The Emigrants

For where you go I go with you.

A novel suite by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg, considered among the finest pieces of Swedish litterature. The books have been translated into more than twenty languages, including English. The series consists of four books:

  • The Emigrants
  • The Immigrants
  • The Settlers
  • The Last Letter Home

The suite tells the story of a group of people who became the first in their parish to move from Sweden to America during the mid-19th century. They emigrate for a variety of reasons, some to find gold and become rich, some to avoid religeous persecution, some to get away from stigmas that follow them in their home parish. But the main focus in the books lies on a family that emigrates to escape poverty.

Karl Oskar and Kristina are a young married couple with an ever growing family who cannot make do on what little farm land they own. Their debt keeps growing, their crops keep failing and their situation keeps getting more desperate. Karl Oskar is very eager to move to America where they can farm as much land as they want and prosper from their hard work but Kristina doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to subject their children to the risks involved, pointing out that they don't know for sure what will happen in America or if they will even get any farm land there. She also reminds him that if they move they leave behind everything and everyone and will never get to see their parents, siblings and friends again. But when their oldest child dies from starvation Kristina agrees to move. Coming with them is Karl Oskar's brother Robert, his friend Arvid, Kristina's uncle Danjel and his family, the former town whore Ulrika and her daughter Elin, and Karl Oskar and Kristina's neighbour Jonas Petter.

The four books chronicle the group's journey across the Atlantic, their travels across America until they find a place they can settle down and how they build a new community in the New Land. The large cast of characters allows Moberg to explore several different versions of the dream of the New Land, such as Robert's pursuit of gold, but the heart and focus of the story stays with Karl Oskar and Kristina. Karl Oskar loves his new home and all the opportunities it brings, the perfect example of a happy immigrant. Kristina on the other hand never grows to like America and spends her life longing back to Sweden, the perfect example of an unhappy immigrant.

The series has a lot of gut-wrenching moments, having many tragedies befall the various characters. It gives an honest portrayal of life in the mid-19th century and lets you get to know the characters really well. It is also very funny at times, with some witty dialogue and a character who loves to tell dirty stories. And the love story between Karl Oskar and Kristina is one of the simplest yet most captivating ones ever put on paper.

Two films were made, one in 1971 (The Emigrants) and one in 1972 (Unto a Good Land). The films are in Swedish, starring Max von Sydow as Karl Oskar, Liv Ullman as Kristina (earned her an Academy Award nomination), Monica Zetterlund as Ulrika and several high ranking Swedish actors in the supporting cast. The films are generally considered among the finest in Swedish film making.

In 1995 a stage musical based on the books premiered, titled Kristina från Duvemåla (the English translation is simply known as Kristina), written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA. The show became a huge success and made stars out of Helen Sjöholm (Kristina) and Peter Jöback (Robert), the former so beloved in the role that she was the only Swedish cast member in the concert version of the English translation (reprising her role as Kristina). The English translation premiered in concert in 2009, getting mixed reviews both from fans of the original and from reviewers who had never seen the show before.

Tropes used in The Emigrants include:

The books provide examples of:

