Alexandra, the daughter of Swedish immigrants, is the ultimate pioneer. She is resilient, at one with nature, and imaginative. She is responsible for making a success of her family farm, setting up her brothers with a secure life, and helping build the settlement town of Hanover in Nebraska. Alexandra is a subversive female character in many ways. Though pretty—she has blue eyes and “reddish-yellow” curls—she defies the norms of her time period by not marrying. Her demeanor is serious, and while she sometimes fantasizes about having a male partner (and clearly loves Carl in some fashion), she is not sentimental about men. Alexandra grew up in tough circumstances, which hardened her against frivolous romance. Even so, her difficult upbringing did not harden her against love. She is nurturing and maternal to Emil, as well as generous with her family and neighbors. She is a steadfast character whose very lack of character development—that is, her resoluteness in the face of all adversity—emphasizes her pioneer nature.

Emil is Alexandra’s youngest brother. He is unique in his family as a second-generation American who owes his privilege to his parents and siblings’ struggles. Emil is too young to remember his family’s hard times, and he largely doesn’t perform the manual labor that helped make the farm an unlikely success.