s came all the way from Bohemia and gambled everything they had to make it in America. Antonia, the oldest daughter, knew that to succeed in raising her very own family she needed to learn the customs of this new country. With this in mind, she asked for the help of Jim Burden, her closest neighbor. Every day she learned a little bit more from him. He taught her farming methods and other practices of farm life. As she picked up the language, she began to do very well in her new surroundings. She helped out with all of the farm work and did an excellent job. She worked in Black Hawk for a respectable family that taught her everything she needed to know about raising a good family. Antonia knew in her heart what a good mother she would be and could not wait to be married. When she thought that she had finally found a good husband, he left her at the altar with a baby to care for, but this did not keep her down for long. She found another man that suited her as a husband and together they had nine children, all well behaved. Antonia's American Dream of having her own beautiful family had finally come true. While Antonia was eager to be Americanized, her father was a little bit wary of the idea. At first he was open minded about starting a new life in America, but soon he grew homesick and tired of farming. All that was familiar to him was left back in Bohemia. He did not have one thing in America that pleased him as much as things he had back home. He was lonesome and miserable most of the time, but tried to keep it to himself so that the rest of his family would think that everything was fine. It all just kept building up inside of him and one day the burden got to be too much to carry. Mr. Shimerda shot himself to end the pain of not being able to be close to the things he loved. He did not want to Americanize. He wanted to be back in his homeland again with his own people. People will do anything to fulfill thei...
