Characterization in Vargas Llosa's novel does not emphasize psychological development. He describes each character's existence on a surface level and rarely delves into the motives behind his actions. Thus motivation is ambiguous and unclarified. It is part of the author's strategy to involve the reader, for it is left to each reader to discern a character's motives from dialogue and from given situations and circumstances.

The characters whose stories unfold in the settings of Piura and Santa Maria de Nieva are Bonifacia, also known as Wildflower, Jum of Urakusa, Fushia, Anselmo, and a group known as Los Inconquistables. The most memorable is Bonifacia, an eight-to-nine-year-old Aguaruna Indian girl who is abducted by Spanish nuns to be converted at their jungle mission. There she is given the Christian name Bonifacia. Years later, as a young woman, she marries a soldier identified merely as the Sergeant, stationed at the military...