# Pervus DeJong — So Big character guide

> Pervus DeJong in So Big by Edna Ferber.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** DeJong, Pervus, Mrs. Pervus DeJong

**First appearance:** 0002-iii

## Snapshot

Selina's Dutch farmer husband, a stoic, hard-handed man of the High Prairie who never grew as large as her imagination had stretched him.

## Who they are

Pervus DeJong is the plain, decent, unremarkable farmer Selina marries — a man of the soil in the most literal sense, whose wants are small and whose imagination is smaller. He works his worn-out truck farm without complaint and without vision, and the novel is honest that Selina's love never quite made him the figure she had hoped for. His early death leaves her the land, the debts, and the chance to prove that she, not he, could make the DeJong acres bloom — the pivot on which the whole middle of the book turns.

## Relationships

### [Selina DeJong](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se/characters/selina_dejong)

_family_

Husband and wife in a quiet, dutiful marriage marked by Pervus's steady but unambitious nature contrasting Selina's drive.

### [Dirk DeJong](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se/characters/dirk_dejong)

_family_

Father and son with a distant, uncommunicative relationship due to Pervus's quiet nature and Dirk's restless ambition.

### [Selina DeJong](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se/characters/selina_dejong)

_family_

Husband and wife in a quiet, dutiful marriage marked by Pervus's steady but unambitious nature contrasting Selina's drive.

### [Dirk DeJong](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se/characters/dirk_dejong)

_family_

Father and son with a distant, uncommunicative relationship due to Pervus's quiet nature and Dirk's restless ambition.

### [Selina DeJong](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se/characters/selina_dejong)

_family_

Husband and wife in a quiet, dutiful marriage marked by Pervus's steady but unambitious nature contrasting Selina's drive.

### [Dirk DeJong](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se/characters/dirk_dejong)

_family_

Father and son with a distant, uncommunicative relationship due to Pervus's quiet nature and Dirk's restless ambition.

## In the story

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

First seen at church; his basket is auctioned at the social; accepts Selina's offer of lessons in exchange for starting the school fire.

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

Attends evening lessons; a gentle, earnest student; suffers from a rheumatic affliction; shares his farm difficulties with Selina.

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

Marries Selina; is quiet, worshipful, and focused on farm work.

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

Works the farm, resists Selina's ideas, shows stubbornness and lack of foresight in farm management.

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

Pervus remains phlegmatic and traditional, opposing Selina's innovations and Dirk's schooling, though he still loves her in his undemonstrative way.

### [Selina Takes the Reins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se/chapters/x)

Recently deceased; his absence forces Selina to take on the market duties.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se/characters/pervus_dejong
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/so_big_se/characters