According to James E. Miller Jr., "My Antonia; A Frontier Drama of Time," Willa Cather's novel, one of her most important and perhaps most popular novels works , is “defective in structure” (Bloom, 21). He quotes EK Brown, who argues that: "'Everything in the book is there to convey a feeling, not to tell a story, not to establish a social philosophy, not even to animate a group of characters'" (21). The reader undoubtedly feels the impact of Antonia and Jim's story as Cather intended, but critics close themselves to the essence of My Antonia, seeking "a coherent central action of uninterrupted character representation" (21). The structure is based on Jim Burden's story, which recalls in an abstract scheme significant moments of his life and the friendship born with Antonia. These are memories evoked by emotion, events that have long been buried by the past and which, once retracted from the recesses of Jim's adult mind, will certainly not maintain their order. Jim's (Cather) short story personifies romance in her manuscript. Conventional structure is irrelevant to the true meaning of Cather's story. The collection of books that make up the novel My Antonia is sporadic but not Homeric, in the sense that Jim, or Antonia for that matter, is at the center of all the action. For example, Cather tells us the completely unrelated story of Peter and Pavel and their murderous sleigh ride in Russia. Antonia virtually abandons the narrative for much of the novel as Jim distances himself from her and the farm. We get Book II: The Hired Girls, which highlights Lena Lingard and the other foreign girls in the text. And perhaps the character in the story of Jim's youth who receives the most attention from Cather is... middle of the paper (online source). We all have romantic visions of certain aspects of our lives, but I think Cather argues that carrying those visions forward throughout our lives leads to a deterioration of personal growth. WORKS CITED Miller, Jr., James E. "My Antonia: A Frontier Drama of Time." Modern Critical Interpretations: My Antonia. Ed. Harold Bloom.New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 21-29.Peck, Demaree C. The Artist's Imaginative Claims in Willa Cather's Fiction: "Possesson Granted by a Different Lease." London: Associated University Presses, 1996. Randall III, John H. "Interpreting My Antonia." Willa Cather and her critics. Ed. James Schroeter. New York: Cornell University Press, 1967. 272-323. Wells, Kim. "My Antonia: an investigation into critical attitudes". August 23, 1999. Internet online. November 4, 1998.