Rodrigo S.M.
Rodrigo is the Narrator of the book, and is an arrogant type of man who has no idea that he is arrogant. He speaks directly to the reader and therefore puts himself on a par with them as an equal, rather than including himself as one of the characters in the story. Rodrigo is a philosophical man, who spends a great deal of time pondering the nature of storytelling and what it really means to construct and tell a story - almost as much time as he does actually telling it.
Macabea
Nineteen year old Macabea is the protagonist of the novel. She is a normal, regular teen girl who comes from the rural northeast region of Brazil. She lives in grinding poverty and her life is very hard but she does not seem to realize this, primarily because everyone around her growing up was living in exactly the same way. Nonetheless, she still feels the need to spread her wings, and leave the northeast for the southeast, where she thinks there are more opportunities. Unfortunately, there are still not that many opportunities for a rural girl with no education. Her lack of education constantly keeps her down, because it also allows her to accept treatment from a young man that a more educated and confident girl would never put up with.
Macabea is dumped by her boyfriend Olimpico (although this is more of a blessing) and betrayed by her co-worker. She consults a fortune teller to see what her future might hold and not surprisingly hears that she is going to see a big turnaround in her fortunes; she'll be rich, happy and married. This turns out to be a very inaccurate prediction when in an allegory of a daydream that the author once had, whilst leaving a session with a fortune teller, she is hit by a Mercedes, and is killed.
Olimpico
There is really nothing positive to say about Olimpico; he is the first boy with whom Macabea has a serious relationship, although he is having multiple relationships at the same time whilst he is with her. The product of a sexist and misogynistic society, Olimpico has no respect for women in general or Macabea in particular. He is abusive, verbally and physically, and dumps her for her co-worker Gloria. It's not clear why Gloria would be interested in dating him having witnessed him treating Macabea so horribly.
Gloria
A co-worker of both Macabea and Olimpico at the factory, Gloria begins dating Olimpico when he dumps Macabea for her. She feels a degree of guilt over this but clearly has no idea about girl code - the thing that should prevent a girl from stealing her friend's boyfriend. She suggests Macabea sees the fortune teller, as much to make herself feel better as to offer Macabea some hope for the future.
Madame Carlota
Madame Carlota is a fortune teller of dubious talent or accuracy. She is one of those fortune tellers who preys on the disadvantaged and offers them the promise of something better as long as they rub her palm with silver first, of course. She tells Macabea of future happiness, wealth and a husband called Hans, but as Macabea is leaving her office she is killed when she is hit by a yellow Mercedes, suggesting that Madame Carlota's fortune telling talent to be far less than advertised.
