n My Ántonina, Cather addresses the theme of optima dies prima fugit and the problems that "new immigrants" faced when they moved to the United States of America in the 1880s to 1910s in the novel and post World War I in the material world. The “new immigrants” who arrived in America during the period of peak immigration, between 1880 and 1914, generally came from Southern and Eastern Europe. The new immigrants, unlike their Western and Northern European neighbors, could not adapt as easily to the new country because the majority of them did not speak English and religious differences caused conflicts with their Protestant neighbors. In My Antonia, the Burdens are a Protestant family, but the Shimerdas are a Catholic brood. This was evident when Mr. Shimerdas visited the Burdens at Christmas and leaned in front of the Christmas tree and prayed to it, thus making the evergreen a religious symbol instead of the decorative purpose for which the Burdens had it foreseen. The division between these two neighbors is made clear when Grandfather Burden "simply placed his fingertips on his forehead and bowed his venerable head, thus protesting the atmosphere" (Cather n. pag.). The BurdensIn Book II of My Ántonia, the Burdens settle in the town of Black Hawk, far from the outskirts where they owned a farm, Jim experiences life in a prairie town. In the city there are many immigrants, old and new, which shows the different levels of success of each cultural region. Former immigrants such as the Harlings are a good example of Scandinavian immigrants, in whom Sally Allen McNall, professor of American literature at the University of Arizona and the University of Kansas, says "tend to be upstanding and cosmopolitans” (70). The Shimerdas and other groups of new...... middle of paper ......irie Dawn” Cather also shows an immigrant working in an environment in which he is not accustomed and greatly aspires to his or her house in the hills: a crimson fire that conquers the stars; a pungent smell of dusty sage; light ; A swift and shining spear thrown low across the world; A sudden evil for the hills of the house. (Cather, “Prairie Dawn” 41) Works Cited Cather, Willa. My Antonia. np July 8, 2008. Project Gutenburg. Internet. January 31, 2014.---. “Prairie Dawn.” April twilights. Boston: The Gorham Press, 1903. 41. canvas. February 12, 2014.McNall, Sally Allen. “My Antonia and immigration at the American border.” Readings on My Antonia. ed. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 2001. 67-75. Print.