The antagonist, Mushari is a young lawyer who schemes to gain control of the Rosewater Foundation's funds. He is intelligent and unscrupulous, using deception to achieve his goals.

Eliot's influential father and a senator from Indiana, who allows a firm to manage the Rosewater Foundation as a tax haven. His character satirizes the privilege of the wealthy and powerful.

A fictional science fiction author who appears in many of Vonnegut's works. In this novel, he defends Eliot's actions as moral and compassionate rather than indicative of mental illness.

Eliot’s wife from Paris who comes from a wealthy, culturally elite family. She loves Eliot but struggles with her own mental health issues and the pressures of their lifestyle.

Eliot's second cousin, a financially struggling insurance salesman who is manipulated by Mushari. If Eliot is deemed incompetent, Fred would inherit stewardship of the Rosewater Foundation.

A trap fisherman and Chief of the Pisquontuit Volunteer Fire Department. He embodies exaggerated masculinity and, despite his image as strong and self-sufficient, faces financial struggles.