is unable to read well or write. Isak is a pioneer of the land, starting a farm and family from virtually nothing, a trait which Hamsun admired in individuals. There are several moments when Hamsun reveals Isak's crude and violent side, such as when he slams his wife Inger to the floor when he sees her flirting with a telegraph worker. Isak is admired by many, his farm is very developed compared to his neighbors. He has many sheds, fancy tools such as gift from Geissler and a mining operator, good land, an advanced irrigation system, and more things which gains him the admiration of many. Inger Inger is Isak's wife. She is described as being "a big, brown-eyed girl, full built and coarse, with good, heavy hands, and rough hide brogues on her feet as if she had been a Lapp..." She also had a harelip. She is the mother of two boys, Eleseus and Sivert; two girls, Leopoldine and Rebecca; and a fifth child, whom she killed because it was born with a harelip. She wanted to spare the child the kind of suffering she knew this defect would bring. People soon realized that something had happened to her pregnancy, and the body of the child was discovered buried in the forest. Inger was sentenced to eight years in prison out of a maximum sentence of life. Prison was a positive experience for her. She learned how to knit, do various types of needlework, read, write, and other things. In addition, Iger's harelip was surgically repaired when she was in prison. Hamsun described Inger as being quite ugly, unrefined, and unintelligent. She is always amazed at everything which Isak does. Whenever he purchases something at the village, Inger marvels at it. After her time at the prison though, she had experience some modernity and no longer was as awed by the things which Isak did. Isak's children Isak had four children: Eleseus, Sivert, Leopoldine, and Rebecca. There was also one child that was killed just after birth by Inger. The eldest child is a boy named Eleseus. He represents the intellectual of the family. Eleseus was offered a job in the village by a man where he learned many academic skills which are foreign to the rest of his family. His parents frequently sent him money which he would spend frivolously thus angering them. Upon returning home for