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Changed line(s) 125 (click to see context) from:
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Vicar Brusander. He's a very difficult character to like from a modern point of view, when he masterminds behind a prosecution of Danjel's harmless religious movement. But at this point in history, dissenting from the established Lutheran church was still against the law. And the vicar hardly is the only person in the parish, who has become suspicious of what Danjel might be up to. Furthermore, it seems like the vicar also thinks that punishing Danjel and his followers is for the best of the people. His belief is that if everybody could choose their own faith, society would be plunged into chaos. So even though the story naturally puts most of the sympathy with the dissenters, Vicar Brusander is still portrayed as this trope rather than a one-dimensional villain.
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* WellIntentionedExtremist: Vicar Brusander. He's a very difficult character to like from a modern point of view, when he masterminds behind a prosecution of Danjel's harmless religious movement. But at this point in Swedish history, dissenting from the established Lutheran church was is still against the law. And the vicar hardly is the only person in the parish, who has become suspicious of what Danjel might be up to. Furthermore, it seems like the vicar also thinks that punishing Danjel and his followers is for the best of the people. His belief is that if everybody could choose their own faith, society would be plunged into chaos. So even though the story naturally puts most of the sympathy with the dissenters, Vicar Brusander is still portrayed as this trope rather than a one-dimensional villain.
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Changed line(s) 125 (click to see context) from:
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Vicar Brusander. He's a very difficult character to like from a modern point of view, when he masterminds behind a prosecution of Danjel's harmless religious movement. But at this point in history, dissenting from the established Lutheran church was still against the law. And the vicar hardly is the only person in the parish, who has become suspicious of what Danjel might be up to. Furthermore, it seems like the vicar also believes that punishing Danjel and his followers is for the best of the people. His belief is that if everybody could choose their own faith, society would be plunged into chaos. So even though the story naturally puts most of the sympathy with the dissenters, Vicar Brusander is still portrayed as this trope rather than a one-dimensional villain with only selfish motives.
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* WellIntentionedExtremist: Vicar Brusander. He's a very difficult character to like from a modern point of view, when he masterminds behind a prosecution of Danjel's harmless religious movement. But at this point in history, dissenting from the established Lutheran church was still against the law. And the vicar hardly is the only person in the parish, who has become suspicious of what Danjel might be up to. Furthermore, it seems like the vicar also believes thinks that punishing Danjel and his followers is for the best of the people. His belief is that if everybody could choose their own faith, society would be plunged into chaos. So even though the story naturally puts most of the sympathy with the dissenters, Vicar Brusander is still portrayed as this trope rather than a one-dimensional villain with only selfish motives.villain.
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* ConvertingForLove: Ulrika converts to Baptism in order to marry Pastor Jackson.
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* ConvertingForLove: ConvertingForLove:
** Ulrika converts to Baptism in order to marry Pastor Jackson.
** Ulrika converts to Baptism in order to marry Pastor Jackson.
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* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Anna, a four-year-old girl, dies after having eaten too much porridge (following a prolonged period of near-starvation). The porridge swells inside her and ruptures parts of her digestive system. She dies in agony after a long night, and she dies believing that if only her parents would forgive her for eating the porridge the pain would go away.
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* CruelAndUnusualDeath: CruelAndUnusualDeath:
** Anna, a four-year-old girl, dies after having eaten too much porridge (following a prolonged period of near-starvation). The porridge swells inside her and ruptures parts of her digestive system. She dies in agony after a long night, and she dies believing that if only her parents would forgive her for eating the porridge the pain would go away.
** Anna, a four-year-old girl, dies after having eaten too much porridge (following a prolonged period of near-starvation). The porridge swells inside her and ruptures parts of her digestive system. She dies in agony after a long night, and she dies believing that if only her parents would forgive her for eating the porridge the pain would go away.
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* OddNameOut: Moberg originally wrote it as a trilogy but [[ExecutiveMeddling his editors]] decided the third book was too long and split it up into two. Therefore the naming pattern of the first three books is broken and we have ''The Emigrants'', ''The Immigrants'', ''The Settlers'' and ''The Last Letter to Sweden''.
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* OddNameOut: OddNameOut:
* Moberg originally wrote it as a trilogy but [[ExecutiveMeddling his editors]] decided the third book was too long and split it up into two. Therefore the naming pattern of the first three books is broken and we have ''The Emigrants'', ''The Immigrants'', ''The Settlers'' and ''The Last Letter to Sweden''.
