History Literature / TheEmigrants

* 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. In the 2021 movie he is portrayed by Gustaf Skarsgård who is almost the exact same height, 1.93 meters. The role on stage was originate by Anders Ekborg, who is shorter at 1.76 m (roughtly 5 feet 3 inches).

2021 is seeing a remake film coming out (in Swedish, like the original), starring [[Creator/GustafSkarsgard Gustaf Skarsgård]] as Karl Oskar. It has the under-title "''the Last Letter to Sweden''", like the title of the fourth book, and appears to be covering all four books in one film. Most fans of the original film appear happy with the choice of Skarsgård as Karl Oskar, even though comparison to von Sydow will be inevitable.

2021 is seeing a remake film coming out (in Swedish, like the original), starring [[GustafSkarsgard Gustaf Skarsgård]] as Karl Oskar. It has the under-title "''the Last Letter to Sweden''", like the title of the fourth book, and appears to be covering all four books in one film. Most fans of the original film appear happy with the choice of Skarsgård as Karl Oskar, even though comparison to von Sydow will be inevitable.

2021 is seeing a remake film coming out (in Swedish, like the original), starring Gustaf Skarsgård as Karl Oskar.

* 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.

* CovertPervert: Due to the morals of the time, Kristina won't be open about how much she enjoys sex with Karl Oskar (as it was thought women weren't supposed to enjoy sex, else they were harlots), but she frequently admits she does enjoy it very much in her thoughts.
* CrisisOfFaith: The devoted Kristina begins to doubt God's existence when it seems like he has not heard her prayer where she asked him not to bless her with child again. She becomes faithful again when she has a miscarriage, interpreting it as God's punishment.

** Robert in his quest for gold.
** Danjel with his faith.

* FourthDateMarriage: Karl Oskar and Kristina. They only meet a few times over the course of about two years before he proposes to her.

* GoodParents: Karl Oskar and Kristina.

** 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.]]

!!The 1971 film ''The Emigrants'' provide examples of:

2021 is seeing a remake coming out (in Swedish, like the original), starring Gustaf Skarsgård as Karl Oskar.

* DrivenToSuicide: Implied with [[spoiler:Anders Månsson]].
* DyingAlone: [[spoiler:Robert]] dies all alone.
** As does [[spoiler:Fina Kajsa]] whom Karl Oskar finds dead in a potato field. Following this [[spoiler:her son Anders]] apparently drowned himself.

* {{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.

* BestialityIsDepraved: Arvid is plagued by false rumors that he had sex with a cow and this why he chooses to emigrate.

** Arguably Inga-Lena. When Danjel believes himself to be enlightened and righteous he tells his wife they cannot have sex anymore since they are not married in the eyes of God when she is not enlightened. Eventually she basically pretends to have been "enlightened" also and to share his beliefs and they once again live as husband and wife.

* DeterminedHomesteadersChildren: Seven out of eight children Karl Oskar and Kristina have appear in the film. The child that doesn't appear was Märta's twin brother who died shortly after birth and whose name was never stated in the books.

* FakeNationality: Kristina is played by Norwegian actress Liv Ullman, who was very nervous concerning how the Swedish audience would react to a foreigner playing such an iconic character who embodies ''Sweden''. Turns out people liked her just fine in the role.

[[quoteright:234:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theemigrants.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:234:[[Literature/TheEmigrants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theemigrants.jpg]]]]

* 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''.

* 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.

* [[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.

* 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.

* AnImmigrantsTale

* DaddysGirl: Anna.

* BrilliantButLazy: Robert is seen as this by some: he is the TheSmartGuy of the main cast, but he also wants to avoid work. And even his search for gold is an attempt at becoming rich quickly, so he won't have to work again. The truth is though that being a BookWorm and not some sturdy farmer as Karl Oskar, Robert is merely trying to avoid any ''physical'' work. If he only had been allowed to continue his schooling and get an education, he would have excelled within that environment. But alas, his family is poor struggling farmers. So nobody seems to even see that as an option for him.