Alice Adams– The protagonist. An ambitious and vivacious young woman of 22 years whose optimism belies her lower social status, and who uses a pattern of lies and misleading signals to obscure her family's true status.
Arthur Russell– An upper-class young man smitten with Alice, who is not entirely aware of the Adams family's status in town.
Virgil Adams– Alice's father. A man of integrity who lacks ambition. He feels pressured to violate his loyalty to his employer by his wife's insistence on providing for their children.
Mrs. Adams– Alice's mother. A woman who always wants more than her husband provides, who is blind to her children's faults, and is the primary goad to her husband's ill-fated venture.
Walter Adams– Alice's brother. A young man who prefers to consort with the lower classes (particularly African-Americans), and whose prodigal ways create trouble for him.
J. A. Lamb– Virgil's boss. A generally honorable old man who runs a very successful business, and Virgil and Walter's employer.
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