* Moberg originally wrote it as a trilogy but [[ExecutiveMeddling his editors]] decided the third book was too long and split it up into two. Therefore the naming pattern of the first three books is broken and we have ''The Emigrants'', ''The Immigrants'', ''The Settlers'' and ''The Last Letter to Sweden''.
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* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Karl Oskar and Kristina have to bury two children - Märta's twin brother, who died only a week after birth, and Anna, their firstborn child, who died in agony after overeating porridge.
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* OutlivingOnesOffspring: OutlivingOnesOffspring:
* Karl Oskar and Kristina have to bury two children - Märta's twin brother, who died only a week after birth, and Anna, their firstborn child, who died in agony after overeating porridge.
* Karl Oskar and Kristina have to bury two children - Märta's twin brother, who died only a week after birth, and Anna, their firstborn child, who died in agony after overeating porridge.
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* Danjel and Inga Lena for a while after he believes he has become righteous. Not until she too says she's been reborn in Christ does he agree to have sex with her again.
** Also Kristina and Karl Oskar when they learn another pregnancy would kill her.
** Also Kristina and Karl Oskar when they learn another pregnancy would kill her.
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** Also Kristina and Karl Oskar when they learn another pregnancy would kill her. They go back to having sex, [[spoiler: only to have Kristina get pregnant again and die from a miscarriage]].
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* WellIntentionedExtremist: Vicar Brusander. He's a very difficult character to like from a modern point of view, when he masterminds behind a prosecution of Danjel's harmless religious movement. But at this point in history, dissenting from the established Lutheran church was still against the law. And the vicar hardly is the only person in the parish, who has become suspicious of what Danjel might be up to. Furthermore, it seems like the vicar also believes that punishing Danjel and his followers is for the best of the people. His belief is that if everybody could choose their own faith, society would be plunged into chaos. So even though the story naturally puts most of the sympathy with the dissenters, Vicar Brusander is still portrayed as this trope rather than a one-dimensional villain with only selfish motives.
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* TragicHero: Many of the characters get a tragic ending, but still, Robert is the one out of the group, who seems to ''never'' be allowed to catch any breaks during his entire life. He is the BookWorm and "dreamer" of the main cast, who never was able to fit in with all the sturdy hard-working farmers around him. And from a modern point of view, the best thing would have been to just send him to school somewhere to get an education. But alas, his family is struggling farmers in the mid-19th century. So nobody seems to even ''consider'' helping him becoming anything but a farmhand. And to add to all of the misery, his master is a nasty sadist. It is during this hard time, that Robert is introduced to his only friend Arvid. But otherwise, his life at this point is just like a nightmare. He decides to run away from his cruel master, and he plans to follow Karl Oskar to America. But not even leaving Sweden means that things become better for Robert. His romance with Elin is cut short before it even goes anywhere, and he never seems to be able to get near another girl. He sets out to find gold, but he only has to experience things like watching Arvid's painful death and losing the gold he ''did'' find. And just a short while after he's to Karl Oskar's new farm, he is found ill and dies from yellow fever. And he's only in his early 20s at his death, because he's from the "wrong" social class to be what he really is at heart: an intellectual, who could have had a career within any field of his choosing with the right education. But it was never meant to be...
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* TragicHero: Many of the characters get a tragic ending, but still, Robert is the one out of the group, who seems to ''never'' be allowed to catch any breaks during his entire life. He is the BookWorm and "dreamer" of the main cast, who never was able to fit in with all the sturdy hard-working farmers around him. And from a modern point of view, the best thing would have been to just send him to school somewhere to get an education. But alas, his family is struggling farmers in the mid-19th century. So nobody seems to even ''consider'' helping him becoming anything but a farmhand. And to add to all of the misery, his master is a nasty sadist. It is during this hard time, that Robert is introduced to his only friend Arvid. But otherwise, his life at this point is just like a nightmare. He decides to run away from his cruel master, and he plans to follow Karl Oskar to America. But not even leaving Sweden means that things become better for Robert. His romance with Elin is cut short before it even goes anywhere, and he never seems to be able to get near another girl. He sets out to find gold, but he only has to experience things like watching Arvid's painful death and losing the gold he ''did'' find. And just a short while after he's back to Karl Oskar's new farm, he is found ill and dies from yellow fever. And he's only in his early 20s at his death, because he's he was from the "wrong" social class to be what he really is was at heart: an intellectual, who could have had a career within any field of his choosing with the right education. But it was never meant to be...
