Anna Christie characters

Appears from the start

A young woman who arrives at a New York waterfront saloon to reunite with the father she has barely seen since childhood. Years of domestic work on relatives' farms have left her ill and exhausted, and she is guarded about what happened after she left home. She hopes the sea voyage Chris offers will give her a fresh start.

Also known as Old Chris

Appears from the start

Anna's Swedish-born father, a veteran coal-barge captain who has spent most of her life at sea. Superstitious about the ocean and ashamed of having left Anna with relatives, he imagines that keeping her away from sailors will protect her from the hardships he associates with maritime life.

Appears from the start

Chris's companion at the waterfront, an older woman accustomed to sailors, saloons, and an unsettled life. Blunt but perceptive, she recognizes Anna's weariness without demanding an explanation and leaves Chris when she sees that his daughter needs him.

Appears from the start

The bartender at Johnny-the-Priest's waterfront saloon. He knows Chris and Marthy as regulars and helps establish the rough, transient world into which Anna arrives.

First appears in chapter 2

A powerful young Irish stoker rescued with other survivors after their steamer founders in fog. Proud of his strength and deeply religious in his own rough fashion, he is immediately drawn to Anna and treats her as very different from the women he has previously known ashore.