1. The journey to the unknow
1 : A geographical Journey
A ) Jim’s journey is mainly rythmed by a long trip in a railway train, to go to his grandparents, who
lived in Nebraska. He has to go to Nebraska because he had lost both his father and mother within a
year.
B) “On what seemed to me an interminable journey “, “Becoming more sticky and grimy with each
strage of the journey.” “The long day’s journey through Nebraska.” “I had crossed so many rivers that
I was dull to them.” “It was still, all day long, Nebraska.”
C) The stylistic device used in “the engine was panting heavily” is a metaphor/personification. It
conveys that the journey in train lasted a very long time.
2 : A metaphorical journey
A ) Jim’s both parents died within a year, and his relatives sent him to his grandparents, in Nebraska.
He had not a very big experience of the world.
B ) This trip is a turning point in Jim’s life, because he will meet Antonia and his family, his
grandparents, acquire an experience of the life, and become a man.
C ) Jim embodies the immigrants in USA at the end of the 19th century as people carrying diseases.
D) Jesse James is an outlaw, living thanks to bank attacks. He is the contrary to Jim Burden, which is
quite shy, because he doesn’t want to meet the bohemian girl in the next wagon.
3 : Light and darkness
A ) “Men were running about with lanterns” , “I couldn’t see any town, or even distant lights.” “Utter
darkness” “The red glow”
B)
C ) W.C has chosen Black Hawk as t he name of the town because of
D ) They stand huddled together on the platform : they look like foreigners who don’t understand the
world in which they landed. A little girl is clung to his mother’s skirt; it shows that he’s scared too by
this new environment.
2. Strange Encounters
1. Father figures
A ) Jake Marpole goes with Jim in the railway train, and
B) The conductor gives great advices about the world they will enter in. He adopts a protective
attitude towards Jim, insofar as he looks as a man full of life experiences, and who had been
everywhere.
C) Otto Fuchs is Jim’s grandfather hired man, and has to drive him out. He adopts a protective
attitude towards Jim, by asking Jim if he wasn’t too frightened to come so far west.
2. Foreigners
A) They were treated differently, because they are crowding in the 1st farm-wagon, while Jim
and Jack ride alone in the 2nd one.
Furthermore, a man shouted and exclaimed to the foreigners, as if they were victims of
racism.
B) “ You were likely to get diseases from foreigners”.
3. Antonia
A) She talks about her as a pretty girl, nice and very bright, “as a dollar”. He also talks about her
beautiful brown eyes.
B) Jim paused, because the conductor’s remark made him appearing shy, and turning back to
his novel.
3 . Apprehending Reality
1. Sounds and Sights
A) He used his sensed, insofar he faked he didn’t pay attention to what the conductor said
about Antonia’s appearance. It shows that he can use his conscious mind to face the world
around him.
B) “A man shouting and exclaiming.” : Jim understand it’s the first time he hears a foreign
tongue. / “ The engine was panting” : It shows the longer of Jim’s journey in the railway
train, to get to Nebraska.
C) “ I travelled” : He travels with Jake Marpole, his friend with who he spent his journey in the
railway train.
“Crossed” : Jim describes the longer of the journey, because he crossed many rivers, so he
was dull to them.
D) He doesn’t utter many words because he’s quite shy and young. He doesn’t have a very big
experience of the life.
2. Judging a book by its cover and reading people’s mind
A) Jim imagines a man full of experience and who had lived almost everywhere. He wore
rings and badges which show he had acquired this experience along his life.
B) Jim compares Otto Fuchs to Jesse James. He gives him an image of a man who is also full
of experience by all the events he lived.