Alexandra Bergson
The novel's protagonist, Alexandra Bergson, is a strong, tall woman, the eldest child of the Swedish immigrantJohn Bergson. Alexandra is a resourceful, practical person who loves and understands thelandas no one else in the novel does. However, she is not nearly so intuitive when it comes to understanding other people. She inherits the farm and brings her family prosperity, but in exchange, she works and toils through the prime years of her life. She deeply loves her younger brother Emil, and sees all of her work and effort as dedicated to giving him the opportunity to have an identity that isn't rooted in the soil.
Carl Linstrum
Carl isAlexandra’schildhood neighbor and best friend. He grows to become a brooding, sensitive man, who leaves the Divide for a career in engraving and then eventually leaves again to mine for gold in Alaska. He and Alexandra have a steadier kind of love between them, and they marry at the end of the book.
Marie Shabata
Marie isEmil’schildhood friend and the object of his love. She comes from a Bohemian family and is beautiful, with red cheeks and yellow flecks in her eyes, and her liveliness and affection make her popular with everyone she meets. She runs off and marries Frank Shabatawhen she’s just eighteen, but comes to believe that she was not the right person for Frank. She comes to return Emil’s love, and though she tries (and fails) to resist her feelings.
Frank Shabata
Frank isMarie’shusband andAlexandra’sneighbor in the latter half of the book. He is described as a cheerful, handsome man early in life, but he becomes embittered by hard work and turns into a jealous man after he marries. He falls into rages, including the one that eventually kills Marie andEmil.
Lou Bergson
Lou is one ofAlexandra’sbrothers, the middle brother in the Bergson family. He is more intelligent than the third Bergson brother,Oscar, but he’s also petty, small-minded, and flighty, often involving himself in politics and tirades against those with money. He hates to stand out from his neighbors, and he marries Annie Lee.
Oscar Bergson
Oscar is Alexandra’s younger brother and the eldest son of John Bergson. He is solidly built, but a slow thinker. He doesn’t mind hard work, as long as it is part of his routine. Oscar and Lou stick close together, and they both resent Alexandra’s unconventional ways and relationship with Carl Linstrum.
Crazy Ivar
Ivar is an elderly man with a strong upper body and white hair. He is deeply religious and loves animals, but his unconventional ways frighten most people.Alexandra recognizes that Ivar knows how to care for animals and livestock, and she takes him in after he loses his land to mismanagement.
Amédée Chevalier
Amédée, a light-hearted French boy, isEmil’sbest friend. Amédée is slight of figure, graceful, and constantly joking around. He is very happily married to Angélique, and they have a newborn son he dotes on. However, he dies, suddenly, of appendicitis. His death prompts Emil andMarieto come together.
Emil Bergson
Emil isAlexandra’syounger brother and one of the people closest to her. Emil is handsome and intelligent, one of the novel’s only characters to have attended university. He is desperately in love withMarie Shabata, and their illicit love eventually brings tragedy to the Divide.
Minor Characters
John Bergson
John Bergson is the father ofAlexandra,Oscar,Lou, andEmil. An intelligent man, John Bergson left his life in Sweden for the difficult terrain of Nebraska. He falls sick at forty-six and leaves the farm in Alexandra’s capable hands, recognizing that she knows the landbest.
Mrs. Bergson
The wife ofJohn Bergson, Mrs. Bergson is a comfortable-looking, plump woman who loves routine just as her oldest son,Oscar, does. She misses the Old World and passes away a few years after her husband dies.
Angélique
Angélique isAmédée’swife. She has faith in their good fortune and jokes around with Emil, just like her husband does.
Signa
Signa is the youngest of the three Swedish girlsAlexandraemploys to do housework. She is Alexandra’s favorite, though she can be skittish around the men at the table. When Alexandra is upset afterEmil’sdeath, Signa returns to take care of her.
Nelse
Nelse,Signa’ssuitor and eventual husband, is a gloomy fellow. He works forAlexandraon the farm and constantly scolds Signa about everything.
Albert Tovesky
Albert Tovesky,Marie’sfather, is a successful town leader in Omaha. Marie is his youngest and favorite child.
Joe Tovesky
Joe Tovesky isMarie’suncle. He dotes on Marie when she is a little girl, showing her off to his friends and buying her a mechanical toy from the shop in town.
Mrs. Lee
Mrs. Lee isAnnie Lee’smother. She is fond ofAlexandra, as she misses her old country habits, and Annie andLoudon’t give her as much liberty as Alexandra does.
Milly
Milly isLouandAnnie’sdaughter. Unlike her parents, Milly is kind and straightforward, andAlexandrais very fond of her.
Annie Lee
Annie Lee isLou’swife. She’s very conscious of her clothing and tries hard to be fashionable. She hopes to move to the city one day, when the girls are grown.
Mrs. Hiller
Mrs. Hiller is theShabatas’next-door neighbor.
Barney Flinn
Barney Flinn isAlexandra’sforeman, though he doesn’t officially go by that title.
Carrie Jensen
Carrie is the sister ofNelse Jensen. She was unhappy and suicidal until her parents sent her to Iowa to visit relatives. When she returned, she was cheerful and said that she was happy to work in a world that was so big and interesting.