Natalie is a 17-year-old aspiring writer preparing to leave her oppressive family home for a progressive women's college. She possesses a highly active imagination, frequently retreating into internal dialogues to process her social anxiety. Deeply isolated, she struggles to find her place both within her family and among her college peers, relying on her inner world to survive feelings of powerlessness. After a traumatic incident at her father's cocktail party, she carries a deep sense of disorientation and vulnerability into her new academic life.

Tony is a mysterious and confident student who remains isolated from the college's rigid social hierarchies. She quickly becomes Natalie's closest companion. Together, they invent elaborate games using Tarot cards, allowing them to retreat from the hostile environment of the school into a private world where they feel empowered. Her assertive nature provides a sharp contrast to Natalie's vulnerabilities.

Arnold is an egotistical writer and the domineering patriarch of the Waite family. He conducts daily writing tutorials with his daughter, using his intellect to assert superiority and manage her psychological development. Highly performative, he cultivates the image of a brilliant man of letters while treating his wife and children with calculated cruelty, using them as props to boost his own ego.

Charity is Natalie's mother, a woman deeply disillusioned by her marriage to an overbearing husband. She often retreats to her bedroom or the kitchen, relying on alcohol to cope with the feeling that life has tricked her. Despite her tragic isolation, she desperately attempts to warn her daughter about the dangers of men, though her fragmented communication style limits her effectiveness.

Arthur is a handsome English professor at the progressive women's college. He projects an accessible, modern intellectual persona but uses his authority to cultivate inappropriate attention from young female students. His casual cruelty is most evident in his treatment of his wife, as he openly flirts with students in her presence while dismissing her emotional distress.

Elizabeth is a former student who is now the young, deeply unhappy wife of Professor Arthur Langdon. Isolated from both the student body and older faculty wives, she experiences alcohol addiction in a marriage defined by neglect. She reaches out to Natalie for friendship, seeking a connection in an otherwise hostile environment.

Vicki and Anne are beautiful, wealthy upperclassmen who function as a single antagonistic entity enforcing the college's social hierarchy. They possess immense social power, allowing them to casually violate boundaries, such as entering locked dorm rooms without permission. Their cruelty is wrapped in condescending politeness as they toy with those they deem socially inferior.

Rosalind is a manipulative student who initially seeks an alliance with Natalie based on their shared status as outsiders. She relies on gossip and negativity to survive the school's hostile social environment, pointing out that others find Natalie strange.

Bud is Natalie's brother, who largely remains silent in the face of his family's tense dynamic. He attempts to offer his sister a brief escape from their father's cocktail party by suggesting they go swimming, offering a rare moment of solidarity.

Peggy is a popular, red-haired student who sits at the top of the freshman social hierarchy. Her ability to form exclusive cliques leaves students like Natalie alienated on the periphery of campus life.

Verna is a large and eccentric woman who attends Arnold Waite's literary cocktail party. She represents the pretentious adult world that Natalie finds overwhelming.