Harrison is a fourteen-year-old boy who possesses exceptional intelligence, height, and physical strength. Because he heavily exceeds the mandated averages, the government views him as a dangerous threat to its goal of absolute equality. He requires massive physical weights, a clown nose to hide his appearance, and large headphones to disrupt his advanced thinking.

Diana Moon Glampers is the United States Handicapper General. She operates as a government bureaucrat dedicated to enforcing total, artificial equality across the population. She holds the power to determine who is above average and dictates the specific physical and mental restraints they must wear to function in society.

George is a man of above-average intelligence living under strict equality laws. To prevent him from thinking independently, the government requires him to wear a mental handicap radio in his ear that emits sharp, painful noises every twenty seconds. He also wears forty-seven pounds of birdshot padlocked around his neck to counter his natural physical strength.

Hazel is George's wife and Harrison's mother. She possesses perfectly average intelligence for her society, meaning she can only think about things in short, disconnected bursts. She casually watches television and makes superficial observations about the world, completely unburdened by the painful handicaps that afflict her husband.

A performer in a televised ballet broadcast. Like all talented artists in this society, she wears a hideous mask to hide her facial symmetry and heavy weights to restrict her physical grace. These government mandates ensure she dances no better than an average citizen.

A television news broadcaster tasked with delivering emergency updates to the public. In accordance with the nationwide equality laws, he has a severe speech impediment that makes his urgent broadcasts nearly impossible to understand.