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* BrilliantButLazy: Robert, who is easily the most book smart member of the emigrant group, but wants to find gold solely so he can be rich and never have to work again.
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* ChasteHero: Robert.
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* ChasteHero: Robert.Robert gets a budding romance with Elin, but it doesn't really go anywhere. And afterwards, he can't seem to get close to any other woman.
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* OddFriendship: Ulrika and Kristina both [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the fact that if they had stayed in Sweden a friendship between them would have been unthinkable. They hate each other in the first book, Kristna being a devout protestant who believes Ulrika to be a whore with whom she shouldn't socialize with whatsoever, and Ulrika feeling that Kristina is stuck-up and has a holier-than-thou attitude. During the journey a strong, unbreakable friendship forms between the two women, but Kristina knows that none of her family and friends back in Sweden would understand at all, or accept the friendship between them. This doesn't hinder their friendship in the slightest, luckily.
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* OddFriendship: OddFriendship:
** Ulrika and Kristina both [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the fact that if they had stayed in Sweden a friendship between them would have been unthinkable. They hate each other in the first book, Kristna being a devout protestant who believes Ulrika to be a whore with whom she shouldn't socialize with whatsoever, and Ulrika feeling that Kristina is stuck-up and has a holier-than-thou attitude. During the journey a strong, unbreakable friendship forms between the two women, but Kristina knows that none of her family and friends back in Sweden would understand at all, or accept the friendship between them. This doesn't hinder their friendship in the slightest, luckily.
** Ulrika and Kristina both [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the fact that if they had stayed in Sweden a friendship between them would have been unthinkable. They hate each other in the first book, Kristna being a devout protestant who believes Ulrika to be a whore with whom she shouldn't socialize with whatsoever, and Ulrika feeling that Kristina is stuck-up and has a holier-than-thou attitude. During the journey a strong, unbreakable friendship forms between the two women, but Kristina knows that none of her family and friends back in Sweden would understand at all, or accept the friendship between them. This doesn't hinder their friendship in the slightest, luckily.
** Robert is the BookWorm of the group; Arvid is hardly able to read at all. But they still are best friends.
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* SexlessMarriage: Danjel and Inga Lena for a while after he believes he has become righteous. Not until she too says she's been reborn in Christ does he agree to have sex with her again.
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* SexlessMarriage: SexlessMarriage:
* Danjel and Inga Lena for a while after he believes he has become righteous. Not until she too says she's been reborn in Christ does he agree to have sex with her again.
* Danjel and Inga Lena for a while after he believes he has become righteous. Not until she too says she's been reborn in Christ does he agree to have sex with her again.
* TragicHero: Many of the characters get a tragic ending, but still, Robert is the one out of the group, who seems to ''never'' be allowed to catch any breaks during his entire life. He is the BookWorm and "dreamer" of the main cast, who never was able to fit in with all the sturdy hard-working farmers around him. And from a modern point of view, the best thing would have been to just send him to school somewhere to get an education. But alas, his family is struggling farmers in the mid-19th century. So nobody seems to even ''consider'' helping him becoming anything but a farmhand. And to add to all of the misery, his master is a nasty sadist. It is during this hard time, that Robert is introduced to his only friend Arvid. But otherwise, his life at this point is just like a nightmare. He decides to run away from his cruel master, and he plans to follow Karl Oskar to America. But not even leaving Sweden means that things become better for Robert. His romance with Elin is cut short before it even goes anywhere, and he never seems to be able to get near another girl. He sets out to find gold, but he only has to experience things like watching Arvid's painful death and losing the gold he ''did'' find. And just a short while after he's to Karl Oskar's new farm, he is found ill and dies from yellow fever. And he's only in his early 20s at his death, because he's from the "wrong" social class to be what he really is at heart: an intellectual, who could have had a career within any field of his choosing with the right education. But it was never meant to be...
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* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Kristina points out to Karl Oskar before they move that if they emigrate they will never get to see their home parish again, nor their friends and family. In America Kristina is terribly homesick and it doesn't get better that she knows she can never return to where she feels her real home is.
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* YouCantGoHomeAgain: YouCantGoHomeAgain:
** Kristina points out to Karl Oskar before they move that if they emigrate they will never get to see their home parish again, nor their friends and family. In America Kristina is terribly homesick and it doesn't get better that she knows she can never return to where she feels her real home is.
** Kristina points out to Karl Oskar before they move that if they emigrate they will never get to see their home parish again, nor their friends and family. In America Kristina is terribly homesick and it doesn't get better that she knows she can never return to where she feels her real home is.
