Mandisa

• Mandisa is the protagonist of the novel and at the same time the narrator, as the events are told from her point of view as a first-person narrator
• She is the mother of Amy Biehl's killer, Mxolisi, and two other children named Lunga and Siziwe, but they are from different fathers
• She lives with the father of Siziwe, Dwadwa, in a modest dwelling in one of Cape Town's townships called Guguletu, not far from the police station
• As a teenager, Mandisa was at the top of her class and pursued the goal of going to college after high school. It was her pregnancy with Mxolisi that threw her plans into disarray. After she gave birth to her first baby, she initially attended evening classes, but soon she could no longer find the time to study and it became impossible for her to pay for school on her own
• In order to be able to feed her family, Mandisa works as a housekeeper for her white boss Mrs. Nelson. The work does not pay nearly enough and yet the mother of three children only comes home in the evening

Mxolisi

• Mxolisi represents Mandisa's first-born son, whom she gave birth to in 1972
• At the time of the event, Mxolisi is 20 years old
• At his birth, the young man was given the name Hlumelo, which stands for a new beginning or fresh start. Only through his father China he was renamed Mxolisi
• Neither Mxolisi's father China nor his mother Mandisa perceived his birth as enriching. Thus, Amy Biehl's murderer experiences rejection and resentment from a very early age on
• Mxolisi witnessed the murder of two friends at the age of four. After the incident, the boy did not speak a word for two years. Mandisa is certain that this experience, despite the numerous therapy sessions that followed, triggered a trauma in Mxolisi
• His mother Mandisa depicts her oldest son as "tall and muscular" (p. 7, l. 25) and according to her, he has got a "giraffelike" (p. 7, l. 23) figure
• Mxolisi stands out not for exemplary but lazy and inconsiderate behaviour. This includes annoying his siblings as well as the boy's constant absence as he is once again on the road, moving from friend to friend
• Mandisa's son is on the streets most of the day, together with a group of other young men. They parade through the streets performing traditional African war dances and themselves demonstrating for the rights of the black population with vandalism as well as rioting in Guguletu

Amy Elizabeth Biehl

• Biehl is an American, white student who came to Cape Town through an exchange programme
• She wears “long thick dark” (p. 5, l. 24) hair
• Amy has an athletic body that gives her an upright and strong posture
• Mandisa describes Amy as “the type of person who has absolutely no sense of danger” (p. 2, l. 18f) if she thinks she’s doing the right thing. Mandisa adds that the girl would probably lack a “natural sense of unease” (p. 3, l. 7f)
• Amy Biehl saw it as her calling to help the black population in Cape Town prepare for the first democratic elections in years
• Amy is known by her friends as "a very good friend" (p. 12, l. 7f) and she always helps wherever she can
• Amy's nature is described as enthusiastic (p. 12) and generous (p. 13). She quickly becomes excited about things and approaches her projects with great passion

China

• China is Mxolisi's biological father, with whom Mxolisi has no contact except for a few moments while he still was a child
• Back in his youth, China was a good student and boyfriend to Mandisa, whom he never pushed into sex or wouldn't have respected her wishes and boundaries. The relationship between the two teenagers was of the harmless kind and it was simply an innocent and almost childlike first love
• However, the once loving boyfriend shows a different side when he learns that Mandisa is pregnant. Since the two have never had actual sexual intercourse with each other, he first accuses his girlfriend of cheating. He cannot explain how she could get pregnant by petting alone
• The young man had plans to go to university and have a stellar career. The fact that he was unable to take advantage of this opportunity because of Mandisas pregnancy is something he bears with her for the rest of his life

Lunga

• The boy is the brother of Mxolisi and Siziwe and the second child of Mandisa
• Lunga's father Lungile also leaves Mandisa shortly after the birth of her second son
• Mandisa describes that Lunga was rather lanky and small for his age. The physical inferiority becomes particularly clear when Lunga stands next to his strong and older brother Mxolisi
• Unlike his older brother, Lunga still attends school regularly and goes to his lessons. He is not yet part of one of the rebellious groups that demolish cars in the streets and rebel against the school system in the name of the Operation Barcelona campaign
• He and his sister Siziwe both feel that their mother prefers Mxolisi to them both and loves him more than they both do

Siziwe

• The girl is in infancy and represents the only daughter of the mother Mxolisis
• Even though Siziwe is still very young, she is just as influenced by what happens at home as the rest of the family. For her, the fact that her older brother is supposed to be responsible for the murder of the white student is very traumatic
• At first, the girl closes herself off inside after the murder of Amy Biehl and seems paralyzed by the possibility that her brother was the killer
• But a little later the daughter opens up to her mother and confesses that on the day of the crime she saw Mxolisi hiding something in the shed
• Just like Lunga, she is regularly bullied by Mxolisi and has to submit to the word of her eldest brother at all times

Dwadwa

• Dwadwa is the biological father of Mandisa's only daughter Siziwe and lives together with his wife Mandisa and their three children in a simple dwelling in Guguletu
• Although Dwadwa is a working and good husband who takes care of his small family and also treats his adopted sons Lunga and Mxolisi as his own children, it is Mandisa who bears the main responsibility for the family
• Mandisa's husband senses early on that Mxolisi will cause problems. He warns his wife that it is only a matter of time before Mxolisi goes over the top and at the same time he treats the boy like one of his own sons