My Antonia William Cather showed a great amount of information about the "old wild west" and the expansion of the United States. In My Antonia, Jim Burden told a story of his childhood, the people in his life, and the struggles he and his surroundings faced during this time. At age ten, Jim Burden was sent by his relatives to be raised by his grandparents in the Nebraska prairie after his parents died. When he arrived at his new home, he was introduced to a Bohemian family that just immigrated to America; the Shimerdas. Jim and Antonia, the Shimerda's daughter, quickly become friends. They traveled a great distance