Prairie Lotus

Papa met Hanna’s mother when he lived in Miss Lorna’s boardinghouse in Los Angeles. He hired Mama as a seamstress for his new dry goods shop where they fell in love, and later they went to Arizona Territory to be legally married. After Mama died, Papa took Hanna and their belongings in a horse-drawn wagon in search of a new town.

Papa is often short-tempered and sour and bitter in personality; he expects Hanna’s constant help with chores and needs such as cleaning and cooking, but he also wants her to keep to herself in the hopes of avoiding “trouble,” or negative reactions from townspeople. He is resistant to her starting school, and for long weeks he will not even discuss her desire to make and sell clothes like dresses in the new shop.

Papa is characterized often by anger and frustration. While he takes his emotions out on Hanna, he is grieving his wife’s death and deeply concerned for his daughter’s safety. His responses to Hanna’s goals to attend school and become a dressmaker are rooted in a fear of others’ racism towards his child.

Sam is a student in Hanna’s class when she starts school. He has a younger sister named Pearl. Sam is kind to Hanna, and he smiles at her, listens in with her on the school board meeting, and helps her to find her penmanship paper when others steal and destroy it. Hanna knows Sam sticks up for her when the other students draw a racist caricature of her as well. Sam serves as a static ally for Hanna, and a reminder of Hanna’s own impending womanhood and maturity. Hanna recognizes the start of a crush on Sam but has the forethought to predict that she will probably never marry.

Bess is Hanna’s classmate at school. Hanna notices on her first day of school that Bess seems shy but reads a poem aloud in a talented and expressive way. She is the daughter of Mr. Edward Harris, the town’s justice of the peace. A consistent ally for Hanna, Bess helps Hanna after Mr. Swenson accosts and hurts Hanna. Bess’s presence frequently reminds Hanna that, though most of the townspeople reject her, there are a few will support her. Bess serves to provide Hanna a relationship with someone her own age, and reminds Hanna that people are not defined by their racist family members, just like she is not defined by the racism she encounters.

Mama was an orphan raised by American Christian missionaries in China. She emigrated to Los Angeles when she was 18 and lived in Miss Lorna’s boarding house. She worked as a seamstress for Papa when he moved to the same city where they later married and had Hanna. When Hanna was five years old, riots occurred in Los Angeles in which Chinese men were lynched and Chinese businesses and homes were burned. Smoke from a fire damaged Mama’s lungs as she tried to help friends. She struggled with deteriorating health for six years and died in her sleep when Hanna was 11. Mama taught Hanna to sew. She was a kind and calm, accepting and helpful mentor.

Mama’s character is a motivation and comfort to Hanna as she settles in La Forge. Her lessons continue to motivate Hanna as she remembers what Mama taught her. Mama’s memory serves to strengthen Hanna when she encounters racism and reminds Hanna of her true worth. Hanna’s strength and maturity are bolstered by Mama’s memory and legacy she left behind, providing a significant role for Hanna to lean on in times of distress. Mama also serves as an example of the racist violence of the time, as the arson towards fellow immigrants from China ultimately leads to her own health issues and death.

Miss Walters is a demure and proper teacher of the LaForge school. She welcomes Hanna to attend and speaks highly of Hanna’s academic skills and behavior at the school board meeting. She supports Hanna and provides a sense of refuge for her. Hanna looks to Miss Walters with admiration, and the teacher serves as a new mentor for Hanna in her new town. This mentorship can be seen in her teaching, her encouragement of Hanna, and her advice to Hanna after Swenson’s assault. Miss Walters is the only adult figure Hanna individually seeks out in the narrative, and one she trusts deeply. Miss Walters, though not a stand-in for Mama, provides Hanna with guidance from a female that she does not have at home with her father. Miss Walters becomes a dynamic character at the end of the narrative as she takes a more active role in supporting Hanna when she and Bess work to convince the town’s ladies that Hanna is a good and respectable young woman.

Wichapiwin is an Indigenous American woman who is a part of the Ihanktonwan tribe native to the area of LaForge. She serves as a singular relationship outlet for Hanna, who knows no other marginalized peoples other than herself. Wichapiwin and her tribe members reflect Hanna’s own black hair and has a culture that is not respected by the white majority. She serves as the closest reminder of Mama for Hanna, as Wichapiwin teaches Hanna how to harvest and braid the timpsina plants. Wichapiwin also demonstrates the effects of colonization with how her tribe must cautiously navigate lands that they once called home. Hanna wishes her mother could have met the Indigenous woman, causing an emotional response as she reflects on her mother’s memory after working with Wichapiwin in the field.