# Tiny Soderball — My Ántonia character guide

> Tiny Soderball in My Ántonia by Willa Cather.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Tiny, Miss Tiny

**First appearance:** 0025-i

## Snapshot

A Swedish hired girl turned shrewd Alaska gold-rush investor, whose grim thrift and hard business sense make her the prairie's unlikeliest fortune.

## Who they are

Tiny begins as one of the Scandinavian servant girls in Black Hawk, small and unremarkable, and ends as a wealthy woman in Salt Lake City who audits Lena Lingard's accounts and invests her money. Her frugality is legendary and slightly comic — Lena teases her about growing miserly, and Tiny takes the jab with a grim smile. She matters because she proves that the hired girls Jim grew up with could remake themselves entirely, and because her blunt verdict on Ántonia's hard life is what finally sends Jim back to Nebraska.

## Relationships

### [Lena Lingard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/characters/lena_lingard)

_friendship_

Lena and Tiny are close friends and fellow immigrants who support each other's ambitions in Black Hawk.

### [Lena Lingard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/characters/lena_lingard)

_friendship_

Lena and Tiny are close friends and fellow immigrants who support each other's ambitions in Black Hawk.

### [Lena Lingard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/characters/lena_lingard)

_friendship_

Lena and Tiny are close friends and fellow immigrants who support each other's ambitions in Black Hawk.

## In the story

### [Book II: The Hired Girls](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/book-ii-the-hired-girls)

Another hired girl, working in town and navigating social circles.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/v)

Works at the Boys' Home hotel, receives gifts from traveling salesmen, and shares them with Lena.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/vii)

Trim and slender, dances at the Boys' Home, initially protests the dance but participates.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/viii)

Among the country girls who attend the dances at the Vannis' tent.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/ix)

Another country girl, noted for tripping by in short skirt and striped stockings, and for arching her shoulders like a kitten.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/xii)

Teases Jim about becoming a preacher or professor, and joins the girls downtown.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/xiv)

Participates in the picnic and discusses her family's rye farming.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/i)

Went West, became a successful entrepreneur in the Klondike gold rush, now lives in San Francisco with a fortune.

### [The Shimerdas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/i)

Tiny is mentioned as living in Salt Lake City and later San Francisco, managing Lena's finances and living frugally.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/characters/tiny_soderball
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/characters