# Ernest Havel — One of Ours character guide

> Ernest Havel in One of Ours by Willa Cather.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Ernest

**First appearance:** 0004-i

## Snapshot

A pipe-smoking neighbor who has seen Europe and reads the war clearly, Ernest unsettles Claude with hard truths about German power while the harvest moon rises.

## Who they are

Ernest is the thoughtful young farmer Claude meets by a thorn hedge on the evening England declares war, and his calm, unhurried certainty sets him apart from the brag and bluster around them. Having sailed from Antwerp, he speaks of the German army as an inexorable harvest already planted, and he refuses Claude's American confidence that will can simply refuse it. His friendship gives Claude a window onto a wider, grimmer world, making Ernest the quiet counterweight to the prairie's cheerful isolation as the story moves toward the war.

## Relationships

### [Claude Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/claude_wheeler)

_friendship_

Claude enjoys intellectual conversations with Ernest, a thoughtful Bohemian immigrant who shares his discontent with provincial life.

### [Claude Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/claude_wheeler)

_friendship_

Claude enjoys intellectual conversations with Ernest, a thoughtful Bohemian immigrant who shares his discontent with provincial life.

### [Claude Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/claude_wheeler)

_friendship_

Claude enjoys intellectual conversations with Ernest, a thoughtful Bohemian immigrant who shares his discontent with provincial life.

## In the story

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

Claude's friend, a Bohemian boy who is simple, direct, and intellectually free; shares a picnic and memories of his arrival in America.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/iii)

Mentioned by Mahailey as not having visited lately; Claude says he is busy and they went to the circus together.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/vi)

Claude wishes Ernest could hear the history lectures, imagining his engaged reactions.

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

Practical and content with simple pleasures; argues with Claude about finding meaning in everyday life.

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

Enid mentions that Ernest Havel is known as a freethinker and that Claude reads books with him.

### [Chapter IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/iv)

Mentioned as having visited Claude briefly the previous night.

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

Mentioned as stirred up about the murder of a Grand Duke; Claude tries to call him but gets no answer.

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

Meets Claude on the road and explains the German army's strength and the futility of Belgian resistance.

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

Mentioned as someone Claude has confided in about the quail.

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

Mentioned as no longer visiting Claude because Enid asked him to post Prohibition posters and he refused.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/iii)

Mentioned as a possible influence on Claude's indifference to the Prohibition cause.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/vi)

Visits Claude but feels their intimacy is strained; still aggrieved about his beer and believes Claude made a bad marriage; comes back after news of unrestricted submarine warfare; discusses the war with Mrs. Wheeler.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xiii)

Takes a walk with Claude and Ralph, though would have preferred to lose Ralph.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/ernest_havel
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters