Ramatoulaye
The protagonist and narrator of the novel through her letters, Ramatoulaye is a widowed Senegalese woman. Throughout the novel, she talks about how her husband psychologically abandoned her after cheating on her with a second wife, and the emotional toll that took on her. However, she also emphasizes the sense of personal growth that came with these experiences.
Modou
Modou is the deceased husband of Ramatoulaye, described as a stereotypically perfect husband: charming, handsome, and scholarly. However, he also harbors an extreme selfishness, taking on a second wife even when it dreadfully hurt his first one.
Aissatou
Ramatoulaye's best friend, who she is writing to. She is divorced, and later moves to the United States and successfully makes a new life for herself. She and Ramatoulaye have a very kindred relationship, and she provides emotional support for her.
Mawdo
Mawdo, a doctor, is the divorced husband of Aissatou. Because he follows the tradition of polygamy, marrying a young girl named Nabou (also his cousin), Aissatou divorces him.
Binetou
Ramatoulaye's much younger co-wife and Daba's former best friend, who marries Modou without either of them knowing beforehand. Although Ramatoulaye feels sorry for her situation, since she was pressured into it by her mother-in-law, Binetou is also very cruel and somewhat greedy.
Lady Mother-in-Law
Binetou's mother, who pressures Binetou to marry Modou so she can live off of his fortune. Ramatoulaye considers her a social climber.
Fatimi
Ramatoulaye's younger sister
Tamsir
Modou's older brother, who offers marriage to Ramatoulaye after Modou's death.
Daba
Ramatoulaye's oldest daughter. Logical and level-headed, she and her husband secure a solid settlement for Ramatoulaye after Modou's death.
Abdou
Daba's husband.
Aunty Nabou
Mawdo's wife, who hates Aissatou so much that she gets her revenge, displacing Aissatou in Mawdo's household by fostering one of her nieces, then giving her niece (Mawdo's cousin) to him in marriage.
Young Nabou
Mawdo's second wife and young cousin, who is fostered by Aunty Nabou in order to displace Aissatou.
Farba Diouf
Young Nabou's father who gives her over to Aunty Nabou
Jacqueline
A woman from the Ivory Coast who moves to Senegal to marry a Muslim man her parents disapprove of, and who is rejected by many in her husband's family and the community. When she finds out her husband, Samba Diack, is unfaithful, she becomes extremely sick with what she eventually learns is depression. Ramatoulaye thinks about Jacqueline's story to make sense of her own mental health issues.
Samba Diack
Jacqueline's husband, a doctor whose unfaithfulness causes Jacqueline to have a nervous breakdown.
Ousmane
Ramatoulaye's six year old son
Farmata
Ramatoulaye's old griot neighbor. She often tells Ramatoulaye's future and gives her advice, representing old Senegalese tradition.
Aminata
Daouda Dieng's wife
Daouda Dieng
A prominent politician that Ramatoulaye turns down in favor of Modou when they are younger. Though he offers to marry Ramatoulaye after Modou's death, she refuses to be part of a polygamous union.
Mawdo Fall
Ramatoulaye's oldest son.
Aissatou Fall
One of Ramatoulaye's older daughters. She takes up helping with the housework after Daba leaves the house. Although Ramatoulaye sees her as her most steadfast child, Aissatou surprises Ramatoulaye by getting pregnant after meeting Ibrahima Sall, her boyfriend.
Oumar
Ramatoulaye's eight-year-old son
Amy and Awa Fall
Ramatoulaye's identical twin daughters
Arame, Yacine, and Dieynaba
Ramatoulaye's older daughters which she refers to as "the trio." The community compares the three of them to a young Ramatoulaye, but Ramatoulaye struggles with their more nontraditional habits, like smoking tobacco and wearing trousers. After Aissatou becomes pregnant, Ramatoulaye warns them to remember to respect themselves and their bodies, although she worries it's an overdue conversation.
Alioune and Malick
Two of Ramatoulaye's younger sons, they are playing outside the compound one day when they get hit by a motorcyclist. They end up mostly fine, and Ramatoulaye scolds them for playing in the street.
Ibrahima Sall
Aissatou's boyfriend who gets her pregnant. He is a law student at the university and plans to marry Aissatou once she finishes her studies, showing that he is logical, devoted, and organized through his extensive plans for them and their child.
