Pecola Breedlove For the most part, Pecola is a passive, plain young black girl about eleven years old, who is befriended by Claudia and Frieda MacTeer after county officials place her temporarily in their home. During the novel, she suffers the bewildering onset of puberty, bitter racial harassment, and the tragedy of rape and incest.
Claudia MacTeer One of the novel's narrators; Claudia's childhood memories begin each of the chapters titled Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer. Claudia is about nine years old when the events of the novel take place.
Frieda MacTeer Claudia's older sister, about ten years old. Frieda and Claudia share a childhood friendship with Pecola Breedlove.
Mrs. MacTeer Claudia and Frieda's mother.
Pauline Breedlove When she was two years old, she stepped on a rusty nail and afterward walked with a characteristic limp. She is a diligent housekeeper for a wealthy white family and the primary breadwinner for the Breedlove family. She has two children by Cholly Breedlove: Sammy and Pecola.
Cholly Breedlove When he was four days old, Cholly's mother wrapped him in newspapers and blankets and threw him on a junk heap; his father had already deserted the family. Cholly was raised by his great aunt, called Aunt Jimmy. As an adult, Cholly is frequently drunk, and he is abusive to his wife and children.
Sammy Breedlove Sammy is the son of Pauline and Cholly Breedlove and the brother of Pecola.
Marie, China, and Poland Three prostitutes who live in the apartment above the Breedloves; they fascinate Frieda and Claudia, and they befriend Pecola.
Geraldine A socially conscious, middle-class black woman, Geraldine shows little affection for her son, Louis Junior, but she has enormous adoration for her blue-eyed black cat.
Louis Junior Geraldine's only child is unloved and deeply troubled; he bullies and torments Pecola.
