Over the course of the novel, Jim ages from a ten-year-old boy into a middle-aged man, and grows from a shy orphan into a successful lawyer for the railroad companies, acquiring an impressive education along the way at the University of Nebraska and Harvard. In spite of the great changes that he undergoes, Jim remains a consistent character.
Jim Burden Character Analysis. Jim Burden. The protagonist of My Ăntonia and the narrator of most of the novel. Orphaned at the age of ten, he comes to live with his grandparents on the Nebraska prairie. Jim is reflective, studious, and a "romantic." He feels deeply connected to âŚ
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A superb athlete, he was voted all-city in a city where basketball is the real deal. That earned him a scholarship to Ripon College in Wisconsin.
Watching Burdon in the courtroom â perpetually tan, with movie-star looks and a GQ wardrobe â youâd never guess he grew up as a South Side Chicago street punk who ran with a gang called The Friscos and as a toddler lived with his brother in a childrenâs home in Iowa because his mother couldnât care for them.
The My Antonia quotes below are all either spoken by Jim Burden or refer to Jim Burden. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: ).
The timeline below shows where the character Jim Burden appears in My Antonia. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Whereas Ăntonia represents the pioneer who builds an abundant, promising future from a wasteland, Jim Burden represents the established settlers who have grown complacent, superior, and rigid in their thinking. To Ăntonia, the road to success in life has many possible branches; to Jim and other Black Hawk citizens, there is only one acceptable road.
At college Jim learns a greater appreciation of the classics than he'd had at home, and he compares the people from his own childhood to people in the works of Virgil. He's introduced to a new world of music and opera, which he asks Lena Lingard to share.
Jim symbolizes the pioneer gone soft. Jim's memories of Ăntonia comprise the main body of the novel. He admires her and is drawn to her in such a way that his memories of her have been burned into his mind. In the opening chapter we see him as a 10-year-old orphan, arriving for the first time in Nebraska.
Jim's idealism is illustrated by his attitude toward the hired girls. He admires them and criticizes the townspeople for arrogantly looking down on them â that is, the girls are good enough for the boys of Black Hawk to have fun with, but they're not good enough to marry.
He is thrilled when the hired girls admire his graduation speech, and he agrees â if reluctantly â to stay the night at Wick Cutter's house (in place of Ăntonia).
Although Jim has prospered materially, he seems spiritually empty. This emptiness in Jim's life, twenty years later, is contrasted with the fullness of Ăntonia's. Ăntonia has not achieved great material wealth, but her spirit is free, full, and vital, and it is as optimistic as it was when they were children.
When Jim returns to Black Hawk, he sees a photograph of Ăntonia's baby and longs to visit his old friend, but he initially finds it difficult to forgive her for throwing herself away on such a cheap fellow as Larry Donovan. Even now, he appears irresistibly drawn to Ăntonia.
Burden attended and graduated from Harvard College in 1893. Following his graduation, he studied for a year at Harvard Law School before going to work at the family company in 1894 and assuming the presidency in 1906 upon his father's death.
Arthur Scott Burden, brother of James A. Burden, President of the Burden Iron Works of Troy and husband of the former Cynthia Roche, died yesterday of pneumonia at a branch of the New York Hospital in White Plains. ... ^ "MRS.
Career. Burden attended and graduated from Harvard College in 1893. Following his graduation, he studied for a year at Harvard Law School before going to work at the family company in 1894 and assuming the presidency in 1906 upon his father's death.
In 1921, as a result of two horse fall injuries his brother, Arthur, sustained which caused him to be placed under constant care from late 1913, Burden filed a petition while his sister-in-law, Cynthia Roche 's, was away in London, requesting that Arthur Burden be declared incompetent.
As a wedding gift for Burden and his bride, his father-in-law commissioned Warren & Wetmore to design and build a residence at 7 East 91st Street on Carnegie Hill in New York City. Burden was a trustee of the Woodside Presbyterian Church and was a member of the Knickerbocker Club, Metropolitan Club, Racquet and Tennis Club, India House of New York City and Meadowbrook Club of Long Island.
James Abercrombie Burden III (1897â1979), who married Elizabeth Leahe. William Douglas Burden (1898â1978), a founder of Marineland in Florida who married three times. The first was to Catherine C. White in 1924. His first and second marriages both ended in divorce.
Based upon my experience, Mr. Burden is extremely knowledgable in his field of expertise, and was very straightforward in presenting all available options. His representation was nothing less than excellent, and I believe that he had nothing but my best interests in mind. Mr.
Based upon my experience, Mr. Burden is a skilled and knowledgeable professional who brings great integrity to the legal field. I am confident he had my best interests in mind and I never felt pressured. Whenever I had questions, he gave prompt and straightforward answers.
Had a very strange experience with James Burden. After answering a series of prescreening questions with a paralegal (?), I was told, for full consultation, I would need to pay ($525) in advance for what turned out to be a half hour phone consult with Mr Burden.