With the coming of spring, the neighbors help the Shimerdas to build a new log house on their property, and they eventually acquire a new windmill and some livestock. One day, after giving an English lesson to Yulka, Jimmy asks Antonia if she would like to attend the upcoming term at the schoolhouse. Antionia proudly refuses, saying that she is kept too busy by farm work. But you can tell she really wants to go. Her tears of sorrow reveal her true feelings about it. Jimmy stays at the Shimerdas' for supper, but he is offended by their ingratitude over neighborly charity and by Antonia's coarse manners.
Once school starts, Jim sees less and less of Antonia, and soon tension erupts between them. When Jake and Jimmy ride over to the Shimerdas' to collect a loaned horse collar, Ambrosch first denies borrowing it, then returns with a badly damaged collar he rudely gives over to them. After a heated exchange, Jake grabs Ambrosch, who kicks him in the stomach. Jake then pounds Ambrosch on the head. Jake and Jimmy quickly pull away from the Shimerdas', as Mrs. Shimerda yells after them about sending for the authorities.
When Mr. Burden learns of the incident, he sends Jake into town with a ten-dollar bill to pay the assault fine. For the next few weeks, the Shimerdas are proud and aloof when meeting the Burdens in passing, although they maintain their respect for Mr. Burden. Finally Mr. Burden arranges a reconciliation by hiring Ambrosch to help with his wheat threshing and offering Antonia a job to help Mrs. Burden in the kitchen. In addition, he forgives Mrs. Shimerda her debt on the milk cow she bought from him. In an effort to show her own forgiveness, Mrs. Shimerda knits Jake a pair of socks.
In high summer, Antonia and Jim spend more time together, walking to the garden each morning to collect vegetables for dinner. One night, during a lightening in a light rain, Antonia and Jimmy climb onto the roof of the chicken house to stare at the sky until they are called down for supper. Antonia tells Jim that things will be easy for him but hard for her family

I was kinda upset when the familys were fighting all because of a collor. i thought it was stupid.


"If I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us."

I'll Have a Bowl of Suicide For Breakfast.

When Jimmy wakes up the next morning he heard alot of people talking in the kitchen. When he got to the kitchen, his grandfather informs him that Mr. Shimerda is dead. With Ambrosch curled up on a nearby bench, the Burdens quietly discuss the apparent suicide as they eat breakfast. Jake thinks that Krajiek did it. He tells them about Krajiek's strange behavioraround the body. He also sees that Krajiek's axe fits the gash in Mr. Shimerda's face. Otto Fuchs and Mrs. Burden talk him out of his suspicions. The cant touch or move the body until the couriner comes in from Black Hawk but, the Burdens go to the Shimerda house to comfort the family. Jim stays behind though and finds himself alone. After completing a few chores, he settles down to contemplate Mr. Shimerda's death. At dusk, the wagon returns, and Jake describes the scene at the Shimerdas' to Jim.
The next day, Otto returns from Black Hawk with a young Bohemian named Anton Jelinek. At dinner, Jelinek tells them that there isn’t a priest that can be found to put Mr. Shimerda to rest. After dinner Jelinek goes out to clear a road to the Shimerdas' wide enough for a wagon, and Otto begins to construct a coffin. Later that day, a number of other locals stop at the Burdens' to ask after the Shimerdas and discuss the tragedy. The coroner refrains from issuing a warrant for Krajiek at Mr. Burden's urging The Burdens find out that there are no graveyards willing to take Mr. Shimerda because he killed him self. Mrs. Burden lashes out in bitterness at this unfairness. With no graveyard to turn to, the Shimerdas decide that they will bury Mr. Shimerda on the corner of their homestead
After lying dead in the barn for four days, Mr. Shimerda is finally buried on his own land. Despite the beginnings of another ominous snowfall, rural neighbors come from miles around to attend the burial. At Mrs. Shimerda's request, Mr. Burden says a prayer in English for Mr. Shimerda, and afterward Otto leads the assembled group in a hymn.
I feel really bad for the Shimerda family. The family was going through a hard enough time as it is with out this added on top of it. There wasn't even muvh time between Pavel and Mr. Shimerda's death. Maybe he was just still very depresses from the loss of his friend. I still have a little inkling that Krajiek might have had something to do with the death. The ax did fit in to the gash.




