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Odysseus “Odie” O’Banion
Odie O’Banion is a 12-year-old boy during the summer of 1932. After his father, Ezekiel, is killed during a bootlegging operation, Odie and his older brother, Albert, become the only white students at…
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Albert O’Banion
Albert O’Banion is a 16-year-old boy in 1932. Orphaned by his father (Ezekiel) and mother (Rosalee), Albert is extremely protective of his younger brother, Odie. Throughout their time at Lincoln…
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Moses “Mose” Washington/Amdacha
Mose Washington is a 16-year-old Native American boy who is part of the Sioux tribe. At the age of four, Mose was found in a roadside ditch beside his murdered mother, having had his tongue…
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Emmaline “Emmy” Frost
Emmy Frost is the six-year-old daughter of Cora and Andrew Frost. She is part Sioux on her father’s side and sustained a head injury in the farming accident that killed him. After a tornado…
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Mrs. Thelma Brickman/The Black Witch
Thelma Brickman is the superintendent of Lincoln Indian Training School. Her students nickname her “the Black Witch” because of her severe and punitive demeanor. Married to Clyde Brickman, Mrs. Brickman is the main antagonist…
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Get the entire This Tender Land LitChart as a printable PDF.
Sister Eve
Sister Eve is a traveling healer and preacher who leads the Sword of Gideon Healing Crusade. After Odie and Emmy save her life, Eve allows them, Albert, and Mose to work and live with…
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One-Eyed Jack
One-eyed Jack is a farmer who lives in Fremont County. After discovering Odie, Albert, Mose, and Emmy sleeping in his shed, he holds them captive and forces them to work on his…
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Mr. Clyde Brickman
Clyde Brickman is Thelma Brickman’s husband and the owner of Lincoln Indian Training School. Mr. Brickman submits to his wife’s will in most matters, making his authority mostly symbolic. His actions characterize him as…
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Aunt Julia
Aunt Julia is Albert’s aunt and Odie’s biological mother. She is Rosalee’s sister and Ezekiel’s sister-in-law. Julia lives in Saint Louis, Missouri, where she manages the brothel where Mrs. Brickman once…
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Herman Volz
Herman Volz is an older German man who works at Lincoln Indian Training School, teaching carpentry and acting as the assistant boys’ adviser. He is one of the only adults at Lincoln who genuinely cares…
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Cora Frost
Cora Frost teaches homemaking skills and reading at Lincoln Indian Training School. She is married to Andrew Frost and is the mother of Emmy. After her husband’s accidental death, Cora Frost runs her nearby…
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Vincent DiMarco
Vincent DiMarco is the groundskeeper at Lincoln Indian Training School. A cruel man, DiMarco takes pleasure in beating children and is rumored to sexually assault them. Despite the general knowledge of DiMarco’s wrongdoing, Mrs. Brickman…
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Sid Calloway
Sid Calloway is Sister Eve’s wily manager and trumpet player. A literal snake-charmer, Sid puts his craftiness to good use in the Sword of Gideon Healing Crusade, paying off the people Eve “heals” during…
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Forrest/Hawk Flies at Night
Forrest is a Sioux man who encounters Odie, Albert, Mose, and Emmy on their journey along the river. He is Calvin’s brother and Gertie Hellmann’s friend. Forrest guides Mose on…
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Mr. Powell Schofield
Powell Schofield is a farmer from Kansas whose car breaks down on the way to Chicago, Illinois. He is Sarah Schofield’s husband, Mother Beal’s son-in-law, and Maybeth’s father. Mr. Schofield and his…
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Mrs. Sarah Schofield
Sarah Schofield is a woman living in the shantytown of Hopersville along the Minnesota River. She is Powell Schofield’s wife, Maybeth’s mother, and Mother Beal’s daughter. Mrs. Schofield is resigned to her…
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Mother Beal
Mother Beal is an elderly woman living in the Hopersville shantytown along the Minnesota River. She is Sarah Schofield’s mother, Powell Schofield’s mother-in-law, and Maybeth’s grandmother. A generous woman, Mother Beal invites…
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Gertie Hellmann
Gertie Hellmann is a Jewish woman who owns a restaurant in the West Side Flats of Saint Paul, Minnesota. She lives with her partner, Flo Waters, and is well-known among the local community, whose…
