Susan
Susan is drawn to the bucolic life and focuses on the ideals of family and peace. She sees the development of her friends' lives with some detachment, unable to consider the minutiae of what they view as important because of how little it holds with her life in the country.
Rhoda
Rhoda is one of the primary characters who is depicted as worrying what her friends think of her; the others experience anxiety about being judged sometimes, but Rhoda often provides the counterpart to their secret worries. She struggles to exist within the spaces her friends in which her friends feel themselves to belong, and she shares very little of herself in many of the scenes including her.
Jinny
Jinny is a social butterfly and notices herself to be such. As with the transformation of a butterfly, the qualities of effervescence and lightness of bearing develop most fully once Jinny is welcomed into the spaces of society and intentional festivity. She feels herself to flit between moments, and much of her substance is shown only in the observations of others.
Louis
Louis is a diffident outsider who perceives this as an integral part of his being. Those who see him admire his knowledge and the way he holds himself around others, but Louis's self-awareness subsumes his ability to be fully present in these interactions. He is not from a family who is established in England and he takes on a mantle of difference that he observes often.
Bernard
Bernard is the observer of what goes on around him, and he does so primarily with phrases. His friends do not notice the events in which they live - they are caught up in their own obsessions and worries - but Bernard files away moments and phrases. He intends to procure them with ease in the future but falters occasionally when struck by others' distraction. He lives for his future biographer to notice his attributes and how he conducts himself.
Neville
Neville is a romantic in a different way than Bernard. Instead of tracking words to represent moments, Neville keeps track of names; this reminds him of the love he receives and provides. The names provide him with instants of recognition and help him lay claim to the adoration that is rightfully his. His romanticism makes a path he can follow to minimize proximity to homophobia.
Percival
Percival is the member of the lifelong circle of friends without a direct voice. He is an adventurer and an object of love for Neville that to an undefined extent is mutual, and his friends never capture his essence even as much as Jinny. He is substantial and present for many moments in the novel, but the lack of his voice means we do not know how he waits for others to arrive or for action to advance. Thus, he seems to be in a state of metaphysical urgency and development always.