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* MundaneLuxury: Karl Oskar complains about the meagre amount of tools he could bring to America. Anders Månsson points out that he has three axe-heads, which makes him a wealthy man by frontier standards, and claims that many men showed up owning no tools beyond a belt knife and a half-share of an axe.
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Changed line(s) 87 (click to see context) from:
** Danjel is a born-again Christian, deeply devout and with an intellectual bent. Jonas-Petter is a rough-and-tumble type whose great delights in life are lewd jokes (the filthier the better) and whiskey. The two are thick as thieves, share a household for a long period after emigration and when Jonas-Petter finally moves out he settles as close to Danjel's plot as he can.
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** Danjel is a born-again Christian, deeply devout and with an intellectual bent. Jonas-Petter is a rough-and-tumble type whose great delights in life are lewd jokes (the filthier the better) and whiskey.chewing tobacco. The two are thick as thieves, share a household for a long period after emigration and when Jonas-Petter finally moves out he settles as close to Danjel's plot as he can.
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Changed line(s) 62 (click to see context) from:
* ForbiddenFriendship: Between Kristina and Ulrika, or rather it would have been back home in Sweden due to Ulrika being a former prostitute and Kristina an honourable women by the standards of their lutheran society. Kristina's neighbours in Minnesoa very much consider their friendship forbidden, though they don't know about the prostitution - they pay a visit and try to demand that Kristina ends her friendship with Ulrika on account of the latter having converted to baptism. Kristina... refuses, to put it mildly.
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* ForbiddenFriendship: Between Kristina and Ulrika, or rather it would have been back home in Sweden due to Ulrika being a former prostitute and Kristina an honourable women by the standards of their lutheran society. Kristina's neighbours in Minnesoa Minnesota very much consider their friendship forbidden, though they don't know about the prostitution - they pay a visit and try to demand that Kristina ends her friendship with Ulrika on account of the latter having converted to baptism. Kristina... refuses, to put it mildly.
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* OddFriendship: Ulrika and Kristina both [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the fact that if they had stayed in Sweden a friendship between them would have been unthinkable. They hate each other in the first book, Kristna being a devout protestant who believes Ulrika to be a whore with whom she shouldn't socialize with whatsoever, and Ulrika feeling that Kristina is stuck-up and has a holier-than-thou attitude. During the journey a strong, unbreakabe friendship forms between the two women, but Kristina knows that none of her family and friends back in Sweden would understand at all, or accept the friendship between them. This doesn't hinder their friendship in the slightest, luckily.
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* OddFriendship: Ulrika and Kristina both [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the fact that if they had stayed in Sweden a friendship between them would have been unthinkable. They hate each other in the first book, Kristna being a devout protestant who believes Ulrika to be a whore with whom she shouldn't socialize with whatsoever, and Ulrika feeling that Kristina is stuck-up and has a holier-than-thou attitude. During the journey a strong, unbreakabe unbreakable friendship forms between the two women, but Kristina knows that none of her family and friends back in Sweden would understand at all, or accept the friendship between them. This doesn't hinder their friendship in the slightest, luckily.luckily.
** Danjel is a born-again Christian, deeply devout and with an intellectual bent. Jonas-Petter is a rough-and-tumble type whose great delights in life are lewd jokes (the filthier the better) and whiskey. The two are thick as thieves, share a household for a long period after emigration and when Jonas-Petter finally moves out he settles as close to Danjel's plot as he can.
** Danjel is a born-again Christian, deeply devout and with an intellectual bent. Jonas-Petter is a rough-and-tumble type whose great delights in life are lewd jokes (the filthier the better) and whiskey. The two are thick as thieves, share a household for a long period after emigration and when Jonas-Petter finally moves out he settles as close to Danjel's plot as he can.
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Two film adaptations were made, one in 1971 (''The Emigrants'') and one in 1972 (''Film/TheNewLand''). The films are in Swedish, starring Creator/MaxVonSydow as Karl Oskar, Liv Ullmann as Kristina (earned her an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination), Monica Zetterlund as Ulrika and several high ranking Swedish actors in the supporting cast. The films, both directed by Jan Troell, are generally considered among the finest in Swedish film making. For tropes found in the 1971 film ''The Emigrants'', see below. For tropes found in ''The New Land'', see its work page.
