Little Flower is a pregnant woman belonging to the Likouala pygmy tribe in the Central Congo, measuring only 18 inches tall. To survive the hazardous jungle environment and the constant threat of cannibalistic tribes, she and her people live high in the trees. Although her life-size photograph reduces her to an object of fascination for Western newspaper readers, she maintains a profound, self-sufficient humanity. She expresses genuine joy, warmth, and an uncomplicated ability to love both people and objects.

Marcel Pretre is a French explorer and self-described man of the world who views his anthropological work as a marker of intellectual prestige. Driven by colonial curiosity, he discovers Little Flower and photographs her for a Sunday newspaper in Europe. He relies on scientific categorization to maintain superiority over his subjects, yet he finds himself deeply flustered and confused when Little Flower responds to him with genuine emotion.

The Mother is a Western reader of the Sunday newspaper who views the life-size photograph of Little Flower. While going through her grooming routine, she experiences a complex internal conflict between her inherent empathy for the pregnant pygmy woman and her need to maintain strict social distance. She struggles with the dark implications of her son's request to keep Little Flower as a toy. She ultimately chooses to perform a polite, refined smile that masks her anxiety.

The Boy is the son of The Mother, featured in the story's fifth vignette. Upon seeing the life-size photograph of Little Flower, he immediately expresses a desire to own her and use her as a plaything. His childish possessiveness prompts his mother to reflect on the dark, objectifying nature of love and curiosity.

The Family Cook is an employee in The Mother's household who previously shared a grim anecdote from her childhood. She grew up in an orphanage where girls once hid a companion's death so they could continue playing with the corpse like a doll. This story serves as a morbid parallel to the Western impulse to objectify and possess Little Flower.

The Little Girl is a five-year-old reader who views Little Flower's picture. Because she previously held the position of the smallest person in her own family, she feels a sense of displacement upon seeing someone even smaller. She uniquely relates to the vulnerable position of being the smallest. She recognizes it as a source of both affection and limitation.

The Young Bride is a newlywed woman who reacts to the Sunday newspaper with immediate pity for Little Flower. She views the pygmy woman's life as inherently sad. She demonstrates a patronizing but emotionally reactive form of Western compassion that is quickly shut down by her mother.

The Bride's Mother views Little Flower's photograph alongside her daughter. To dismiss the younger woman's compassion, she likens the pygmy woman to an animal. This action dehumanizes Little Flower and reinforces the mother's own sense of cultural superiority.

The Father is the patriarchal head of a family examining the photograph of Little Flower. When his wife and daughter begin expressing a deeper, physical connection regarding Little Flower's pregnancy, he abruptly shuts down the conversation to reestablish social control and boundary lines.

This mother participates in her family's fantasy of possessing Little Flower as a domestic servant. She engages in an animated discussion with her daughter about the size of Little Flower's unborn baby. She briefly connects with the African woman through shared aspects of motherhood before her husband ends the dialogue.

The daughter in the sixth vignette joins her family in imagining what it would be like to own Little Flower. She specifically focuses on the physical reality of Little Flower's unborn child. This allows her to experience a moment of female solidarity and curiosity that violates the family's patriarchal dynamic.

The Bantu tribe is a group in the Central Congo that hunts the Likouala pygmies. They capture the smaller tribe members with nets and eat them. Their literal consumption of human flesh serves as a physical counterpart to the cultural cannibalism and monstrous desire exhibited by the Western newspaper readers.

Little Flower's consort is a male member of the Likouala pygmy tribe. He resides in the high canopy of the Central Congo jungle with his pregnant partner. He helps her survive the environmental hazards and the constant threat of the cannibalistic Bantu tribe.

The Old Reader appears in the final vignette of the story. She views the photograph of Little Flower and subsequently dismisses the difficult implications of the image by making a reference to God. This action allows her to close the newspaper and restore the comfortable distance between her European context and Little Flower's reality.

The First Woman is a Sunday newspaper reader who encounters the life-size photograph of Little Flower. Unable to process the visual reality of the tiny, pregnant pygmy woman, she simply turns away from the image because looking at it causes her physical or emotional pain.

The Second Woman reacts to Little Flower's photograph with a perverse tenderness inspired by the African woman's smallness. The narrator notes that this specific type of twisted affection is a dangerous emotion, implicitly warning that leaving Little Flower alone with this woman's tenderness would lead to harm.