My Antonia

Willa Cather

Author of My Antonia

Red Cloud, Nebraska

Hometown of Willa Cather

Jim Burden

Narrator of My Antonia

Virginia

Where Jim Burden lived before moving to Nebraska

Antonia Shimerda

Main character in the novel

Bohemia

The Shimerda's home country

Lena Lingard

Norwegian immigrant's daughter; works as a seamstress

Josiah Burden

Jim's grandfather; a strongly religious man; reserved, dignified, and hard working.

Emmaline Burden

Jim's grandmother; shows great concern and compassion for the Shimerdas

Otto Fuchs

An Austrian immigrant who works for Grandfather Burden; looks like a cowboy out of one of Jim's books

Otto Fuchs

Builds Mr. Shimerda's coffin

Jake Marpole

Hired hand of the Burdens who travels with Jim from Virginia

Jake Marpole

Pays a fine for punching a man

Mr. Shimerda

Played violin and worked as a weaver in his home country.

Mr. Shimerda

Ends his life because of depression

Mrs. Shimerda

Self-centered, grasping, and shrewish, she pressured her husband into moving the family to America

Yulka Shimerda

Antonia's sister

Ambrosch Shimerda

Ántonia's older brother — a coarse, vulgar, grasping, self-centered, and irresponsible man with no respect for his neighbors or their property.

Marek Shimerda

Antonia's mentally afflicted younger brother

Tiny Soderball

Hired girl in Black Hawk who worked for Mrs. Gardener in the Boys' Home.

Tiny Soderball

Woman who becomes rich in Alaska when a dying prospector deeds her his mine.

Russian Pavel

Leaves Russia after throwing a bride and groom off of his sled and consequently causing them to be eaten by wolves.

Russian Peter

Pavel's housemate, and a fat, happy man; finds himself severely in debt and sells off his belongings.

Mrs. Harling

The Burdens' neighbor when they move into Black Hawk. She hires Antonia to work in her kitchen.

Frances Harling

The oldest of the Harling children. Has a sound business mind and manages the father's accounts with a great deal of skill.

Charley Harling

The only Harling son; has a successful career at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Larry Donovan

Ántonia's fiancé who leaves Ántonia on the eve of their wedding

Samson d'Arnault

A blind, black pianist who comes to Black Hawk for a concert

Wick Cutter

A dishonest moneylender in Black Hawk

Wick Cutter

Murders his wife to avoid giving her an inheritance

Gaston Cleric

Jim's mentor at the university in Lincoln

Widow Steavens

The Burdens' tenant at their old farmhouse. Helps Antonia with her baby.

Anton Jelinek

A Bohemian homesteader and friend of the Shimerdas who later moves to Black Hawk and becomes a saloon proprietor.

Peter Krajiek

A Bohemian immigrant and neighbor to the Burdens who sells the Shimerdas their first farm in America and cheats them out of several comforts.

Anton Cuzak

Antonia's husband

Camille

Name of the show Jim and Lena watched in Lincoln

New York

Where Jim is practicing law as an adult

Black Hawk, Nebraska

Name of the town in My Antonia