  • Adult Fear: Kristina and Karl Oskar lose one child to starvation and almost lose another when she walks off in a crowd. They also come close to losing a son in a snowstorm.
  • An Immigrant's Tale
  • Bolt of Divine Retribution
  • Break the Cutie: Kristina.
  • But You Screw One Goat!: Arvid is plagued by false rumors that he had sex with a cow and this why he chooses to emigrate.
  • Can't Have Sex Ever: Karl Oskar and Kristina in the fourth book. They learn from the doctor that she will not survive another birth or miscarriage and have no reliable means of birth control other than not having sex at all.
  • Chaste Hero: Robert.
  • Converting for Love: Ulrika converts to Baptism in order to marry Pastor Jackson.
    • 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.
  • Daddy's Girl: Anna.
  • Death by Childbirth: Kristina. Though it's a miscarriage that kills her, not a birth.
  • Determinator: Ulrika. She's determined to get a better life for herself and determined not to let her daughter suffer because Ulrika used to be a prostitute.
    • Robert in his quest for gold.
    • Danjel with his faith.
  • Determined Homesteader: Karl Oskar and, to a degree, Danjel.
  • Determined Homesteader's Children: Karl Oskar and Kristina have eight of them.
  • Dream Sequence: What happened to Arvid and Robert on the California trail is told through Robert's dreams.
  • Dying Alone: Robert dies all alone.
    • As does Fina Kajsa whom Karl Oskar finds dead in a potato field. Following this her son Anders apparently drowned himself.
  • Ear Ache: Robert suffers from chronic pain in his ear after being hit by his master in Sweden.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Arvid is called the Bull at Nybacken after rumors spread that he's had sex with a cow.
  • Epilogue Letter: The story ends with the last letter home, written by a friend of the family to inform the relatives in Sweden about the death of Karl Oskar.
  • Fourth Date Marriage: Karl Oskar and Kristina. They only meet a few times over the course of about two years before he proposes to her.
  • Funetik Aksent: Used heavily. Especially when characters begin to mix English with their Swedish.
  • Give Me a Sign: Having gone through seven pregnancies Kristina does not feel she can handle an eighth. She prays to God to spare her and when she realizes she's with child again she begins to doubt that God really exists. She prays to God to give her a sign of his existence and when she miscarries and nearly dies in the process she takes it as Him giving her a sign as well as chastising her. The sequence when she prays to God to exist became a Crowning Music of Awesome in the musical.
  • Gold Fever: Robert gets a dose of this.
  • Good Parents: Karl Oskar and Kristina.
    • Ulrika.
  • Good Shepherd: Pastor Jackson.
  • Grave Marking Scene: Karl Oskar frequently visits Kristina's grave.
  • Happily Married: Many of the couples in the books (though far from all), but Karl Oskar and Kristina especially.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Robert and Arvid.
  • Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Ulrika from Västergöhl. Kristina hates her at first for being a dirty prostitute who went off the straight and narrow but during their journey across America she begins to see the kindness and warmth in Ulrika. The two end up becoming best friends.
  • How Do You Like Them Apples?: Kristina's astrakan apple tree carries great significance.
  • The Migration
  • The Modest Orgasm: While Kristina very much enjoys her sex life she doesn't feel it's proper to let Karl Oskar know just how much.
  • No Pregger Sex: Surprisingly averted. Kristina is pregnant with her fifth child when they emigrate and she laments being surrounded by other people at all times during her pregnancy since this is usually the only time she can relax and fully enjoy sex (not having to worry about getting pregnant when she already is pregnant).
  • Odd Name Out: Moberg originally wrote it as a trilogy but 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.
  • Orphan's Ordeal: Ulrika was orphaned at four and sold at an auction.
  • Overcome Their Differences: Kristina and Ulrika. When they leave Sweden they are bitter enemies. By the time they settle down in Minnesota they have overcome their differences and become best friends.
  • The Pioneer: Karl Oskar.
  • The Promised Land
  • Running Gag: Jonas Petter loves to tell stories, the dirtier the better, but there is one he never seems to get to tell. A story about a farmer who paid a soldier to produce an heir for him. He starts telling the story countless time over several years and doesn't get to actually tell it until the later half of the last book.
  • Sexless Marriage: 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.
  • Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter!: Karl Oskar is angry over how the drought is ruining their crops when the previous year too much rain ruined them. He takes a handful of hay and throws it to the sky, telling God to take it all while he's at it. Then thunder strikes their barn and what little they had been able to harvest is lost.
  • Survivor Guilt: Robert following the death of Arvid on the California trail.
  • Swing Low, Sweet Harriet: Kristina loves to sit on her swing. She and Karl Oskar first met while she was recuperating after having fallen off her swing and hurt her knee.
  • Thirsty Desert: Arvid and Robert experience this.
  • Unwanted Spouse: Brita-Stafva, Jonas Petter's wife. To the point where the only reason he emigrates is to get away from her.
  • Wound That Will Not Heal: The boxing Robert takes to the ear ends up paining him for the rest of his life.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: 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.

