Who Alexandra Bergson is
Alexandra Bergson is the eldest Bergson child, living with her family on the Nebraska Divide. Her father trusts her clear judgment and asks the family to let her guide the farm's work. She leads quietly, holding to her decisions even when her brothers Lou and Oscar oppose them.
What Alexandra Bergson wants
Alexandra wants the family to stay and build a future on land that many neighbors abandon. After visiting the river country, she sees the high prairie as a treasure that needs understanding and patient work. She decides to mortgage the family holdings and buy more land, despite her brothers' fears.
Alexandra Bergson and the others in the story
Alexandra loves her youngest brother, Emil Bergson, with an affection close to a mother's. She hopes education will give him freedom and opportunities beyond the farming life she knows.
Her old friend Carl Linstrum understands her in ways her brothers do not. She also respects Ivar's knowledge of animals, looking beyond the neighbors' judgment of him. Yet her confidence has limits, and she sometimes fails to notice what others feel.
A best-known line
“We come and go, but the land is always here.”
Questions
Who is Alexandra Bergson?
Alexandra Bergson is the central character who turns her family's struggling Nebraska farm into a prosperous estate.
Why do Alexandra's brothers oppose her?
Lou and Oscar fear her plans to buy more land. Later, they resent her wealth and worry about what marriage might mean for land they consider family property.
How does Alexandra know Carl Linstrum?
Carl Linstrum is Alexandra's close friend from their youth on neighboring farms. They share a habit of looking at the land and imagining its future.