The speaker is a young student away at boarding school who is unexpectedly brought home during the mid-term. Thrust abruptly into an adult environment of grief, he closely and quietly observes the awkwardness of the adults around him. He processes the family tragedy through physical objects and silent observation rather than through the failed verbal communication of his relatives.

The speaker's four-year-old brother whose fatal car accident prompts the speaker's return from school. He is laid out in a four-foot box surrounded by snowdrops and candles, bearing a small poppy-colored bruise on his temple. His passing forces the family into an unnatural state of emotional expression.

A rural farmer who normally approaches death and funerals with a tight-lipped demeanor. The sudden loss of his young son breaks this emotional restraint, leaving him crying on the porch and unable to articulate his sorrow. His reaction immediately signals to the speaker that something terrible has happened.

The matriarch of the family who struggles to process the tragedy. Instead of crying openly, she expresses her sorrow through angry, tearless sighs. She clings to the physical presence of her eldest son for comfort, reflecting the family's difficulty with verbal communication during times of grief.

A man from the rural community who visits the family home to pay his respects. He attempts to offer comfort to the grieving family but relies on clumsy, inadequate clichés to express the shared sorrow of the neighborhood.

The youngest member of the family present in the house during the gathering. The infant coos and laughs in a pram, completely oblivious to the tragedy that has struck the household and the sorrow of the adults.