Jim is hesitant about the switch, but he agrees, because he cannot stand to see Antonia looking so troubled. Burden agrees with Antonia that she should feel apprehensive about Cutter, and suggests that Jim sleep in the Cutters' instead of Antonia. She also felt perturbed by the way Cutter kept looking at her.
Antonia tells them that Wick Cutter had left explicit instructions for her to stay in the house by herself and guard the Cutters' silver and money. Burden asks her what has happened to make her so distracted and upset. An anxious Antonia goes to see the Burdens the day after the Cutters leave. The Cutters go to Omaha for a few days, leaving Antonia in charge of the house. The image of the plough signifies the end of the pioneer era and the end of their adolescence. Jim calls the plough "heroic." The hired girls especially identify with the plough they all had to help their families with the farms: herding cattle, growing crops, and threshing wheat. Jim and the hired girls stare, mesmerized by the sight of the plough against the sunset. Before they leave, they see a spetacular sight: the figure of a plough against the red horizon. They all talk about their families' farms, having to work for their younger siblings' clothing and toys, their grandparents, and the hard lives of their mothers. Antonia says, "I ain't never forgot my own country." Book 2, Chapter 14, pg. Watching Antonia reminisce about her father and her country, Jim is suddenly reminded of how very much Antonia looks like the little girl who visited the Burden household with her father back in the country.
Relieved by Jim's theory, Antonia recalls the story that her father had married her mother out of the kindness and goodness of his heart he did not have to marry her, but he did. Shimerda's spirit somehow was with him when he was alone in the house on that winter day, on its way back home to Bohemia. Jim tells her of the theory he had had about her father's spirit Mr. Antonia is homesick for her country and her father. She tells him that the flowers on the river bank remind her of Bohemia, for her family used to have a yard full of the same flowers. He sees Antonia sitting by herself, crying. Jim wanders around the river banks, reveling in the beauty and the stillness of the country. He has one holiday, and Antonia invites him to spend it with her, Lena, Tiny, and Anna. Harling assures them that Jim is ready for it. His grandparents are dubious about his going off to college, but Mrs.
Jim studies more after his commencement to prepare for college.
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