"I remember how, as we bent over the peavines, beads of perspiration used to gather on her upper lip like a little moustache."

Happy Holidays

At the first snowfall, Otto Fuchs builds a sleigh for Jim to drive. After a test run, Jim sets out to give Antonia and Yulka a ride. The girls are not wearing proper clothing for the cold, Jimmy then gives them some of his clothing to help them keep warm. Since he is now not wearing the proper clothing, he gets sick for a few weeks with a server tonsil disease.
Jimmy's next sees Antonia when his grandmother wants to bring a gift of a rooster and foodstuffs to the Shimerdas. As they approach the Shimerda farm, Jimmy spots Antonia working at the water pump, but she quickly flees back to the house. When Mrs. Shimerda answers their call, she is in tears. The Shimerdas have very little food stored up for the winter, and much of what they do have is rotting. When Jake brings in the gift basket of food, Mrs. Shimerda only cries harder. Mr Shimerda tells them that in Bohemia they weren't poor but circumstances and situations have left the family with very little money. When Jimmy's family is about to leave Mrs. Shimerda gives a gift to them.It is a small package of food. When dinner is being prepared that night, Grandma throws away what ever food was in the package. Even though Jimmy isn't sure of what it is he tries it anyway.
When Christmas shopping is about to be done a heavy snow starts to fall and Jimmy's grandfather decides that it is too dangerous to be out on the roads. They decide to make homemade presents this year. Jimmy makes a pair of picture books for Antonia and Yulka, and his grandmother bakes gingerbread cookies. After the gifts are given to the Shimerda family, Jimmy and his family decorate a small tree on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas morning Jimmy and his family and the"help" on the farm sit down to a meal of waffles and sausage. Jake mentions that the Shimerdas were very happy to receive gifts from the. In the afternoon, Mr. Shimerda arrives to thank the Burdens for all of their kindnesses. They persuade him to stay for supper, and he stays until well after dark.
By New Year's Day, the snow is turned into slush. Antonia and her mother come over to thank the family for their gifts. But, Jimmy and Antonia get into a fight about her family's situation. The weather continues mildly until on Jimmy's 11th birthday a violent snow storm brings all work on the farm to a halt.
This part wasn't too bad to read about. I just love reading about the holidays. I think that Jimmy really just enjoys spending as much time as he possibly can with the Shimerda family. Right now I'm under the opinion that nothing under the romantic category will happen between Jimmy and Antonia. I think that right now they are just to good of friends to do that, best friends, almost more than that. Almost like brother and sister. Oh and i just found out or realized that Jimmy's last name is Burden.

"The flakes came down so thickly from the sitting room windows i could not see beyond the windmill- its frame looked dim and grey, insubstantial like a shadow."

I Guess Thats Cool...

One day when the Shimerda family is over Jimmy's house Russian Peter came saying that Pavel is not doing good. (he as sick for a while but he had gotten worse hen he was injured during an accident) He wanted Mr. Shimerda to come over so he could talk to him. He wanted to tell him a story of what happened in Russia and why they had to leave. 

One night back in Russia Peter and Pavel were at an amazing wedding. They were the men who were driving the wagons for the groom and the bride. There were about six wagons in the party train. The wolves were everywhere that night. One of the wagon's drivers lost control of the horse and the wagon tipped over into the snow. The wolves attacked as soon as the people hit the ground. The wolves kept overtaking the wagons and attack the people and horses. Peter and Pavel realized how close the wolves were and knew they either needed to go faster or lose some of the weight on the  wagon. The middle horse was lacking and they knew they needed to do something. Pavel went in back and while looking at the bride was talking to the groom and told him they need to lose weight. The groom freaked.  Pavel pushed him out of the wagon and pushed the bride out right after. No one would look or even talk to them.  They had to leave their town. But, every where they went the story followed them. Peter and Pavel moved around until they had enough money to move to America. 

