My Ántonia · Character

Mr. Shimerda

Ántonia's father, a gentle, educated Bohemian who cannot survive the prairie's brutal indifference to the life of the mind he left behind.

supporting

Also known as old Mr. Shimerda, Old Mr. Shimerda, XVI Mr. Shimerda, poor Mr. Shimerda, Mr. ¬ÝShimerda

First appearance: ii

As a supporting figure in My Ántonia, Mr. Shimerda is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Ántonia's father, a sensitive and homesick immigrant struggling to adapt to prairie life.

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A former weaver and musician in Bohemia, Mr. Shimerda arrives in Nebraska already broken by the loss of his old world and finds nothing in the new one to replace it. He is tender toward his children and grateful for Jim's friendship, but his wife's hardness and the family's grinding poverty leave him with no place to put his grief. His fate shapes the novel's emotional center, teaching Jim — and the reader — what the prairie costs the people it cannot use.

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See Mr. Shimerda in ii

Character Web

26 connections

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Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Central characters and family
Extended community and later life

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

Jim’s solitary reading of Virgil’s *Georgics* marks the emotional and psychological peak because it crystalliz…

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In the story

Mr. Shimerda appears across 13 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

My Ántonia
Ántonia's father, a sensitive and homesick immigrant struggling to adapt to prairie life.
Book I: The Shimerdas
Ántonia's father, a melancholic and proud man struggling with the hardships of immigrant life.
I
The tall, stooped old man in the immigrant family at the station.
III
A dignified, melancholy man who was a skilled weaver; he entreats grandmother to teach Ántonia English.
V
Discovers the Russians and visits them almost every evening, sometimes bringing Ántonia.
VI
Appears ill and listless, but shows warmth toward Ántonia and promises Jim his gun.
VIII
Visits Pavel with his daughter, hears the confession, and is depressed by the loss of his Russian friends.
X
Explains the family's financial losses and plans for a new house in spring, showing dignity despite hardship.
XII
Visits the Burdens to thank them, finds solace in their home, kneels before the Christmas tree, and departs with a blessing.
XIII
Mentioned as being unwell and sad, no longer playing his violin.
XIV
Found dead by suicide; Jim imagines his spirit resting in the Burden house.
XVI
Lies dead in the barn for four days; his body is frozen fast to the ground and is cut loose for burial.
IV
Ántonia says he is still real to her and she consults him.

Chapter companion notes

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See Mr. Shimerda in ii

See Mr. Shimerda in My Ántonia