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Two film adaptations were made, one in 1971 (''The Emigrants'') and one in 1972 (''Film/TheNewLand''). The films are in Swedish, starring Creator/MaxVonSydow as Karl Oskar, Liv Ullmann Creator/LivUllmann as Kristina (earned her an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination), Monica Zetterlund as Ulrika and several high ranking Swedish actors in the supporting cast. The films, both directed by Jan Troell, are generally considered among the finest in Swedish film making. For tropes found in the 1971 film ''The Emigrants'', see below. For tropes found in ''The New Land'', see its work page.
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* TheLostLenore: [[spoilerKristina]] ends up being this for [[spoiler:Karl Oskar]] in the latter half of book four.
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* TheLostLenore: [[spoilerKristina]] [[spoiler: Kristina]] ends up being this for [[spoiler:Karl Oskar]] in the latter half of book four.
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* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Subverted almost to the point of BigLippedAlligatorMoment. Kristina gives birth to fraternal twins but the boy only lives for about the week and is never brought up again, except for when Kristina at one point wonders if she's having twins again. The surviving twin, Märta, doesn't seem to be aware, or care, that she had a twin brother.
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* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Subverted almost to the point of BigLippedAlligatorMoment. Kristina gives birth to fraternal twins but the boy only lives for about the a week and is never brought up again, except for when Kristina at one point wonders if she's having twins again. The surviving twin, Märta, doesn't seem to be aware, or care, that she had a twin brother.
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* TheBigGuy: Karl Oskar is tall and sturdy, towering over most people. An aspect of his character that made it into the movie, where he is played by 1.94 meters (roughly 6 foot 5 inches) Max von Sydow.
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* BrilliantButLazy: Robert, who is easily the most book smart member of the emigrant group, but wants to find gold solely so he can be rich and never have to work again.
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* ForbiddenFriendship: Between Kristina and Ulrika, or rather it would have been back home in Sweden due to Ulrika being a former prostitute and Kristina an honourable women by the standards of their lutheran society. Kristina's neighbours in Minnesoa very much consider their friendship forbidden, though they don't know about the prostitution - they pay a visit and try to demand that Kristina ends her friendship with Ulrika on account of the latter having converted to baptism. Kristina... refuses, to put it mildly.
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** Danjel and Jonas Petter also become a version of this, essentially sharing a household for quite some time and remaining close friends and neighbours for the rest of their lives.
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* TheLostLenore: [[spoilerKristina]] ends up being this for [[spoiler:Karl Oskar]] in the latter half of book four.
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* NeverFoundTheBody: All they found of [[spoiler:Anders Månsson after he presumably drowned himself]] was a hat.
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* OddFriendship: Ulrika and Kristina both [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the fact that if they had stayed in Sweden a friendship between them would have been unthinkable. They hate each other in the first book, Kristna being a devout protestant who believes Ulrika to be a whore with whom she shouldn't socialize with whatsoever, and Ulrika feeling that Kristina is stuck-up and has a holier-than-thou attitude. During the journey a strong, unbreakabe friendship forms between the two women, but Kristina knows that none of her family and friends back in Sweden would understand at all, or accept the friendship between them. This doesn't hinder their friendship in the slightest, luckily.
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* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Karl Oskar and Kristina have to bury two children - Märta's twin brother, who died only a week after birth, and Anna, their firstborn child, who died in agony after overeating porridge.
** Ulrika bore four children in Sweden. Only Elin survived. Ulrika chooses to see it as a blessing that God brought home the other three and spared them a life in poverty and the stigma of being a whore's child.
** Danjel's baby daughter Eva dies, most likely of typhoid, on the river boat. [[spoiler:In the final novel he also has to see his sons murdered by Native Americans during the Sioux Uprising of 1862. He only outlives them by a few moments, however, as he himself is killed next.]]
** Ulrika bore four children in Sweden. Only Elin survived. Ulrika chooses to see it as a blessing that God brought home the other three and spared them a life in poverty and the stigma of being a whore's child.
** Danjel's baby daughter Eva dies, most likely of typhoid, on the river boat. [[spoiler:In the final novel he also has to see his sons murdered by Native Americans during the Sioux Uprising of 1862. He only outlives them by a few moments, however, as he himself is killed next.]]
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* PapaBear: Karl Oskar. At one point he even slaughters his highly valuable oxen in order to put his son Johan inside the carcas during a blizzard, and thereby save him from freezing to death.
* [[PartingWordsRegret Parting Actions Regret]]: The last time the Nilsson brothers are together, the elder slaps the younger quite hard across the face. He immediately begs for forgiveness, and is granted it more or less, but it's still something that haunts him for a long time after.