A few days after Pavel told his story he passed away. Peter was so upset that he sold all his possessions and moved back to Russia. He went to work on trains to be a cook.

OMG!! i cant believe anyone would ever do that. i was so upset when I read that. Its just so uncalled for. you don't feed a newly married couple to the wolves. Just saying. 

"The first thing either of them noticed was the new sound that broke into the clear air, louder than they have ever heard  it before- the bell of the monastery of their own village, ringing for early prayers"

Rattlesnakes

So one day Antonia and Jimmy went out to go see Peter the Russian. They needed to get a tool for Ambrosch. They stopped to talk to Peter for a little bit cause he loves visitors so much. On the way back they decided to go digging around in the owl/ prairie dog holes. When in the middle of digging Antonia starts screaming in Bohemian. Jimmy cant understand whats shes trying to say so he turns around to see what she's pointing at. Its the biggest rattlesnake that either one of them have ever seen. Jimmy feels that he is up against the wall. He doesn't know what to do, his first reaction is to use the tool they had just gotten and hit him with it. The snake curls away but is still movie its body. He keeps hitting the end until its almost flat and the venom is oozing out. Jimmy and Antonia wrap a string around the rattlesnake and drag it home. Antonia knows that his family will be very impressed with it. When they got back to the house everyone wanted to know the story. Antonia exaggerated a lot to make it seem better. His grand mother hung up the snake for many days. Even the neighbors came over to see it. All agreed that it was the largest rattlesnake killed around their parts. 

i thought this part was good. There was detail but not enough to make me loose my focus on what was happening in the story line. It was all tied together very nicely. I liked how his family was just impressed with the kill and not wondering if he was okay. Sure he was but, they didn't know that. I would have assumed that hid grandmother would be freaking out to see if he was hurt or not. Also, i just found out that Antonia is 4 years older then Jimmy. I thought they were the same age. Guess not.

"I ran up and drove at him with my spade, struck him fairly across the neck, and in a minute he was all about my feet in wavy loops."

Prairie Dogs and Earth-Owls

Since Jimmy really doesn't have anything else to do during the day he goes on the errands that Fuchs would have done. He goes on to talk about the memories he has about the ranch and the first autumn there. Things like the open fields with no fence and the sunflowers. He would go to the prairie-dog town to watch the earth-owl fly home and go in their nests underground with the dogs. Sometimes snaked would make homes among the holes and eat the eggs and puppies.

Antonia is very opinionated about everything. Like how much she loves her lessons with Jimmy. She also likes to help Grandmother in the kitchen.

The Shimerdas hated Krajiek. The only reason they clung to him was because he was the only way they could get the information they needed. He slept in the barn with all the other Shimerda males but they felt of him as the rattlesnake in the owls hole, they just didn't know how to get rid of him.

One day Antonia finds out that there are some of her fathers friends living slightly north of them who speak Russian but its very close to the Bohemian she speaks. One day she and Jimmy decide to go visit them. (There are 2 males, Peter and Pavel) Peter liked having the visitors. he made them feel right at home. He would give them good and play games and tell them stories. I think he just missed having any kids at all. Even when Jimmy and Antonia tried to find other ways of occupying them so they wouldn't leave.

Antonia's father has a very special gun that was given to him. He now feels that Jimmy should have it. He tells jimmy all about where it came from and of all its value. Both personal and monetarily. Jimmy is so excited about it.

Sometimes its hard to get into the actual feelings of the characters. I feel that i get distracted by all the detail. its not detail about the people, its details about the surroundings. It's not my favorite book ever but its not bad either. I hope something happens between Antonia and Jimmy. I think that would make this book.

"Nevertheless, that legend has stuck in my mind, and the sunflower-bordered roads always seem to me the roads to freedom."

Everyone makes mistakes.

So i just realized that i read something wrong when i was reading about the Shimerda family.
Krajiek is not a Shimerda son. He is just one of "the help".

I realized when i was reading while a part was getting nary confusing. I had to go back the the chapeter that was talking about the family.