The speaker of the poem is an immigrant living in New York City, far from his tropical homeland. He carries a deep sense of alienation and isolation in the urban environment, standing separated from the natural world he once knew. The sight of imported fruits triggers an overwhelming wave of nostalgia, causing him to weep for the idealized pastoral life and community he left behind.

Born Festus Claudius McKay in Sunny Ville, Jamaica, he is a writer and poet who immigrates to the United States. He encounters harsh racism in his travels and becomes a fierce poetic advocate for civil rights, though he also writes deeply nostalgic poetry about his homeland. His life involves extensive travel, political activism, and a search for cultural identity.

Uriah is Claude McKay's older brother and a schoolteacher in Jamaica. He provides a formative intellectual environment for his younger brother. Alongside an English neighbor, Uriah introduces the young Claude to English literature and European philosophy.

Walter Jekyll is an Englishman residing in Jamaica who takes an interest in the young Claude McKay's education. He plays a crucial role in McKay's early development as a poet by encouraging him to embrace his roots and write in Jamaican dialect, leading to McKay's first published collection.

Eulalie is a woman from Jamaica who shares a long friendship with Claude McKay before their marriage in the United States. She struggles with the relocation and, within six months of their wedding, returns to her home country where she gives birth to their child.

James Weldon Johnson is a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance and a leading civil rights activist. He operates as an influential critic and advocate for Black writers, using his platform to praise McKay's poetry for its beauty and its powerful expression of racial struggles.