* [[PartingWordsRegret Parting Actions Regret]]: The last time the Nilsson brothers are together, the elder slaps the younger quite hard across the face. He immediately begs for forgiveness, and is granted it more or less, but it's still something that haunts him for a long time after.
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* SatelliteCharacter: Jonas Petter, who was AdaptedOut from the musical. Starting halfway through the second book Danjel Andreasson also becomes one.
* SelfMadeMan: Upon arriving in Minnesota Karl Oskar literally has nothing, but the things he brought in the America Chest. His family spends the first weeks living in what could only generously be called a shanty, followed by a few years in a tiny log cabin. But in time, and through hard and incassent labor, he creates a large, prosperous farm that can with ease support him, his six living children and Johan's growing family. Much of Karl Oskar's drive and motivation is that he believes in people prospering through their own labor, but back home in Sweden he never had the resources to make his farm grow and prosper, no matter how much hard work he invested into it.
* SelfMadeMan: Upon arriving in Minnesota Karl Oskar literally has nothing, but the things he brought in the America Chest. His family spends the first weeks living in what could only generously be called a shanty, followed by a few years in a tiny log cabin. But in time, and through hard and incassent labor, he creates a large, prosperous farm that can with ease support him, his six living children and Johan's growing family. Much of Karl Oskar's drive and motivation is that he believes in people prospering through their own labor, but back home in Sweden he never had the resources to make his farm grow and prosper, no matter how much hard work he invested into it.
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* ShipperOnDeck: Kristina for Ulrika and Henry.
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* TragicKeepsake: Robert keeping Arvid's watch after the latter dies.
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* TheBigGuy: Karl Oskar, played by 1.94 meters (roughly 6 foot 5 inches) Max von Sydow.
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* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Averted - hard. Early in her marriage Kristina gave birth to fraternal twins, a girl and a boy. The girl, Märta, survived but the boy did not, dying after a week of life. A few years later they lose their first-born, Anna, in a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrifying manner]]. Danjel's baby daughter Eva dies on the steamboat on the Mississippi, presumably from cholera. And out of the four children Ulrika gave birth to in Sweden only Elin survived infancy.
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* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Averted - hard.Averted. Early in her marriage Kristina gave birth to fraternal twins, a girl and a boy. The girl, Märta, survived but the boy did not, dying after a week of life. A few years later they lose their first-born, Anna, in a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrifying manner]]. Danjel's baby daughter Eva dies on the steamboat on the Mississippi, presumably from cholera. And out of the four children Ulrika gave birth to in Sweden only Elin survived infancy.
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* ExecutiveMeddling: The reason why it's a tetralogy, and not a trilogy. Moberg intended for there to be three books, his publishers felt the last one was too long and split it into two. This lead to a case of OddNameOut, see below.
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* {{Foil}}: Robert to Karl Oskar. The older brother is a very hard working, pragmatic man who values honor and honesty. The younger is a dreamer with a strong dislike of physical labor, who fantasizes about finding gold and never having to work another day in his life. He is imaginative, to the point where he often makes stories up or embellishes on events, without always giving much thought to how truthful he's being.
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* FriendshipMoment: Kristina going absolutely livid at her neighbours when they try to talk her into cutting Ulrika out of her life. The neighbours tell her, among other things, to never let Ulrika into her house again, and when Kristina a few months later gives birth to a daughter she names her Ulrika - thereby showing them that there will always be an Ulrika in her house and family.
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** Karl Oskar and Kristina's youngest child is given an American name - Frank. His siblings all have Swedish names, though as they grow older the English speaking people in the community begin to call some of them by more Americanized versions of their names. Johan becomes John, Märta becomes Mary (why she isn't called Martha is anyone's guess), Danjel is soon shortened to Dan...
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* BittersweetEnding: Karl Oskar and Kristina's settlement has grown into a prosperous farm, and their children have grown into healthy, happy adults, enjoying opportunities they most likely would not have in Sweden. The Nilsson family, together with their fellow Ljuder emigrants, have helped turned the wildland they settled in into a community. And Ulrika from Västergöhl found love, happiness and above all respect in their new homeland. But [[spoiler:Danjel and his sons, along with many others, were brutally killed during the Indian uprising, none of the emigrants ever got to see the family they left behind, Arvid died a horrible death on the California trail and Robert died in his early twenties, having found gold but been swindled, and the last time he and his brother were together Karl Oskar hit him. As for Karl Oskar himself, he lost his beloved Kristina some thirty years before his own death and never got over the loss.]]
