Paul is a high school student in Pittsburgh who feels intensely alienated from his working-class surroundings on Cordelia Street. He works as an usher at Carnegie Hall, a job that provides him with his only real joy and a glimpse into the cultured, artistic world he idolizes. He actively rejects the traditional trajectory of a working-class life, preferring the aesthetic pleasures of theater, music, and fine clothing, which often puts him at odds with his family and teachers.

Paul's widowed father is a strict disciplinarian who worries deeply about his son's future and odd temperament. He adheres to conservative values, hoping Paul will settle down into a conventional job, marry, and raise a family. He attempts to guide his son toward respectable role models, though his stern presence fills Paul with a sense of dread.

Charley is a young actor who performs in Pittsburgh. He possesses entry into the artistic and cosmopolitan circles that Paul desperately wishes to join. By letting Paul assist him and spend time in the theater world, Charley unwittingly fuels the boy's romanticized dreams of life beyond Cordelia Street.

The Yale freshman is a wild student originally from San Francisco. He and Paul quickly discover a shared affinity for aesthetic enjoyment and spend a long evening together socializing. Their encounter provides Paul with a rare moment of companionship with someone who seemingly understands his expensive tastes.

This young man is a clerk for a steel corporation magnate who lives on Cordelia Street. He is married to a schoolteacher and has four children, representing the exact conventional life that Paul's father desires for his son. While Paul rejects the man's lifestyle entirely, he eagerly listens to his stories about his wealthy boss's travels to Venice, Monte Carlo, and Cairo.

The English teacher is one of the educators struggling to manage Paul's disruptive behavior and apathy in the classroom. She acts as a representative of the mundane institutional authority that Paul despises. Her presence at a Carnegie Hall concert severely irritates Paul, who views the hall as his exclusive sanctuary from school life.