Heidi

Heidi

Heidi arrives at the Alm-Uncle's hut as a hot, shapeless little person whom the villagers predict will be turned away at the door. Her unshakeable cheer and hunger for the mountain's flowers, goats, and fir-trees slowly thaw her grandfather's bitterness, even as Aunt Deta later trades her to a Frankfurt household. Her homesickness there becomes the story's engine: a child who cannot be taught to stop loving one place and one person above all others.

Peter

Peter arrives with the whole herd, Thistlefinch at the front, and treats Heidi as his natural companion on the pasture until she leaves for Frankfurt. When she returns, he sulks that she won't come with him, and his jealousy of her other friendships makes him petty and careless. His goats, his mother's hut, and his wounded pride keep the mountain world grounded in ordinary human want.

Clara Sesemann

Clara lives in a grand house of streets, tutors, and cod-liver oil, and her mornings stretch endlessly until Heidi arrives to share them. She is kind but sheltered, and her attachment to Heidi grows even as her friend pines visibly for the mountains. Her fragility and her father's absences make her both the reason Heidi is kept in Frankfurt and the person whose happiness depends on Heidi staying.

Mr. Sesemann

Mr. Sesemann travels constantly, returns to a household in uproar over kittens and turtle, and settles the matter with a laugh and a glass of fresh water. He is fond of Clara, decisive when it counts, and quick to see that his daughter is happier with Heidi in the house. His two-week stays and Paris business trips leave the children in the hands of servants and his formidable mother, shaping the household Heidi must survive.

The Doctor

He arrives at the hut expecting to be unwelcome, having feared Heidi would not remember him, and is met with gratitude and a thousand thanks. Lonely and worn, he finds the mountain restores him, and he lingers until business calls him back to Frankfurt. His parting with Heidi, and her offer to come to him if he is ever sick and alone, gives the story one of its warmest adult friendships.

Deta

Deta has cared for Heidi since her sister died and now sees a splendid position in Frankfurt that the child would only hinder. She brushes aside Barbara's warnings, leaves Heidi at the hut, and later returns to whisk her away to the Sesemann house. Her brisk, practical decisions set the plot in motion twice, and her bow-and-hurry exits leave others to manage the consequences.