As the novel’s central storyteller, Enda is a round and static deuteragonist whose sense of self remains unchanged by the act of recounting her life. Instead, her narrative serves as the catalyst for transformation in her listener, Father Declan. Enda embodies resilience, moral autonomy, and a natural eloquence that allows her to articulate a life lived outside conventional religious and social laws. Her insistence on telling her story to Declan as a friend rather than as a priest in a confessional emphasizes her self-possession. She does not seek absolution because she does not believe she and Kevin have sinned. Though Declan points out how her and Kevin’s sexual encounter and deception are technically sins, Enda uses her story to illustrate how unique situations require deviations from what is considered “normal.” Instead or forgiveness, she seeks understanding and a faithful witness to her truth, thereby enacting The Power of Voicing Trauma on her own terms.

Enda’s strength is rooted in surviving a deeply traumatic childhood. After her mother’s death, she and her brother Kevin endure the neglect and violence of their father, who develops an addiction to alcohol. This shared suffering forges an unbreakable bond between them, culminating in a desperation they feel when they are locked in a freezing room and believe they have been left to die. Enda’s narrative frames their subsequent life together as a necessary transgression given their circumstances. Her pragmatic and unwavering perspective challenges the rigid moral frameworks of the Church. She and Kevin construct a private world, symbolized by the curtain ring they use as a mock wedding band, that allows them to live freely by presenting a conventional facade to the world. Her ability to create a loving, stable home with Kevin despite their shared trauma is proof of her fortitude and unwavering focus.

Despite her lack of formal education, Enda possesses a remarkable verbal and intellectual prowess. She cares deeply about language, often pausing to find the most precise word, which lends her storytelling a specific intention and power. This careful articulation makes her tale of her and Kevin’s life a persuasive account of her life’s moral landscape. Her intelligence is also evident in her shrewd understanding of people and social dynamics, which allowed her and Kevin to navigate the world as outsiders. In her final conversations with Father Declan, her observation that “we’re that alike in our needs, Father” demonstrates her capacity for empathy and her ability to see the shared desire that connects her to the priest (143), transcending their formal roles. She offers him a form of connection that is deeper and more equal than the hierarchical relationship of priest and parishioner.

Although deceased at the start of Enda’s full narrative, Kevin is a central figure whose character is fully realized through her memories and Father Declan’s recollections. As Enda’s brother and lifelong partner, he is portrayed as a figure of unwavering protection, practicality, and quiet strength. He is a round but static character, his core traits remaining consistent throughout Enda’s telling and Father Declan’s experiences. His primary motivation is the care and protection of Enda, a role he assumes in their traumatic childhood and maintains for the rest of his life. From devising their escape from their father’s tyranny to planning their future, his actions are always centered on securing their safety and building a life together.

Kevin is fundamentally a pragmatist and a man of action. While Enda is the eloquent storyteller, Kevin is the “doer.” He confronts their father with an axe, buys the curtain ring to create the illusion of their marriage, and possesses the physical skill and tireless work ethic to find jobs and support them in their travels. His competence earns him the respect of employers and community members, allowing him and Enda to establish themselves in Roonatellin. His practicality is the bedrock of their survival, providing the stability that allows their private world to flourish. 

Beneath his pragmatic exterior, Kevin possesses a largely unspoken inner life. Enda describes his fascination with kestrels, which he admired for the way they “sit, so high up, you know, with an entire view of the world before them yet with nothing in the world to ransom or fetter them” (86). This fascination reveals a longing for a kind of freedom and perspective that his difficult life, bound by necessity and secrecy, did not afford him. He is a man of few words, whose love and determination are expressed through constant, steady effort. His final act before dying is to attempt to tell their story to Father Declan, a last effort to ensure Enda’s protection and understanding after he is gone. Critically, Enda agreed to keep her and Kevin’s secret until he decided to share it, which he avoids until his deathbed. This decision between the siblings marks their understanding of Kevin’s role as a protector of both their physical well-being and their social security.

Enda and Kevin’s father functions as the primary antagonist of Enda’s childhood narrative. He is a flat and static character, defined by his cruelty, neglect, and addiction to alcohol. After the death of his wife, he descends into a state of grief-fueled despair that manifests as coldness and violence toward his children. The fact that grief pushes him to become abusive hints at a deeper element of his character, in that he is grappling with similar issues to Declan and Enda at the end of the novel. He is both lonely and missing a partner he relied on, but his expression of that grief serves to push away his remaining family. He forces them into adult labor at a young age and finds his only refuge in alcohol consumption. His character is not explored with psychological depth, since he is the source of the trauma that shapes Enda’s story and her life with Kevin. Locking Enda and Kevin in the unheated upstairs room to freeze to death is the event that cements their bond and forces them to create a moral and emotional world entirely separate from the one he has failed to provide. He represents the complete breakdown of patriarchal and societal protection, making their subsequent self-reliance both necessary and absolute.

Seamus O’Conner is a minor character who serves as Father Declan’s ghillie, or fishing guide, though Declan insists he does not need one. A flat and static character, he acts as a contrast to Declan’s seriousness and expertise at the river. By bringing up present, physical concerns, like the rain and bugs, Seamus distracts from Father Declan’s serious thoughts about Enda and Kevin. At 18, Seamus is inexperienced, cynical, and full of complaints about the terrible weather and poor fishing conditions. His constant negativity and shallow understanding of the sport contrast sharply with Declan’s persistent, spiritual dedication to the act of fishing. Seamus’s incompetence is highlighted comically during the netting of the salmon, where his clumsiness nearly costs Declan the fish. He shows a younger, more impatient generation, lacking the connection to nature and tradition that Declan embodies.