The Narrator
Jim Burden gives the manuscript for My Ántonia to the unnamed narrator in the introduction to the novel. Because Cather drew many incidents and people in this novel from her own life, her intent in creating this anonymous narrator may have been, in part, to dissuade readers from identifying Cather with first-person narrator Jim.
Jim Burden
He relates a long series of memories about growing up on the Nebraska prairie with Ántonia, a Bohemian girl who seems to embody for him “the country, the conditions, the whole adventure of our childhood.” Jim has had many disappointments as an adult, and he glorifies his childhood as the happiest time in his life.
Ántonia (ANN-toe-knee-uh) (“Tony”) Shimerda
She arrives at the Nebraska prairie the same night that Jim does, and they grow up together as neighbors. Despite many hardships in her life, Ántonia remains vitally alive and never loses hope for the future.
Josiah Burden
Jim’s grandfather—reserved, dignified, and taciturn. Grandfather Burden is “rather narrow in religious matters,” but is also generous and fair. He believes that “the prayers of all good people are good.” He usually remains neutral in disputes with the neighbors and often serves as a peacekeeper.
Emmaline Burden
Jim’s grandmother. Friendly even to the badgers who sometimes steal her chickens, she worries about Ántonia’s family, the Shimerdas, although she doesn’t wholly approve of them. She inspires confidence; Mr. Shimerda entrusts Ántonia’s future to her. When gardening, she is never without her snake cane so that she can kill any stray rattlers.
Jake Marpole
A teenage farmhand on the Virginia farm of Jim’s father, Jake accompanies Jim west to work for Grandfather Burden. According to Jim, “Jake’s experience of the world was not much wider than mine.”
Otto Fuchs
An Austrian immigrant who works for Grandfather Burden. Previously, he lived in mining camps and lost an ear in a Wyoming blizzard when he was a stage driver. He dresses in chaps, spurs, and cowboy boots, and looks like a man “out of the pages of Jesse James.” For Jim, Otto epitomizes the romantic concept of the Old West cowboy.
Mr. Shimerda
A cultured man, a tailor in Bohemia, and a violin player, he is homesick for the Old Country and can’t adjust to harsh prairie life. He is close to Ántonia, and she understands him better than anyone else in the family.
Mrs. Shimerda
Self-centered, grasping, and shrewish, she pressured her husband into moving the family to America because of her ambitions for her son, Ambrosch. Never satisfied with the kindness that her neighbors offer, she always expects them to do more.
Ambrosch Shimerda
Ántonia’s older brother—a coarse, vulgar, grasping, self-centered, and irresponsible man with no respect for his neighbors or their property. Whereas Ántonia’s values are similar to Mr. Shimerda’s, Ambrosch is more like Mrs. Shimerda.
Pavel and Peter
Two Russians who live in a log cabin near a big prairie dog town, Peter is fat and friendly, but Pavel has “a wasted look.” He’s rumored to be an anarchist because of his “wild gesticulations and his generally excited and rebellious manner.”
Widow Steavens
A neighbor of the Burdens, she buys the Burden farm when they move to town. She tells Jim what happened to Ántonia while he was away at Harvard.
Peter Krajiek
The crafty, dishonest Bohemian immigrant who sold the Shimerdas their farm and asked much more for it than it was worth.
Wick (Wycliffe) Cutter and Mrs. Cutter
Black Hawk’s moneylender is morally and socially bankrupt. He has grown rich by cheating the townspeople. His wife, angered by his stinginess, paints and sells china to embarrass him. Ironically, he thinks it’s amusing. The Cutters’ chief pleasure is fighting with each other. Wick finally kills his wife and, moments later, kills himself—in order to keep her family from inheriting his money.
Anton Jelinek
A sympathetic Bohemian from Black Hawk, he comforts the Shimerdas after Mr. Shimerda’s suicide. In dramatic contrast to their other countryman, Krajiek, Jelinek is friendly and sincere. He later operates a saloon in Black Hawk.
Mrs. Christian Harling
Mrs. Harling exerts a strong influence on both Jim and Ántonia: “Every inch of her was charged with an energy that made itself felt the moment she entered a room.” She hires Ántonia to work for her and teaches her many practical skills. Mrs. Harling makes her household interesting for her children, but when her husband is home, she devotes herself to him.
Christian Harling
A grain merchant and cattle buyer, Mr. Harling is autocratic and imperial. He wears a caped overcoat and sports a diamond ring on his little finger. The household revolves around him; Jim Burden will not go there when he is home.
Frances Harling
The oldest Harling daughter, Frances helps her father in his business. In addition to her exceptional business judgment, Frances has musical talent and is a friendly, outgoing person.