The Movies provide examples of:

  • Determined Homesteader's Children: 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.
  • Dream Sequence: How we find out what happened to Robert and Arvid on the California Trail.
  • Ear Ache: Robert suffers from chronic pain in his ear and tinnitus, having been boxed over the ear by his master at Nybacken.
  • Epilogue Letter
  • Fake Nationality: Liv Ullman is Norwegian.
  • Hair of Gold: Kristina.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Robert and Arvid.
  • How Do You Like Them Apples?: The apples from Kristina's apple tree. Towards the end of the movie the apples are finally ripe and Karl Oskar picks the first one for her when she lays dying. She holds the apple, takes a small bite and cries that she is home. Before she can swallow she dies, the apple falling from her hand.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: The characters are from Småland in Sweden, an aera with a distinctive accent. Director Jan Troell left it up to the actors to decide if they wanted to use that accent or not. Some did and some didn't.
  • Playing Against Type: Hasse Alfredsson, one of Sweden's most beloved comedians, played Jonas Petter. While Jonas Petter delivers some comic relief from time to time for the most part it is a dramatic role far from the comedy Alfredsson is normally associated with.
  • Real Life Relative: Ulrika and her daughter Elin are played by real life mother and daughter Monica and Eva-Lena Zetterlund.
    • Märta, Karl Oskar and Kristina's second daughter, is played by Liv Ullman's daughter Linn.
  • Scenery Porn
  • Screaming Birth: The birth of Karl Oskar and Kristina's son Danjel is shown on-screen and is a screaming one.


The Musical provides examples of:

  • ABBA: Written by Björn and Benny.
  • Bilingual Bonus: The songs A Sunday in Battery Park and To Think That Men Like Him Can Exist in the Swedish.
  • BSOD Song: You Have To Be There.
  • Character Title: The musical puts its main focus on Kristina.
  • Dark Reprise: The reprise of Down to the Sea.
  • Death by Childbirth: How it ends. Except it's a miscarriage not a birth.
  • Death Song: Robert gets one, as does Kristina.
  • Determinator: Ulrika in her song Never.
  • Epic Song: You Have To Be There. Written at the last minute when Benny Andersson felt they needed one more song and it became one of the two biggest hits from the show. It's the song Kristina sings when she begins to doubt that God even exists, having spent her entire life relying on God to pull her through. The most poignant line from the original, "You must exist, you must, so how can you then abandon me?" sadly does not make it to the English version. The song does an amazing job of describing what faith means to those who believe, especially considering that Björn Ulvaeus who wrote the lyrics is an atheist.
  • Grief Song: Gold Can Turn To Sand.
  • How Do You Like Them Apples?: Kristina's astrakan apple tree (called "summer rose" in the English version). She even sings a song about it.
  • Irrelevant Act Opener: Overlords, or Emperors and Kings as it's called in the English translation.
  • "I Want" Song: Down to the Sea.
  • Lost in Translation: Unfortunately, most of the beauty and magic of the Swedish original.
  • Meaningful Name: Kristina from Duvemåla. Kristina was born on Duvemåla farm so the title can refer to where she was originally from. Karl Oskar names their home in America New Duvemåla to make her feel more at home, so it can also refer to where she ended up living. Either way it's an interesting choice of title since the book mostly talks about Korpamoen, Karl Oskar's home farm where they live when they get married. Their new home is rarely mentioned by name.
  • Narm: Most of the English lyrics.
  • Overcome Their Differences: Kristina and Ulrika have a song about it.
  • Swing Low, Sweet Harriet: Opens with Kristina on her swing. When the show ends her swing is lowered down on stage while Karl Oskar cries over her dead body.
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