Characters
- Dina Shroff (later, Dina Dalal when married to Rustom Dalal)
- Ishvar Darji
- Omprakash "Om" Darji (Ishvar's nephew)
- Maneck Kohlah
- Nusswan Shroff (Dina's brother)
- Zenobia (Dina's friend)
- Mrs. Gupta (Zenobia's Client/Dina's boss)
- Vasantrao Valmik (the proofreader and lawyer)
- Ibrahim (the rent collector)
- Dukhi Mochi (father of Ishvar and Narayan)
- Thakur Dharamsi (killed Om's father and is later in charge of the Family Planning)
- Ashraf Chacha (Dukhi's friend. A tailor)
- Nawaz (Ashraf's friend)
- Rajaram (initially, a hair collector and later, Bal Baba)
- Monkey-man (a resident of the slum who kills Beggarmaster)
- Aban Kohlah (Maneck's mother)
- Farokh Kohlah (Maneck's father)
- Avinash (Maneck's good friend that mysteriously disappears, President of the Student Union and Chairman of the Hostel Committee)
- Sergeant Kesar
- Shankar (the crippled beggar) also known as Worm who rolls on the ground
- Beggarmaster (Step or Half Brother of Shankar) and who controls all the beggars
- Shanti (a girl in the slum)
- Jeevan (Tailor who was with Om and Ishvar in their first assignment)
- Ruby Shroff (Nusswan's wife)
- Rustom Dalal (Dina's deceased husband)
- Shirin Aunty (Rustom's uncle)
- Darab Uncle (Rustom's uncle)
- Mr Toddywalla (chatty man at the music recitals)
- Fredoon (Dina's male friend)
- Xerxes and Zarir (Ruby and Nusswan's children)
- Narayan Darji (Ishvar's brother.) Ordered flogged, burned and hanged by Thakur Dharamsi because he (along with two other men) demanded they be given a ballot.
- Kim ( lazy child )
- Pandit Lalluram (a Brahmin)
Read more about this topic: A Fine Balance
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“When the characters are really alive before their author, the latter does nothing but follow them in their action, in their words, in the situations which they suggest to him.”
—Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936)
“Of all the characters I have known, perhaps Walden wears best, and best preserves its purity. Many men have been likened to it, but few deserve that honor. Though the woodchoppers have laid bare first this shore and then that, and the Irish have built their sties by it, and the railroad has infringed on its border, and the ice-men have skimmed it once, it is itself unchanged, the same water which my youthful eyes fell on; all the change is in me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)