# Wick Cutter — My Ántonia character guide

> Wick Cutter in My Ántonia by Willa Cather.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Cutter, XI, XI Wick Cutter

**First appearance:** 0036-xii

## Snapshot

Black Hawk's moneylender, a pious-talking, yellow-whiskered predator who fleeces farmers and preys on the immigrant girls who work in his house.

## Who they are

Cutter is the town's most respectable scoundrel: he quotes Poor Richard to boys, contributes to churches 'for sentiment's sake,' and keeps a wife he fights with while carrying on with Swedish servant girls. He fleeced Russian Peter, and his interest in hiring Ántonia is clearly not about housework — Mrs. Harling's warning that Ántonia would have 'a fling she won't get up from' is the novel's bluntest statement of what he is. He embodies the exploitative side of Black Hawk's economy, the danger that waits for immigrant girls who have no family to protect them.

## In the story

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

The merciless moneylender who holds mortgages on Peter's property and buys the sale notes at a discount.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/xi)

The moneylender who fleeced Russian Peter; a gambler, womanizer, and hypocrite who quotes Poor Richard's Almanac and maintains a prim exterior.

### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/xv)

Cutter deceives his wife, returns home early, and attacks Jim in a jealous rage.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_antonia_se/chapters/ii)

Deceased; his murder-suicide and spiteful estate planning are recounted by Rudolph.

## Links

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