The Cartographer
The unnamed cartographer, from whom the work receives its title, is an educated man who desires to use science and objectivity to map out the world. He believes that the process will help people to understand life, and he hopes to find the mythical land of Zion (Heaven) by exploring the physical world. He stands in philosophical opposition to the rastaman, but he begins to appreciate the other's point of view as the book goes on.
The Rastaman
The rastaman, hailing from Jamaica, is the other main character in the book. He opposes the cartographer's point of view, saying that a map of the physical world will not show the important parts of reality. He condemns the idea that Zion is a place; he rather proposes that it is a state achieved within oneself by acting with "heartbless" and "upfullness," two invented words whose meanings are intuitive. It is revealed that the rastaman, far from an uneducated villager, actually has a PhD from Glasgow, implying that he has studied the traditional European philosophies and rejected them.
Jah
"Jah" is a word from Jamaican patois meaning "God." In the view of the rastaman, Jah is the Creator of the world, and his effortless creation (the world being merely "the shrug of Jah") informs the way humans should live on earth: contentedly and without material ambition.
Quashie
"Quashie" is another word from Jamaican patois; it means a person of low class. In this book, however, Quashie is used almost as a character that recurs multiple times throughout the collection of poems. He represents the class of Jamaican villagers who stay true to what they believe and wonder how to relate to the larger, universal principles and commonalities among men.
