Antonia's achievement of the American Dream doesn't come easily to her. She has had put in a lot of hard work over many years before she can say that she's finally made it in her adopted country. When Antonia first arrived in the United States, she and her family had practically nothing; they couldn't even speak English. So at first, life was incredibly tough. It didn't help matters that a fellow Bohemian immigrant, Krajek, cheated them out of what little money they had.

However, Antonia isn't discouraged by this serious setback. She remains determined to achieve the American Dream, and she quickly learns that in order to do this, she has to be prepared to graft for it. And Antonia does precisely that, not just through work, but also by learning English. Antonia grasps early on that if she's going to get on in life, it's essential that she learns to speak the native language. This is one more sacrifice that must be made if the American Dream is to be realized.

All that sacrifice and all those efforts finally pay off. Antonia ends up living the American Dream in a home of her own, a home which she and her husband, Cuzak, built themselves.