Inga is Björn’s wife, Kjartan’s mother, and Agnes’s foster mother from the time Agnes’s mother leaves her to when Inga dies in childbirth. Inga is a loving foster mother to Agnes, who even calls her “Mamma.” Inga teaches Agnes to read and write in secret, beginning Agnes’s lifelong love of books. When Inga dies in childbirth during a blizzard, Agnes is absolutely heartbroken.
Inga Quotes in Burial Rites
The Burial Rites quotes below are all either spoken by Inga or refer to Inga. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6
Quotes
I explained that I had begun to dig a grave for Mamma. Uncle Ragnar frowned and told me I shouldn’t call her Mamma, and wasn’t I ashamed of myself, thinking to bury her near the doorstep where everyone would tread on her, and not in the holy ground of a churchyard.
Related Characters:
Agnes Magnúsdottir (speaker), Inga, Uncle Ragnar
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Burial Rites LitChart as a printable PDF.
Inga Character Timeline in Burial Rites
The timeline below shows where the character Inga appears in Burial Rites. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...great love for and excellent knowledge of the sagas. As a child, Agnes’s foster mother Inga encouraged reading, but her foster father Björn did not, saying books other than the Bible...
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Chapter 5
...mother had another daughter, Helga. By that time, Agnes was living with her foster family, Inga and Björn, at Kornsá.
(full context)
...asks Agnes again about her childhood. She begins to tell him about her foster family, Inga and Björn, who raised her until Inga died in childbirth. Tóti asks Agnes if she...
(full context)
Chapter 6
The narrative then returns to Agnes’s first-person perspective as she begins to tell Tóti about Inga’s death. It was winter. Agnes had been living at Kornsá for several years with Inga,...
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The next day it began to snow, and Inga, not feeling well, stayed in the badstofa. Björn went to check on her while Agnes...
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...room grew colder and colder. Agnes tried her best to keep the baby warm. Meanwhile, Inga’s moans continued in the loft. The children fell asleep, and when they woke Björn was...
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...Björn, meanwhile, sat with his head in his hands. Agnes then went up to see Inga’s body, which was lying on the blood-covered bed. Agnes pulled Inga’s dress down to cover...
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...to the third person as Tóti asks what happened next. Agnes tells him that after Inga died and the storm ended, the farmhand was sent to fetch Björn’s relatives. Björn told...
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After everything was clean, the family stood together around Inga’s body and Björn’s brother passed around a flask. The farmhand fetched a priest, and Aunt...
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...a bad mood and she went outside, picked up a shovel, and tried to dig Inga a grave. Uncle Ragnar asked what she was doing. Agnes explained, referring to Inga as...
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...begins to tell him about the dream, but Tóti falls back asleep. Agnes thinks of Inga’s death again. Agnes, perhaps dreaming again, imagines her foster mother trapped in the storehouse and...
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