Uma
Uma is the daughter of Mama and Papa and sister to Arun and Aruna. In the present day of the novel, she has "frazzled" grey hair and spectacles. She is middle-aged but somewhat childlike in her demeanor and pursuits; she delights in small things, is often frustrated or petulant, and chafes at her parents' control. She wishes for more freedom and enjoys the times when she is able to do things on her own, such as traveling with Mira-masi and manning a booth at a bazaar.
Arun
Arun is Uma's younger brother. He was born late in his mother's life but was considered a blessing because he was a boy. He is a weak, sickly child.
Aruna
Aruna is the second-born in Uma's family. When she was born, her parents were very disappointed because they wanted a boy. As she grows up, she becomes quite pretty, but has an edge to her. She becomes rebellious and gets her way often because she has many prospects for marriage, unlike Uma. She marries a man of her choosing and moves to Bombay, where she lives a sophisticated life. Uma and her parents note, though, that she is anxious and controlling about everyone and everything.
Mira-masi
Mira-masi is a distant relative of Uma's family. She was widowed early in life, and in order to find solace, she more deeply embraced Hinduism and became a devotee of Lord Shiva. She visited the family often on her way to and from pilgrimages, taking care to fulfill all of her ritual obligations and include Uma in them. Over time her "face began to look muddy and was streaked with deep lines like a river bed that has run dry, and her hair was turning thin and grey."
Mother Agnes
Mother Agnes is the principal of Uma's convent school. Uma admired her "wonderfully still and composed figure," but was sorely disappointed in her when she did not support Uma's desire to keep attending the convent school.
Mama
The daughter of a merchant family in Kanpur, she married Papa at sixteen. Her one vice during Uma's childhood was to sneak away to play rummy with her friends, and there her manner became "flirtatious, girlish" until she had to return home to "guarded restraint." She was Papa's "helpmate, his consort" and felt honored that she was the mother of his son. She is easily exasperated with Uma, and does not want her doing anything inappropriate for her age and station.
Papa
The son a tax inspector, Papa is a successful lawyer, and at one point in the novel retires. He is taciturn, rigid in his thinking, and strict in his treatment of his daughters. He is immensely proud to have a son, though, and shows a rare display of elation when Arun is born. He despises that Arun is a vegetarian, especially since he embraced meat and other European things like "cricket and the English language."
Dr. Dutt
She is an amiable and intelligent physician who tries to help Uma find a place of her own in the world, but fails against the bulwark of Uma's parents.
Anamika
Anamika is the sister of Ramu and daughter of Bakul Uncle and Lila Aunty. She is beautiful, charming, kind, and intelligent. Though she wins a scholarship to Oxford, she does not go because it would disappoint her parents, who want her to marry. When she does marry, it is to a old, cruel man indifferent to her charms. She suffers living with him and his relatives, and by the end of the novel, dies by either suicide or murder (she is burned alive, and it is unclear what happened).
Harish
Uma's husband, who is "as old... as Papa, nearly, and was grossly overweight too, while his face was pockmarked." He does not seem pleased to be marrying Uma, and has a "sullen expression." The family soon learns that Harish is already married and his marriage to Uma was merely to procure money from her dowry. The marriage is annulled.
Mrs. Joshi
A friendly neighbor of the family's, she had a spiteful mother-in-law like Anamika, but since her husband loved her, she was left mostly unscathed. After her mother-in-law died, she ruled over her household with kindness and generosity.
Ramu
The son of Bakul Uncle and Lila Aunty and brother of Anamika, he is good-natured and friendly. There was always gossip about him, but Uma liked him immensely. He is "misshapen, deformed, [a] dark misfortune... with his club foot, his hunched back, his nearly sightless eyes," and is somewhat of an outcast from his family.
The Mali
He is the family's gardener who lives by the gate.
The Ayah
She is a nurse who helped raise Uma and Aruna and, though she does not do much with Arun, as this is considered Uma's job, still stays on to do small tasks because Mama likes her.
Mrs. O'Henry
The wife of the Baptist missionary, she is proud of the Christmas cards that she makes, and tries to enlist the local young women in the ministry.
Arvind
He is Aruna's handsome, wealthy, and long-suffering husband.
Aisha and Dinesh
They are Aruna and Arvind's children.
Mrs. Patton
She is Mrs. O'Henry's sister and the matriarch of the Patton household. She is extremely kind and generous, but a little dense regarding her family's needs. She takes great delight in grocery shopping and stocking the house, but is not much of a cook. She tries to make Arun feel comfortable, but unwittingly makes him feel awkward, and tries to bring her family together but it often does not work. She is also concerned with how she looks, especially after a cashier asks if she is pregnant; by the end of the text, in a quest for a different sort of identity, she wears long clothing and shows an interest in "Eastern" things.
Mr. Patton
The patriarch of the Patton household, Mr. Patton is a generic suburban father who likes to watch sports and bbq. He is gruff, self-interested, and intolerant of any perceived threat to his authority.
Rod
He is Mr. and Mrs. Patton's son, a "gladitorial" young man who plays football and jogs. He is friendly to Arun, but they do not become friends.
Melanie
She is Mr. and Mrs. Patton's teenage daughter, who is described as rather unattractive with a pimply face. She is hostile towards her parents and Arun, and appears deeply unhappy. She is bulimic and at the end of the text is sent to an institution.