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* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Averted - hard. Early in her marriage Kristina gave birth to fraternal twins, a girl and a boy. The girl, Märta, survived but the boy did not, dying after a week of life. A few years later they lose their first-born, Anna, in a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrifying manner]]. Danjel's baby daughter Eva dies on the steamboat on the Mississippi, presumably from cholera. And out of the four children Ulrika gave birth to in Sweden only Elin survived infancy.
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* UndignifiedDeath: [[spoiler:Fina Kajsa]] dies out in the potato field, and when Karl Oskar finds [[spoiler:her]] it's suggested that the body has been lying there for some time.
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* DeathByAdaptation: Fina Kajsa's husband and son are both dead in the musical, whereas in the novel her husband dies on the journey across the Atlantic, and her son dies more than a decade after the group arrive in Minnesota.
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* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Scurvy would not make a person bleed out of every orifice until they die of exsanguination.
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* DrivenToSuicide: Implied with [[spoiler:Anders Månsson]].
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* ExecutiveMeddling: The reason why it's a tetralogy, and not a trilogy. Moberg intended for there to be three books, his publishers felt the last one was too long and split it into two. This lead to a case of OddNameOut, see below.
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* ShownTheirWork: Moberg spent a lot of time researching the places where his emigrants would travel and eventually settle. It definitely shows in the text.
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* CharacterDeath: Given that the books have LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, and it's set in a gritty time period where there were numerous threats to one's life, there are quite a few people dead in each book. Characters whose deaths are portrayed include [[spoiler:Kristina, Robert, Inga-Lena, Danjel, his two grown sons, his infant daughter, Arvid, young Anna, and finally Karl Oskar]].
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* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Anna, a four-year-old girl, dies after having eaten too much porridge (following a prolonged period of near-starvation). The porridge swells inside her and ruptures parts of her digestive system. She dies in agony after a long night, and she dies believing that if only her parents would forgive her for eating the porridge the pain would go away.
** [[spoiler:Arvid on the California Trail]]. Lost in the desert he drinks poisonous water and, much like Anna, is put through hours of agony as the poison slowly takes him.
** [[spoiler:Arvid on the California Trail]]. Lost in the desert he drinks poisonous water and, much like Anna, is put through hours of agony as the poison slowly takes him.
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* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Subverted. Kristina, Karl Oskar and Robert are all played by very attractive people but Robert is often covered in dirt, and the hard lives they lead leave distinct marks upon them. When Kristina [[spoiler:is on her death bed]] she is still in her thirties, but looks closer to fifty. Karl Oskar looks quite worn and torn, as well.
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* CaliforniaDoubling. Somewhat ironically, nearly all scenes taking place in America were filmed in Sweden.
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* CaliforniaDoubling. Somewhat ironically, nearly all scenes taking place in America were filmed in Sweden.
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* ShownTheirWork: A surprising amount of the original song lyrics feature direct, or very nearly so, quotes from Moberg's text. Things have been moved around here and there, but if you know the songs of the musical by heart you'll recognize a fair amount when you then read the books in their original language. Björn Ulvaeus truly outdid himself.
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* StarMakingRole: For Helen Sjöholm as Kristina - she's had a long and successful career in Sweden as one of the country's most beloved singers and musical actresses, and is also so iconic in the role of Kristina that she was the only original cast member to appear in the English language concert version.
** Most of all, though, for Peter Jöback, who played Robert. He wasn't entirely unknown before, having among other thing voiced the titular character in the Swedish dub of Disney's "''Aladdin''", but the role of Robert, and the massive hit song "''Gold Can Turn To Sand''", turned him into a superstar in his native Sweden, and launched a successful career as a musical actor abroad. He's appeared as Chris in "''Miss Saigon''" (winning the role after auditioning with the aforementioned song ''in Swedish''), originated to role of Michael in "''the Witches of Eastwick''", and has played the titular "''Phantom of the Opera''" in London, New York and Sweden (being asked by Andrew Llyod Webber himself to play the role).
