The Birchbark House

“Nokomis” means “grandma” in the Anishinabe language. Nokomis is the grandmother of Omakayas and her siblings and the mother of Yellow Kettle. She is an old woman with a “beautiful” and “softly lined” face (7). Nokomis is deeply nurturing, and she provides spiritual and cultural leadership to her family. She is also a storyteller, and she most often tells adisokaan stories, educational tales reserved for the wintertime. She always has tobacco with her, which she uses as an offering to the spirits, and smokes her pipe while discussing important matters.

Nokomis is a particularly valuable resource for Omakayas because like Omakayas, Nokomis is a healer with a special connection to the spirits. When Omakayas dreams of the bear-spirit woman, Nokomis responds by smoothing Omakayas’s hair to each side and gazing lovingly into her granddaughter’s face. Nokomis repeats this action when Omakayas tells her about acquiring the bears’ medicine, and this act creates an atmosphere of trust and affection for Omakayas. Without the support of Nokomis, Omakayas would not be able to navigate the development of her spiritual powers.

“Mama” is the name that the narrator most often uses for Omakayas’s mother, but her actual name is Yellow Kettle. She is “quick-tempered but always laughing” (9), beautiful, and strong, with a smile that is “generous, enigmatic, slightly crooked, and kind” (9-10). Mama “missed nothing when it came to her children” (10) and uses her observant nature to show generosity and nurturing toward both her children and husband. Mama only loses her temper when Pinch blames Andeg for eating the family’s berries. She throws a stick at the bird but quickly admits her error and helps Omakayas to retrieve Andeg. The bird never entirely trusts her again. After Neewo’s death from smallpox, Mama visits his grave constantly. Her grief leaves her “dull and angry with sorrow” (159), and she is unable to help Omakayas through her own grief. Mama continues to provide for her family, and like Omakayas, she begins to recover her spirits in the spring.

Old Tallow is a woman who lives on her own near town. She is tall, “powerful,” and “lean” (19) and is always speaking in growls. Old Tallow is an excellent hunter and goes everywhere accompanied by her pack of vicious dogs. Old Tallow is close friends with Mama and Nokomis, often visiting the family’s home and bringing them gifts of game and hides. Though Old Tallow is known to “heap disdain” (20) on other children, she treats Omakayas with fondness. Omakayas has a hard time trusting the old woman, but she realizes that Old Tallow looks at her with “true affection” (115) and would do anything for her.

Old Tallow often acts selflessly toward Omakayas and her family. When Old Tallow’s beloved yellow dog attacks the girl, Tallow doesn’t hesitate to kill the dog. When the family is in the grip of smallpox, Old Tallow spends a day with them, tending their fire, preparing food, and letting Omakayas and Nokomis rest. Omakayas often resists Old Tallow’s kindness, such as when the old woman encourages the grieving Omakayas to go outside. Even though Omakayas attempts to resist hearing Old Tallow’s story, the woman eventually reveals that she saved Omakayas as a baby from Spirit Island, and Omakayas finally learns to trust and listen to the old woman.

Pinch is Omakayas’s younger brother and is around five years old. At first, he is called Little Pinch, but as he grows, the family starts to call him Big Pinch, although he is most often referred to as just Pinch. He is “greedy,” “loud,” “mischievous,” and “bold” (11), and Omakayas doesn’t like him. Pinch is lazy and inclined to lie. When he eats the berries he was supposed to protect, he blames Andeg for eating them and gets the bird in trouble.

After the smallpox outbreak, Pinch begins to develop better qualities. When he accidentally lights his pants on fire, he learns that he can help “save [his family’s] souls” (185) with the gift of laughter. After this, he becomes more of a joker. When his mischief causes him to burn his feet, Pinch shows trust and gratitude to Omakayas as she treats him. Later, when Andeg returns, the bird perches on the calm Pinch instead of the frantic Omakayas, and Pinch kindly hands Andeg over. These moments show that the high-spirited Pinch is slowly learning empathy and kindness.

“Deydey” is what Omakayas and her siblings call their father. A half-white fur trader who must travel often, Deydey is intelligent and “shrewd” (51) as well as tall and handsome. Deydey has a keen sense of humor, but he can be stern and intimidating: “At any moment, Deydey’s mood could change to barbed annoyance” (52). Deydey is part-white and exhibits a few traits that set him apart from other Anishinabeg. He excels at the “chimookoman [white man’s] game” (163) of chess, and he builds a winter cabin in the chimookoman style. However, “he was raised and considered himself Ojibwa” (79). While strict, Deydey is still kind and generous. He praises his children when they excel in their duties, and he buys gifts for his family whenever he has the means. When Deydey begins to fall ill with smallpox, he conceals the illness from Omakayas and instead works himself to exhaustion to ensure that there is enough wood and food stockpiled before he becomes too sick to provide for the family.

Angeline is Omakayas’s older sister. She is renowned for her beauty. The two girls have a complicated relationship. Sometimes they play and conspire together, such as when they eavesdrop on a conversation between Fishtail, LaPautre, and Deydey, and sometimes they are at odds, such as when Angeline catches Omakayas trying to sneak out of her hide-scraping duties. Omakayas often envies her sister, and she occasionally acts out of a desire to make Angeline jealous. Although Angeline occasionally ridicules Omakayas, which wounds her sister, she does love Omakayas and often treats her younger sister with kindness. Angeline loses her beauty when smallpox scars her face and the grief of the loss of Neewo and Ten Snow twists her features. Fixated on her new marred reflection, Angeline eventually breaks her mirror and begins attending school to learn to read.

Neewo is Omakayas’s baby brother. He is under two years old and described as“so sweet that Omakayas often pretended that he was her very own baby” (11). Omakayas dotes on Neewo, and the two of them become particularly close after Omakayas frees him from his swaddling and lets him play. The community members who dream names have not yet found a name for the baby, and “Neewo” simply indicates that he’s the fourth child in his family. Neewo catches smallpox in the winter outbreak, and despite Omakayas’s care, he dies in her arms.

Andeg is Omakayas’s pet crow, and a character unto himself. He joins the family when Omakayas and Angeline use a fishing net to trap crows to feed their family. Andeg is injured, and Omakayas rescues him. Andeg becomes a valued member of the family, chasing mice from the winter cabin and even leading the family to a squirrel’s food cache as they face starvation. Andeg behaves tenderly toward Omakayas, tucking her hair behind her ear, and he even tries to build a nest with her. He flies off with some crows in the springtime, presumably to mate, and Omakayas mourns the loss of her friend, who later returns.

Fishtail is Deydey’s friend and Ten Snow’s husband. He is “tall and handsome” (75) and takes great pride in the symbol of his Anishinabe heritage, his pipe. Fishtail is deeply suspicious of the white settlers, and he learns to read so that the chimookoman “can’t cheat [them] with the treaties” (112). Fishtail doesn’t show a great deal of emotion, but the depth of his grief after Ten Snow’s death is apparent when he attempts suicide. Angeline and the rest of the family show kindness to Fishtail after this, even though his grief persists.

Albert LaPautre is a friend of Deydey and Fishtail. Like Deydey, he is part-white. A comical figure, LaPautre is rotund and has a goofy smile. He is “known for recounting visions and dreams that had very little meaning, though they seemed to affect him hugely” (77), and Deydey delights in teasing the oblivious LaPautre about his visions. LaPautre is not a very good friend since he avoids having to help build the birchbark house, and he admits trying to steal a trap from Old Tallow. Despite this, he brings the family much entertainment.