Character Analysis
Hans Olsa is the (mostly) gentle giant of the Norwegian settlers in this book. He also has the calmest and most intimate connection with the American landscape, as we read early on:
His eyes had wandered so often now over the stretch of land lying before them, that they were familiar with every tussock and hollow… (1.2.1.2)
The reason Olsa knows the land so well is because he doesn't treat it as a thing to be possessed in the same way his buddies Per Hansa and Tönseten do. Rather, Olsa tends to take life as it comes and to work hard for its own sake, not to get ahead of his neighbors.
Even though he's calm and gentle, Hans Olsa is not a man you want to mess with. As the invading Irish settlers find out,
Everything about Hans Olsa was of unusual dimensions; his great body made strangers stop and look; it bloomed up like a mountain when he rose to his full height. (1.4.9.1)
And when an Irishman tries to hit him with a hammer, Olsa demolishes the guy within seconds. As the narrator says,
All of a sudden, the upper part of his body seemed to stretch; he stepped aside to evade the onslaught… his left fist shot out and struck the man below the ear. (1.4.10.42)
Yikes. Hans Olsa is kind of like The Mountain… if The Mountain was actually a big sweetheart deep down inside. Olsa is the kind of guy you always want on your side—humble and caring, but also willing to destroy your enemies when he's provoked.