Jim and Antonia shared a brief time of togetherness at the beginning of Willa Cather’s novel, but it was a time that bound the two of them for the rest of their lives. They were constantly being brought together, then separated again, in a continuous cycle of association with each other. The sun and the moon together in the sky represent this cycle of constant renewal, of the day ending and beginning again.
Unlike the constant flow of day and night, however, their relationship has a degree of uncertainty. The periods between their contact are changeable and in this meeting there is doubt that they will meet again. Regardless of this fact, Antonia assures Jim that he will always be with her, like her father, as part of the land that is part of their past together and that represents her present and future. Not only have Jim and Antonia renewed their own cycle of contact, but the cycle is going to be continued by the presence of Antonia’s daughter.
Antonia states that she plans “to see that her little girl has a better chance” than she ever did. Finally, the sun and the moon symbolize beginning and ending. It is here in the open land that Jim and Antonia began their relationship. It is also here that it is implied that their relationship is coming to an end.
The cycle has begun with them playing in the fields when they were children, now, as he walks away in the darkness, he remembers the children that they were, laughing and whispering as they run beside him, “as their shadows used to do”. Although the relationship between Jim and Antonia may be ending, however, there is a better possible future for the next generation, with a new hope rising from the old dreams of the past.
