What advantages or disadvantages did Jim have in living among people of different ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds?

Jim is a sensitive boy who is open to different people and their ways. Antonia is exotic to him yet has the traits that put him at ease. At the same time there is much racism among the native Nebraskans towards these foreign pioneers. Their religion and value systems are much different. There is pressure on Jim not to become immersed in a very different identity.