A blizzard prevents anyone from leaving the house.

It's a family custom to make each other gifts using only items lying around the house.

The harvest was poor, and they are trying to save all that they can.
13 Who does Otto write to every year on Christmas?
His wife back in Austria.

His mother.

The president.

A fellow cowboy he knew in Wyoming.
14 Why does Mr. Shimerda celebrate Christmas with Jim and his grandparents?
He and his wife were having a fight, and he goes to the Burdens to escape.

After returning a saddle on Christmas Eve, he gets snowed in and has to stay the next day.

His family doesn't celebrate Christmas, and he experiences his first Christmas ever with the Burdens because he just happens to be around.

He is thanking the Burdens for their Christmas presents and decides to remain for the rest of the day.
15 How do Jim's grandparents feel about Mr. Shimerda's Catholicism?
They say nothing when Mr. Shimerda is present, but they criticize him for failing to adopt the major religion of his new country after he leaves.

They don't even notice that he is Catholic.

They try to teach him Protestant customs in a very kindly and well-meaning fashion.

They say nothing about it, but are slightly uncomfortable when he kneels in prayer and crosses himself.
16 Why did the Shimerdas decide to immigrate to America?
Mrs. Shimerda wanted to immigrate because she thought there would be increased opportunities for her son Ambrosch.

Mr. Shimerda was in debt in his homeland and wanted to make a fresh start.

Mr. Shimerda had been a farmer in his homeland and had dreamed all his life of coming to farm the untamed American frontier.

All of their friends and family had immigrated earlier and urged them to come also.
17 What does Jim get for his birthday the first winter that he is in Nebraska?
A huge blizzard, the biggest in over a decade.

A plot of land that he can farm on his own.

A new horse named Hamlet.

A gun and holster from Wyoming from Otto.
18 How does Mr. Shimerda kill himself?
He flings himself from a galloping horse.

He shoots himself in the barn.

He hangs himself from the rafters of the barn.

He sits outside drinking until he freezes to death.
19 What is suspicious about Mr. Shimerda's death?
Someone else's footprints are surrounding Mr. Shimerda's body when they find it.

Krajiek acts guilty, and it looks like Mr. Shimerda's wounds were made by his axe.

Mrs. Shimerda doesn't express any grief or surprise when she is told her husband is dead.

Ambrosch doesn't tell anyone about it until two days have passed.
20 After everyone leaves the house to take care of Mr. Shimerda's body, Jim is alone in the house. What does he do?
He takes out his grandfather's gun and reenacts Mr. Shimerda's suicide in the kitchen.

He does all the chores and then senses Mr. Shimerda's ghost resting in the house.

He writes a letter to Mr. Shimerda that he plans to put in his coffin.

He gets in bed and sobs miserably.
21 Who is Anton Jelinek?
The carpenter that the Burdens get to make Mr. Shimerda's coffin.

The Bohemian priest who is to bury Mr. Shimerda.

Mr. Shimerda's son from a previous marriage who returns in time for his father's funeral.

A young Bohemian man who discusses Catholicism and the need for a priest to perform the funeral with Jim's grandfather.
22 Why does Grandmother vow to start an American cemetery in the spring?
She doesn't approve of people burying family members on their own property and wants to start a central cemetery instead.

She has a premonition that many people will be dying soon, and she wants to be prepared in advance.

There are no cemeteries yet in Black Hawk, and she is upset because Mrs. Shimerda only wants other Bohemians buried next to her husband.

She is angry because the Norwegians refuse to allow Mr. Shimerda to be buried in their cemetery.
23 Where do the Shimerdas want to bury Mr. Shimerda?
They will wait to bury him until Grandmother starts her American cemetery in the spring.

In the middle of the fields, where new life will return in the spring.

At the corner of their property, where the roads will meet, according to old Bohemian superstition.

Underneath his favorite tree, where he used to like to play his fiddle.
24 What happens to Ántonia in the spring after her father's death?
She becomes depressed and withdrawn, speaking to no one and living in a tent in the fields.

She starts working in the fields like a man, with Ambrosch.

She becomes rebellious and wild, always running around with local country boys.

She goes to school, makes new friends, and starts ignoring Jim.
25 Why do the Burdens and the Shimerdas get into a family feud?
Ambrosch wears out a horse collar that Grandfather lends him and gets into a fight with the Burdens' farmhand Jake.

Mrs. Shimerda is rude and demanding and shows such a lack of appreciation for the Burdens' help that they resolve never to speak to her again.

Mrs. Shimerda accuses Jim of engaging in lewd behavior with Ántonia, and both are forbidden from seeing one another.

Grandmother inadvertently disrespects Mr. Shimerda's memory by making an offhand comment about him that greatly offends Mrs. Shimerda.