Ambrose is the recurring protagonist featured in three stories, seen at varying stages of his youth in East Dorset. He grows from an infant marked by a port-wine birthmark into a fearful schoolboy, and later a self-conscious thirteen-year-old. Highly precocious and imaginative, he constantly filters his mundane reality through the lens of classical music and mythological epics. His tendency to intellectualize his surroundings often alienates him from typical teenage experiences.

The intellectual, cultured back-half of a pair of Siamese twins. He aligns himself with great thinkers like Aristotle and Shakespeare, feeling deeply victimized by the physical bondage to his grunting, animalistic brother.

A highly self-conscious, fictional reimagining of the Odyssey's Menelaus. Trapped on the beach at Pharos, he obsessively tries to extract the truth from his wife regarding the origins of the Trojan War. He narrates his own tale through a dizzying series of shifting viewpoints.

A minstrel originally tasked by Agamemnon to watch over his wife. Tricked and abandoned on an island, he passes the time writing stories on scrolls and casting them into the sea, questioning the reality of his memories and his identity as a storyteller.

Ambrose's mother, who experiences a chaotic bee swarm while resting in the family hammock. She playfully chides her brother-in-law during the family's later road trip to the boardwalk.

Ambrose's grandfather, an ambitious patriarch trying to navigate hard economic times. His scheme to gather bees for his own hives inadvertently causes the swarm that attacks his daughter-in-law.

Ambrose's older brother and a fellow member of the neighborhood gang, the Sphinxes. He serves as Ambrose's primary rival for Magda's attention during their trip to Ocean City.

A fourteen-year-old girl who accompanies the family on their Independence Day trip. She is the center of attention for both Ambrose and Peter, though she remains relatively passive during the outing.

Ambrose's uncle who drives the family to the Ocean City boardwalk. He is blunt and physical, dragging Magda by her ankles when she refuses to swim.

A neighbor who keeps bees and becomes embroiled in a chaotic dispute with Ambrose's grandfather. He brandishes a shotgun during the swarm to protect his insects.

Ambrose's aunt, who acts quickly during the backyard emergency to carry the baby away from the bees to a nearby church.

Ambrose's uncle, a thoughtful man who provides cultural and historical anecdotes about fate and naming.

An older teenager whose private romantic moment is interrupted by Ambrose and his friends. She represents a mysterious romantic ideal in Ambrose's mind.

The front-half of the Siamese twins in "Petition." According to his twin, he is impulsive, prone to rage, and views his relationship with Thalia as his only hope for redemption.

The woman caught between the Siamese twins. She issues a demand that prompts the front-half brother to propose, while the back-half narrator suspects she houses a dual nature that aligns with his own.

Menelaiad's wife, reimagined from Greek myth. She insists her infamous betrayal was an illusion made of clouds, claiming she never actually traveled to Troy and asserting that love drove all her actions.

The Trojan prince whose actions initiate the epic war. He serves as the primary target of Menelaiad's vengeance.

A visitor who listens to Menelaiad's convoluted account of the Trojan War. He occasionally teases his host about the extensive time spent wandering the seas.

Telemachus's sister and traveling companion, who joins him in listening to Menelaiad's twisting narrative.

A king who leaves his kingdom and wife behind to fight. His decisions initiate the tragic sequence of events that leaves the minstrel stranded.

Agamemnon's wife, whose actions the minstrel is specifically directed to monitor while her husband is away at war.

The minstrel's lover or wife. Her distant memory fuels much of the stranded artist's romantic yearning and subsequent storytelling.

A deceiver who lures the minstrel away from his post with promises of nymphs, eventually abandoning him on an isolated rock.

The blind prophet from Greek mythology, reimagined as a figure struggling to impart wisdom about self-love while remaining blind to his own personal needs.

A mythological figure consumed by self-interest, serving as a metaphysical example of someone fatally pursuing their own self-knowledge.

A nymph who persists by completely effacing herself and repeating the words and failures of others.

The narrator of "Night-Sea Journey," a philosophical swimmer racing toward an unknown destination. He constantly questions the reality of his existence, his purpose, and the mysterious Shore he swims toward.

A fellow swimmer remembered by the Spermatozoon. His unconventional theories about the "Shore" and the purpose of their journey deeply influence the narrator.

The narrator of "Life-Story," an author who becomes paralyzed by the suspicion that he is merely a character in an ongoing book. He frequently interrupts his own narrative to interrogate the reader.

D's spouse, whose reality becomes blurred with the author's fictional creations as his narrative logic deteriorates.