The unnamed narrator of the poem serves as a philosophical stand-in for the poet. He holds a fatalistic view of human inheritance and family dynamics, believing that misery naturally passes down from generation to generation. Rather than expressing anger, he views this cycle as an inescapable condition of human existence.

The parents represent the preceding generation in the poem's central argument. They pass down their own inherited personality flaws and unintentionally add extra psychological damage through their specific child-rearing choices. The text notes that they do not deliberately mean to harm their offspring but are trapped in a cycle over which they have no control.

A prominent English poet born in Coventry in 1922 who works as a librarian for his entire adult life. He associates loosely with the Movement, writing formal, traditional verse for ordinary people. He experiences fear and boredom during his childhood and purposefully avoids marriage and children to break the cycle of family unhappiness.

The older generation of parents, representing a Victorian-era approach to family life. They maintain a difficult emotional environment characterized by strict, mock-serious lectures and frequent arguments. Their behavior establishes the foundational misery that eventually passes down to the speaker's generation.

The second-person addressee of the text. The speaker treats the reader as a fellow participant in the unavoidable cycle of human unhappiness. They receive the speaker's final advice regarding harm reduction: to leave the family home early and refuse to procreate.

Philip's father and the local city treasurer. He encourages his son's early interest in English literature and jazz, buying him a set of drums. However, his quick-tempered, dogmatic personality and dominance over his wife create an atmosphere of constant friction in the family home.

Philip's mother, who runs the household to please her dominating husband. She exhibits a negative, resentful, and self-pitying attitude that makes the family home unwelcoming for her son. Despite these complaints, she outlives her husband by 29 years and corresponds with Philip twice a week for over three decades.

Philip Larkin's older sister. She is ten years his senior and grows up in the same Coventry household managed by their mother and dogmatic father.