Lila
Lila is a young girl of thirteen living in a poor fishing village in India. She has three younger siblings and together they are forced to care for themselves after their mother gets ill and their father starts drinking and stops working. Despite the hardships she is forced to endure, Lila remains optimistic and tries to help her family. She takes over the responsibilities her mother had and takes care of her younger sisters while also cooking and cleaning around the house. She grows up quickly, just like her brother Hari.
Hari
Hari is Lila’s thoughtful younger brother, a boy of twelve years old. Hari is forced to grow up rapidly because of their family situation; he gives up going to school because their family is no longer able to afford it and starts working in the fields instead. Hari realizes that his sister’s future depends on him and that forces him to work hard and think about new possibilities to make money. He is initially intrigued by the possibility of work in the factory but then travels to Bombay with protestors because he realizes it will not be good for his village. There he endures loneliness and difficult working conditions, but he manages to set aside money and befriend a kind, older watchmaker named Mr. Panwallah. Eventually Hari realizes he is not a city boy and desires to go home. He takes his money and his plans to set up a poultry farm and a watch shop in Alibagh, and returns to his family.
Biju
Biju is a wealthy fisherman in the village where Hari and Lila live. He most likely made his fortune through smuggling and is prone to boasting and bragging. However, the villagers admire him because he is one of their own who managed to make a lot of money. He also earns their approbation when he and his new boat help rescue some of the fishermen lost during a violent monsoon storm.
Bela
Bela is, like Kamal, Lila and Hari’s younger sister. She is still in school and though she works hard to help the family, she is still young and likes sweets and playing.
Kamal
Kamal is, like Bela, Lila and Hari’s younger sister. She is still in school and though she works hard to help the family, she is still young and likes sweets and playing.
Mr. Panwallah
Mr. Panwallah is an old watchmaker living in Bombay. He takes Hari under his wing and teaches him how to repair and make watches. He is described as an old, gentle, kind-hearted man who genuinely wants to help Hari. Because of him, Hari is able to return to his village with the prospect of opening his own repair shop in the future.
Hira La
Hira Lal is a watchman in the de Silva’s apartment building in Bombay. He pities Hari and introduces him to one of his friends who is able to offer Hari work and a place to stay.
Jagu
Jagu is a restaurant owner in Mumbai and a friend of Hira Lal. He offers the young boy a place to stay and a job in his restaurant. He is kind although rather reticent and harried. He isn't very compassionate towards his own family though, which is something Hari sees firsthand when Jagu brings the sick boy home one night in a misguided effort to help him.
Mr. de Silva
Mr. de Silva is a wealthy man from Bombay who sometimes visits the fishing village where Lila and Hari live. He is a kind man and offers to give Hari a job in Mumbai. After Hari leaves Thul, Mr. de Silva is the one who takes Hari and Lila’s mother to the hospital and pays for the bills.
Mina
She is a young girl from the village and a good friend of Lila. Mina's family is not rich but has more money than Lila's, and they live near the temple.
Mrs. de Silva
She is Mr. de Silva’s wife who comes with him to the fishing village. She is kindly and generous.
Father
For most of the novel, Father is a disappointing, angry drunk who cannot provide for his family and is quick to criticize his children. After his wife goes to the hospital though, he begins to shed his bad habits and gives up drinking. He is still a bit gruff, but it is clear he feels regret for his past actions and will most likely endeavor to do better.
Mother
Mother is ill throughout most of the novel, and no one quite knows what is wrong with her. She finally goes to the hospital thanks to the de Silvas, where she receives treatment and undergoes rest for a case of tuberculosis and anemia. She improves enough to go home, and regains her warmth and vitality.
Ramu
Hari's close friend, he is a staunch proponent of the factory being built because he assumes he will get employment there.
Bhola and Mahesh
Two of Hari's friends, both want jobs at the factory.
The Factory Man
The representative of the fertilizer factory who speaks to the villagers, he is impatient, scornful, and rude. He is full of boastful comments about the factory and insults for the villagers, whom he sees as ignorant "pumpkin-heads."
Hira-bai Khanekar
The older woman who lives next door to the children, she is the mother of the Khanekar boys, all of whom are drunk, coarse, and volatile. She stands up to them however, and helps the children a few times.
The Medicine Man
Hira-bai suggests Lila find this man to hopefully heal her mother, but Lila ends up being somewhat disappointed with him. Though sharp-eyed with an air of magic about him, his demands seem outsized compared with his help for Mother.
Adarkar
He is a youthful and fiery speaker who rallies the villagers of Thul to join other men from the district of Alibagh to travel to Bombay to protest against the coming fertilizer factory.
Sayyid Ali
He is a wise-looking, educated, and elderly man who passionately speaks on behalf of the Alibagh people. He knows the factory will be bad for them and for Bombay, which cannot handle another influx of people. He is the visitor the de Silvas invite to stay in their vacation home in Thul, and there he watches birds and delights in their behavior. When Hari visits him, he tells the boy how despondent he is with the changes modernity and capitalism and industry are bringing to India, but Hari's will to adapt inspires the old man.
Hira Lal
The friendly doorman at the Seabird, he points Hari to his job at Jagu's.
Jagu's Wife
A poor, weary, and troubled woman, she is initially hostile to Hari when Jagu brings the boy home, but she is later kind to him because he confides in her that his father drinks and beats his mother.
