Winnie -  The protagonist, and is married to Willie. Winnie is buried in a mound of earth that grows higher each day as Willie lies in a hole behind her. She fills up her days with talk that Willie ignores, rituals with implements from her black bag, and with the nearly constant optimistic proclamation that today will be a "happy day."

Willie -  Married to Winnie and is her foil. Willie crawls in and out of his hole behind her and is generally off-stage. He ignores Winnie most of the time, either sleeping or reading his newspaper.

Shower/Cooker and fiancée  -  An imaginary couple that Winnie conjures up. Winnie sees them as holding hands and holding bags in their free hands, while they watch and discuss Winnie's condition.

Mildred -  A young girl. Winnie tells Mildred's story about undressing her doll in the middle of the night. It is unclear if Mildred is the young Winnie, or a pure fantasy.