nonni
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Bjartur í Sumarhúsum
The main character of Independent People and the farmer of Summerhouses. He is heroic and stubborn in equal measures. He wants nothing more than to be independent and free from debt. In order to keep up the appearance of a stoical saga hero, Bjartur inter...
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Ásta Sóllilja
Bjarturs eldest child and only daughter (the biological offspring of Rósa and Ingólfur Arnarson). He refers to her as the flower of his life and she is the only person that he is able to show any tenderness. Ásta Sólilja both loves and f...
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Nonni
Bjarturs youngest son. Nonni has a dream, given to him by his mother, that he will sing for the whole world. He yearns for the foreign countries that lie beyond Summerhouses. Nonni is the most sensitive and poetic of Bjarturs child...
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Helgi
Bjarturs eldest son. Helgi nurtures a furious resentment towards his father, held in check by terror of his tyrannical reign. Eventually, he strikes out against Bjartur in the only way open to him.more...
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Gvendur
Bjarturs middle son. Gvendur, like Ásta Sólilja, craves his fathers approval. Unlike his brothers, he is keen to keep on doing something and is outwardly uncritical of Bjarturs ideology. Bjartur is fond of him, but never give...
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Ingólfur Arnarson
Named after Ingólfur Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland, Ingólfur is the biological father of Ásta Sólilja and the son of Jón and Madam of Mýri. He is rich, and rather arrogant and condescending, and is held in contempt by Bjartur....
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Rauðsmýrarmaddaman
One of the most satirical characters in the novel. The wife of the rich farmer, Jón the Bailiff, the Madam of Mýri embodies the condescending and naïve attitudes of the wealthy towards the rural poor. She sees glory and the simple joy of a rustic life, wh...
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Jón Hreppstjóri
Jón the Bailiff is the richest farmer in the district and Bjarturs former employer. He lives on the large and prosperous farm of Rauðsmýri, of which Summerhouses was previously a part. He dresses in rags and is known for extracting every last ounce ...
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Rósa
Bjarturs first wife and the mother of Ásta Sólilja. Rósa is in love with the handsome and dashing Ingólfur Arnarson, by whom she is pregnant when she marries Bjartur. She is miserable at Summerhouses and longs for the comfort and wealth of Rauðsmýri...
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Finna
Bjarturs second wife. She is a widow on the parish when Bjartur, newly widowed himself, takes her and her mother off the local priests hands. She bears him many children, but only three sons survive infancy. Finna is usually ill, w...
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Hallbera
Finnas mother, Bjarturs mother-in-law and grandmother to the three boys. Hallbera spends most of her time muttering religious poems and knitting. She seems to take each new tragedy that befalls the household at Summerhouses in her stride, but ...