Félicité is a hardworking, impoverished maidservant working for only 100 francs a year in Pont-l'Évêque. Having lost her parents at a young age, she channels her capacity for love into her manual labor and the people she serves. She operates with mechanical efficiency and practicality. Her quiet, sincere nature makes her vulnerable to exploitation by those higher up the social ladder.

Madame Aubain is a widow struggling to maintain her middle-class status after her husband's death leaves her with significant debts. Relocated to a dilapidated home in Pont-l'Évêque, she covers her parlor furniture in dust sheets to preserve a semblance of her former wealth. She values her social reputation highly and treats her devoted maid with strict, unsentimental authority.

Virginie is Madame Aubain's young, fragile daughter. She develops a nervous ailment early in life and requires convalescence by the sea in Trouville. Free from the rigid class prejudices of her mother, she accepts her maid's affection genuinely and serves as the catalyst for the maid's introduction to Catholic rituals.

Paul is Madame Aubain's son, who grows up in the provincial French countryside before heading away to school in Caen. He enjoys the attention and care provided by the household staff during his youth but matures into a somewhat distant and irresponsible young man with a penchant for drinking in taverns.

Monsieur Bourais is a retired solicitor who manages Madame Aubain's remaining properties. With his elegant manners and apparent intelligence, he projects an image of middle-class respectability. He treats working-class individuals with condescension, taking amusement in their lack of formal education.

Loulou is a colorful parrot originally brought from the Americas. He stubbornly refuses to speak to most people, earning the irritation of the household guests and locals. For the lonely maidservant, however, the bird becomes a treasured companion and an object of intense devotion.

Victor is a young fisherman who signs up for a lengthy ocean voyage to the Americas. He regularly visits his aunt in Pont-l'Évêque, bringing her small gifts from his trips and accepting her food and money in return. His decision to sail to Havana creates intense anxiety for his devoted family.

Théodore is a relatively well-off young man who aggressively pursues a working-class farmhand. He uses his wealth to avoid the military draft and views his romantic targets with a sense of entitlement, easily abandoning his promises when a more financially secure option presents itself.

Nastasie is the wife of a fisherman and the mother of three children, including Victor. She lives a tough working-class life near the sea and willingly accepts the gifts and assistance her reconnected sibling provides, though her upper-class observers suspect her of cynical exploitation.

Monsieur Robelin is one of Madame Aubain's tenant farmers. He frequently visits the estate and cynically attempts to sell unwanted items to the household staff to make extra money.

Monsieur Liébard is a tenant farmer who rents property from the Aubain estate. He maintains a rather unclean and dilapidated farmhouse where he hosts the family during their travels.

The Marquis is an impoverished nobleman who has fallen on hard times. He occasionally visits the Aubain household, where his inebriated behavior and crude jokes force the staff to quietly escort him out.

The Baron is a former consul in America who relocates his family to the provincial town. His household introduces a colorful exotic bird to the local community before his rapid promotion requires him to leave the area.

Fabu is a local butcher's boy who takes an intense dislike to a pet parrot. He actively attempts to strike the bird when it refuses to speak to him, displaying a casual cruelty.

Mère Simon is a former shopkeeper who helps with domestic chores around a dilapidated property. She provides essential care and companionship to an isolated, failing woman when the rest of the town ignores her.

Colmiche is a local outcast ostracized for his past participation in the Reign of Terror. He suffers bullying from the townspeople until receiving compassionate care from a local maidservant.