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.
