O Pioneers! - Characters in O Pioneers!

Characters in O Pioneers!

• Alexandra Bergson: The main character of the book. A strong-willed and intelligent woman. She was given the farm by her father John Bergson and after 16 years turned it into a very prosperous one. Alexandra isn't very adept at sensing peoples feelings or her own. It takes her a long time to realize that she loves Carl Linstrum. She also doesn't sense Emil's growing attraction toward the unhappily married Marie Shabata. She seems easy to forgive as well, as she claims to have no ill will against Frank, despite the fact he savagely murdered her brother. She is about 40 years old in the second part of the book
• Emil Bergson: Emil, the youngest child of John Bergson, grows up in Alexandra's wealth to become an intelligent, handsome, and athletic person. He has the opportunity to go to college which he undertakes. But tragically he is in love with Marie Shabata who is unhappily married. He leaves for Mexico to try to escape his temptation for Marie. But after a year he returns and cannot resist. He kisses her for the first time and before leaving for law school bids a final goodbye to Marie. But Frank Shabata, Marie's husband, catches them and shoots them both in a bloody rage.
• Ivar, he reads the Bible and has a mystic quality about him. He also has a great affinity to animals, especially birds.
• Signa, The favorite, and youngest of Alexandra's Swedish servants.
• Barney Flinn, Alexandra's foreman.
• Mrs. Hiller, a neighbor.
• Nelse Jensen, Signa's suitor, then husband.
• Annie Lee, Lou's wife's maiden name.
• Mrs. Lee, Lou's mother-in-law.
• Milly, 15 years old; Annie's daughter. She plays the organ and the piano.
• Stella, Annie's younger daughter.
• Frank Shabata, Marie's husband. He likes to read the Sunday newspaper about rich people's bold gestures. His character is a representation of anger and irrationality on the prairie. He also killed his wife Marie and Emil in a drunken rage,and was sent to prison in Lincoln, Nebraska. He regrets doing what he did and he looks destroyed when Alexandra goes to visit him.
• Albert Tovesky, Marie's father; an adviser in Omaha.
• Amédée Chevalier, a Frenchman, friends with Emil. He dies from a ruptured appendix
• Angélique Chevalier, Amédée's wife.
• Father Duchesne, the French priest.
• Raoul Marcel, has a good voice; a good friend to Emil
• Moses Marcel, Raoul's father.
• Jean Bordelau
• Jan Smirka, A farm hand who Frank thinks Marie had an affair with.
• Mr. Schwartz, the warden at the prison where Frank is being kept.