** Most of all, though, for Peter Jöback, who played Robert. He wasn't entirely unknown before, having among other thing voiced the titular character in the Swedish dub of Disney's "''Aladdin''", but the role of Robert, and the massive hit song "''Gold Can Turn To Sand''", turned him into a superstar in his native Sweden, and launched a successful career as a musical actor abroad. He's appeared as Chris in "''Miss Saigon''" (winning the role after auditioning with the aforementioned song ''in Swedish''), originated to role of Michael in "''the Witches of Eastwick''", and has played the titular "''Phantom of the Opera''" in London, New York and Sweden (being asked by Andrew Llyod Webber himself to play the role).
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* StarMakingRole: For Helen Sjöholm as Kristina - she's had a long and successful career in Sweden as one of the country's most beloved singers and musical actresses, and is also so iconic in the role of Kristina that she was the only original cast member to appear in the English language concert version.
** Most of all, though, for Peter Jöback, who played Robert. He wasn't entirely unknown before, having among other thing voiced the titular character in the Swedish dub of Disney's "''Aladdin''", but the role of Robert, and the massive hit song "''Gold Can Turn To Sand''", turned him into a superstar in his native Sweden, and launched a successful career as a musical actor abroad. He's appeared as Chris in "''Miss Saigon''" (winning the role after auditioning with the aforementioned song ''in Swedish''), originated to role of Michael in "''the Witches of Eastwick''", and has played the titular "''Phantom of the Opera''" in London, New York and Sweden (being asked by Andrew Llyod Webber himself to play the role).
** Most of all, though, for Peter Jöback, who played Robert. He wasn't entirely unknown before, having among other thing voiced the titular character in the Swedish dub of Disney's "''Aladdin''", but the role of Robert, and the massive hit song "''Gold Can Turn To Sand''", turned him into a superstar in his native Sweden, and launched a successful career as a musical actor abroad. He's appeared as Chris in "''Miss Saigon''" (winning the role after auditioning with the aforementioned song ''in Swedish''), originated to role of Michael in "''the Witches of Eastwick''", and has played the titular "''Phantom of the Opera''" in London, New York and Sweden (being asked by Andrew Llyod Webber himself to play the role).
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* CarcassSleepingBag: When Karl-Oskar and his son Johan are caught out in the open as a blizzard hits, the boy eventually collapses. Karl-Oskar saves Johan's life by slicing open the oxen that was pulling their cart and stuffing Johan inside while he goes to get help.
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* IncurableCoughOfDeath: What Robert's illness seems like when he returns to the Nilsson settlement. [[spoiler:He is said to have died of Yellow Fever.]]
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* MoralGuardians: Karl Oskar and Kristina's new neighbors, who are deeply troubled by Kristina's close friendship to Ulrika, a woman who left the Swedish Lutheran Church and converted to Baptism.
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* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Subverted almost to the point of BigLippedAlligatorMoment. Kristina gives birth to fraternal twins but the boy only lives for about the week and is never brought up again, except for when Kristina at one point wonders if she's having twins again. The surviving twin, Märta, doesn't seem to be aware, or care, that she had a twin brother.
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* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Subverted almost to the point of BigLippedAlligatorMoment. Kristina gives birth to fraternal twins but the boy only lives for about the week and is never brought up again, except for when Kristina at one point wonders if she's having twins again. The surviving twin, Märta, doesn't seem to be aware, or care, that she had a twin brother.
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* AdaptedOut: Jonas Petter is absent in the musical. As are Fina Kajsa's husband and son, but they are minor characters.
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* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: The characters are from Småland in Sweden, an area with several distinctive accents. Director Jan Troell left it up to the actors to decide if they wanted to use accent or not. Some did and some didn't.
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* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: The characters are from Småland in Sweden, an area with several distinctive accents. Director Jan Troell left it up to the actors to decide if they wanted to use accent or not. Some did and some didn't. Liv Ullman makes a good attempt, but her natural Norwegian shines through on occasion.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: For some international audiences, the scenes taking place during Swedish summer nights, such as Arvid and Robert wrestling over the axe, seem like a case of SpecialEffectFailure due the lighting seeming like its dusk. However, summer nights in Sweden are very bright, and even though Småland is far south of the midnight sun there's only a few short hours of actual darkness. The rest of the night is more a prolonged dusk/dawn.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: For some international audiences, the scenes taking place during Swedish summer nights, such as Arvid and Robert wrestling over the axe, seem like a case of SpecialEffectFailure due the lighting seeming like its dusk. However, summer nights in Sweden are very bright, and even though Småland is far south of the midnight sun there's only a few short hours of actual darkness. The rest of the night is more a prolonged dusk/dawn.
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[[quoteright:234:[[Literature/TheEmigrants http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theemigrants.jpg]]]]
