Sister
The narrator of the story is known only as Sister. She is young and still living with her family in the rural South. Her tale is one of self-centered self-involvement, in which all the unfairness and unhappiness of her existence is personified by her sister Stella-Rondo. When Stella-Rondo shows up at the house one day with young girl whose parental origin is highly questionable to Sister, all hell breaks loose on a sultry 4th of July.
Stella-Rondo
Stella-Rondo not only shows up with an unexplained two year old girl—her story is that the kid was adopted—but she also shows up after having married Mr. Whitaker, a man whom Sister had been involved with earlier. No solid explanation is given for whatever happened between her and Mr. Whitaker, nor is there any valid reason to doubt her claim that the little girl with her is not adopted as she claims. At the same time, events can be interpreted in a way that fits Sister’s very subjective side of the story.
Shirley T.
The only thing that be gained for sure on the subject of the parentage of the young girl Stella-Rondo brings with her is the length of the marriage to Mr. Whitaker. If she is the offspring of this union, the conception occurred before the marriage. Sister believes that she sees a strong resemblance between Shirley and Papa-Daddy. The real crux of Sister’s contentious contention, however, is that if the girl is Stella-Rondo’s, then that means she slept with Mr. Whitaker while Sister was still seeing him.
Papa-Daddy
The maternal grandfather of the two sisters is the man responsible for getting Sister her job down at the post office. Sister’s insistence that Shirley T. would resemble Papa-Daddy if he cut off his beard results in Stella-Rondo’s successful turning of him against her and in favor of Stella-Rondo. At least it does in Sister’s mind.
Mama
The mother of Sister and Stella-Rondo who, according to Sister, always sides with Stella-Rondo. And, it must be admitted, she does seem peculiarly uninterested in getting to the bottom of the mystery of Shirley T.
Uncle Rondo
Uncle Rondo is the last holdout on Sister’s side before Stella-Rondo succeeds in turning the entire household against her. All due to a drunken Uncle Rondo’s decision to wear a kimono given to Stella-Rondo by Mr. Whitaker. It is Uncle Rondo’s drunken decision to wake up Sister in the morning by throwing firecrackers into her bedroom that becomes the straw breaking the camel’s back and sending her to the post office.
