Moth
Moth is the protagonist and narrator of Me (Moth). Her parents named her after a character from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. At the beginning of the verse novel, Moth is a high school junior living with her aunt in a mostly white suburb in Virginia. Moth has been staying with Aunt Jack since the car crash that took the lives of her parents and brother, and that left her with a scar across her face. Moth struggles with survivor's guilt, questioning why she lived and her family died. She has no appetite for food since the accident, and she refuses to dance ballet, something she has always enjoyed. She admires her grandfather, a Hoodoo practitioner. Students at school ignore her entirely, except for Sani, a half-Navajo boy who has recently moved to the area. The two form a quick bond and drive together across the country to the Navajo Nation reservation to stay with Sani's father; however, Sani's father ignores Moth's presence. Eventually Sani's father, a healer, remembers that Moth's grandfather cast a spell that would bring Sani and Moth together following Moth's death. With this revelation, Moth realizes that she is a ghost, and that she died in the car crash with the rest of her family. With Sani's encouragement, she moves on to the afterlife, no longer lingering between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Sani
Sani is Moth's love interest and the novel's primary antagonist. Sani enters the story as a new student at the suburban Virginia high school Moth has been attending. Moth is immediately attracted to his strong physique, long black hair, and gentle nature. She learns that his father is Navajo and his mother is white, and he recently moved in with his mother and her new husband. However, she soon realizes that he requires unidentified pills to regulate his mental health. When Sani's stepfather physically abuses him, Sani drives with Moth to his father's home on the Navajo Nation reservation. A talented guitarist and singer, Sani struggles with whether he should apply to the Juilliard Conservatory. At the novel's climax, the author reveals that Sani can see ghosts, which is why he has interacted with Moth while everyone else treated her as though she were invisible. Upon learning that he and Moth were brought together because of a spell Moth's grandfather cast, Sani professes his love for Moth but insists that she must leave him, moving on to heaven.
Aunt Jack
Aunt Jack is Moth's mother's sister. Her birth name is Mary, but she changed it to Jacqueline, which got shortened to Jack. Moth goes to live with Aunt Jack in a mostly white Virginia suburb following the car accident that killed Moth's parents and brother. Moth observes that Aunt Jack never wants to talk about the accident; she also drinks heavily. When Moth's presence becomes too much for Aunt Jack, she leaves for the summer, abandoning Moth to live on her own. However, Moth later realizes that she herself is a ghost, meaning she was unintentionally haunting Aunt Jack, which explains her aunt's erratic behavior.
Grandfather
Grandfather is Moth's deceased grandfather. Described by Moth as a gray-bearded rootworker, Grandfather was a Hoodoo practitioner who taught Moth how to conjure and cast spells. When she was a child, Moth accompanied her grandfather to the cemetery where they buried objects like a photograph and a white feather; on her road trip with Sani, Moth returns to the spot and digs up the objects, finding also a decade-old application to Juilliard—the school Sani is debating whether he should apply to. Grandfather's talent as a Hoodoo man is further revealed at the novel's climax when it becomes clear that he arranged many years prior for Sani to guide Moth's spirit on her journey to the afterlife. Having known Sani's grandfather, Grandfather identified Sani's talent and left Sani's father with a photograph of Moth as a child.
Sani's Mother
Sani's mother is a white woman who has left Sani's Navajo father for a white man in Virginia. Sani is disappointed that his mother doesn't protect him from his abusive stepfather; he is also disappointed that she doesn't appear to want to leave her abusive husband.
Sani's Stepfather
Sani's stepfather is a white man who lives in Virginia with Sani's mother and the young child they have together. Sani's stepfather is verbally and physically abusive to Sani; it is hinted that he may also physically abuse Sani's mother. Sani's stepfather berates Sani about his ambition to attend the Juilliard Conservatory and hone his skills as a musician. Sani's stepfather creates such an abusive home environment that Sani is compelled to drive back to New Mexico when school lets out for the summer.
Sani's Father
Sani's father is a Navajo man who lives on the Navajo Nation reservation. He works as a healer, using traditional Native American medicine and rituals in his healing practice. He speaks Diné with Sani. When Moth arrives at his home, Sani's father doesn't address her for two weeks. Sani's father gives Sani clear capsules full of herbal medicine and insists that Sani take them consistently to regulate his unspecified mental illness. He argues with Sani about his new girlfriend being like previous women Sani has fallen for, implying that Sani's past relationships were bad for him. Sani's father eventually realizes that he has seen Moth in a photograph that her grandfather once gave him. Sani's father weeps as he explains that Sani is the victim of Hoodoo magic, and Moth's grandfather has exploited Sani's ability to see ghosts by conjuring a circumstance in which Sani could help guide Moth through her time as a ghost on her journey to the afterlife. Sani's father feels responsible for the emotional pain Sani is enduring because of this.
Marcia
Marcia is Moth's mother. Along with her husband and children, she died in a car crash while traveling between her home in New York and her relatives in Virginia. Marcia was an English professor and admirer of Shakespeare.
Jim
Jim is Moth's father. Before his death in the car crash that also claimed the lives of his wife and children, Jim worked as an English professor. Like his wife, he loved Shakespeare enough to name Moth after a faerie from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Zachary
Zachary is Moth's younger brother. Zachary died in the car accident that also killed his parents and sister.
