Joshua
In “The Village Priest,” Joshua is a village priest who has converted many people to the Christian faith after having been initiated by Reverend Livingstone. He trusts the God of the white people so much that he does not feel threatened by the village rain-maker, who curses him and his congregation. However, when after a long drought the rainmaker sacrifices a ram and rain does come down shortly after that, Joshua is puzzled and concludes that the God of the White people probably does not listen to prayers by black people. His faith is only restored when he meets Livingstone again.
Mrs. Hill
Mrs. Hill is a wealthy landowner with liberal attitudes toward the natives. She lives on a lonely house on a remote hill. Her husband, an old veteran settler, died from malaria in Uganda, and her two children are in England to receive their education. She calls her servants her “boys” and has built brick houses and a school for them and their children. Her credo is that the natives will accept being colonized when they are treated with kindness. However, after a foreign couple is murdered by one of their servants and after listening to her conservative friends, she becomes more cautious. Finally, she accidentally shoots one of her servants who wanted to warn her of a group of men who plot to murder her as well.
Mrs. Smiles
Mrs. Smiles is one of Mrs. Hill’s friends. She represents the conservative colonists who believe that the natives are savages who are incapable of becoming civilized even though the English have ended their tribal wars and brought progress. With her demeanor she is compared to a missionary: “Convinced that she and her kind formed an oasis of civilization in a wild country of savage people, she considered it almost her calling to keep on reminding the natives and anyone else of the fact, by her gait, talk and general bearing.”
John
In “A Meeting in the Dark,” John is a young man who is about to leave his village to start his university education. He is the son of a strict preacher who forbids his wife to tell traditional stories of their people because they are not of Christian origin. He is in love with Wamuhu, who he also impregnated. When Wamuhu refuses to marry him, he kills her in rage.
Wanjiru
In “Minutes of Glory,” Wanjiru is working in beer halls in various towns. She prefers her Christian name, Beatrice, because it sounds more pure and beautiful. She is not ugly but she does seem to attract fewer customers than the other girls. Longing for attention, she begins to apply Ambi, a lotion which is supposed to brighten the skin, to her face and arms—her neck and legs remain black because she can not afford enough of the cosmetic product. After many failed romances and broken promises by men, she robs one of her customers and celebrates a few minutes of glory, when she spends the money on clothes and jewelry to make herself more attractive. Eventually, however, she is arrested by the police.
