Out of Africa Characters

Meet the Cast

Baroness Tania "Jerie" Blixen

What's in a Name?She's the narrator, protagonist, farm-owner and all-around Main Character in Out of Africa. That's not to say that she's self-centered; it's a memoir, which means that it's the wri...

Denys Finch-Hatton

The Most Interesting Man in the WorldAdventurer and friend, Finch-Hatton serves the purpose of marking the narrator's time in Africa. Well, he probably served more of a purpose in real life, wink-w...

Farah Aden

Ask JeevesFarah is, literally, the Baroness' right-hand man. No, really; when she has to preside over the Kyama he's there: Farah took up his stand on my right hand, and therefrom kept a watchful e...

Chief Kinanjui

The ruler of the Kikuyu, Chief Kinanjui is an imposing figure whose reign roughly corresponds to the Baroness' stay in Africa. One of the first times they meet she isn't in the mood to talk to him...

Kamante

Kamante is a sick little boy when we meet him, but he grows up to be a gourmet chef. The narrator is surprised to see him at first; he …must have lived on the farm for some years before I ever me...

Old Knudsen

Old Knudsen is an old (bet you figured that out from his name) Danish grouch who comes to die on the farm. He makes a few improvements, like building a pond, but mostly gets the Baroness wrapped up...

Berkeley Cole

Berkeley Cole is about 180 degrees from Old Knudsen; he's a fancy-pants English aristocrat who, as he puts it, has come to the stage "when I can only drive in the very best of cars, only smoke the...

Emmanuelson

Emmanuelson is a Swedish fugitive who stops over, borrows some cash, and shares some fine wine on his way out of town. He is a curious fellow—we never find out why he's running from the law—who...

Squatters

The squatters are described by the Baroness as sort of a clump; it's hard to pick any one out of the crowd and differentiate him or her from the rest, even though our dear narrator claims that she...

Employees and Their Families

Pooran Singh, the sweetiepie blacksmith, is especially notable for being sad that the farm is closing down and asking the Baroness for a ring as a parting gift. We can't forget about Esa, the cook...