My Ántonia by Willa Cather is the coming of age story of Jim Burden and Ántonia Shimerda. Jim, recently orphaned, moves to Blackhawk Nebraska to live with his grandparents. On his journey from Virginia to Nebraska, Jim gets his first glimpse of the bohemian immigrant family that is moving near the Burdens. Because she Shimerda does not speak English, they are quickly robbed of their money and move into a small shed on the side of a hill. Jim's grandmother is a very kind woman and agrees to ask Jim to help Ántonia learn English. The two spend a lot of time together and have many adventures with Jim's pony, Dude. It is in some of these adventures that the reader can see how much the protagonists are maturing. On one of these trips, Ántonia gains a lot of respect and begins to consider Jim an equal after saving them both by cutting off the head of a huge rattlesnake. They proudly bring the enormous reptile home, and Ántonia brags about Jim's courage to her grandparents and their farmhands. However, not all of Jim and Ántonia's time together was pleasant....