This was exposed to Antonia throughout her whole life. Not only was nativism "present from the beginning of the century of immigration, but infected all sections of the country and every class"(Wells 6). It effected Antonia and her family because they were "different". It also affected Jim because of his different views and opinions on things.
Throughout the novel, Antonia and Jim were, at some point, outcasts. These times were considered Xenophobic. "Xenophobia in America fed, from the beginning, on a set of ideas that can only be termed racist ideas [the were said] by racial groups ideas of a dark shadow or a black tide"(McNall 71). These ideas of dark shadows and black tides created two types of immigrants, the old and the new immigrants.
The "new" immigrants were seen as more pleasant like than the "old". The old immigrants, the Harlings, Mrs. Gardener, and Mr. Jensen, are more easily integrated into out society than were the new immigrants. Although they both arrived around the same time, the national picture was different, and the Shimerdas reflect this change. They arrived late on the largest wave of Czech immigration.(McNall 70).
The fist book in the novel is titled "The Shimerdas". This book introduces the main character Jim Burden, and his love, Antonia. We also find out that her father "lived in his mothers house and she, [Antonia's mother] was a poor girl come in to do the work"(Cather). By examining this quote, one can see that Antonia's mother, a immigrant, was a poor girl who had a poor job. .
Throughout the novel, the immigrants are the ones who are stuck with the lower class jobs. They, along with Antonia, are among the bottom of the totem pole and they honestly could not do much about it. One can see from the following quote that Jim Burden, along with everyone else, knew that this is how the world was going to be. "[Jim] did not say his prayers that night: here I felt what would be, would be"(Cather).