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John Kelly/Shlomo Goldstein
John Kelly is a Jewish boy living in the West Side Flats of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Though his real name is Shlomo Goldstein, he goes by John Kelly to avoid attracting negative attention from the…
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Ezekiel O’Banion (Odie’s Father)
Ezekiel O’Banion is the father of Odie and Albert. He is married to Rosalee O’Banion. A con man who produced and sold his own bootleg liquor, Ezekiel was killed during a liquor run…
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Rosalee O’Banion (Odie’s Mother)
Rosalee O’Banion is the mother of Odie and Albert (though Odie later learns that Rosalee’s sister, Julia, is in fact his biological mother). She is married to Ezekiel O’Banion. Rosalee died when Odie…
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Billy Red Sleeve
Billy Red Sleeve is a young Native American boy belonging to the Northern Cheyenne people. Having transferred to Lincoln from another Indian training school, he attracts DiMarco’s attention by speaking in his native language…
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Andrew Frost
Andrew Frost is a man of Sioux and Scotch Irish descent who used to coach sports at Lincoln Indian Training School. He is Cora Frost’s husband and Emmy’s father. Andrew Frost dies in…
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Miss Stratton
Miss Stratton is the music teacher and head girls’ adviser at Lincoln Indian Training School. She allows Odie to perform “Shenandoah” on his harmonica at Cora Frost’s memorial service, which angers Mrs. Brickman…
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Truman Waters
Truman Waters is a towboat operator who travels up and down the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers for work. He lives in the West Side Flats of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Calvin is one of his employees…
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Faria
Faria is a rat who lives in the quiet room at Lincoln Indian Training School. Albert names him after a character in The Count of Monte Cristo, and he encourages Odie to get to…
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Minor Characters
Maybeth Schofield
Maybeth Schofield is a 13-year-old girl living in the Hopersville shantytown along the Minnesota River. Powell Schofield and Sarah Schofield are her parents, and Mother Beal is her grandmother. Maybeth falls in love with Odie after listening to him play harmonica, and she ultimately marries him later in life.
Flo Waters
Flo Waters is a woman living in the West Side Flats of Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she runs a restaurant with her partner, Gertie Hellmann. She is Truman Waters’ sister. Friendly and cheerful, Flo welcomes Odie, Albert, Mose, and Emmy into her home with genuine warmth.
Bledsoe
Bledsoe is a farmer who lives near Lincoln Indian Training School. An unkind man, he often uses the male students as free labor and is known for working them extremely hard.
Mrs. Peterson
Mrs. Peterson is the cook at Lincoln Indian Training School. She is a stern woman but still makes sure every child receives three meals a day.
Whisker
Whisker is a Black piano player who travels with Sister Eve and the Sword of Gideon Healing Crusade. A cheerful and good-natured man, Whisker takes Odie under his wing, teaching him about music and harmony.
Dimitri
Dimitri is a bald Greek man who cooks for Sister Eve and the Sword of Gideon Healing Crusade. He becomes close friends with Mose.
Dr. Pfeiffer
Dr. Pfeiffer is the doctor in New Bremen who tends to Albert after Sid’s rattlesnake bites him.
Calvin
Calvin is a Sioux man living in the West Side Flats of Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is Forrest’s brother and works on a towboat with Truman Waters.
Captain Bob Gray
Captain Gray is a military veteran living in the Hopersville shantytown near the Minnesota River alongside the Schofield family. He is recruiting men to travel to Washington, D.C. to demand the federal government pay veterans the bonuses they were promised.
Sheriff Bob Warford
Sheriff Bob Warford is the sheriff of Fremont County. A corrupt man, he assists Mr. Brickman and Mrs. Brickman in their search for runaways, including Odie, Albert, Mose, and Emmy.
Aggie
Aggie is one-eyed Jack’s wife and Sophie’s mother. Rumor has it she ran off to Saint Paul with Jack’s friend, Rudy, but Odie worries that Aggie met a violent end.
Sophie
Sophie is the daughter of one-eyed Jack and Aggie. Taken to Saint Paul by her mother and Rudy, Sophie’s absence weighs heavily on Jack. Emmy’s presence reminds Jack of his lost daughter.
Rudy
Rudy is one-eyed Jack’s army buddy who allegedly ran off with Jack’s wife (Aggie) and daughter (Sophie). Odie at first worries that a vengeful Jack has actually killed Rudy and his family.
Dolores
Dolores is a young sex worker who lives in Aunt Julia’s brothel in Saint Louis, Missouri.
