The main characters of both novels are the mother, the narrator (or Suzanne in The Sea Wall), and her brother (Joseph in The Sea Wall; unnamed in The Lover). In the latter novel there is also a younger brother, Pablo, who dies young, and of whom the narrator seems to have been rather fond. In reality Duras had two brothers, one of whom she says was sent to France and they saw little of. One of the narrator's schoolmates, Helene Lagonelle, and friends of hers in Paris during the war occupy a secondary, although not unimportant role. The lover from Cholen is a major figure in the second work as well. Suzanne's potential lover, M. Jo, and Agosti, who becomes her lover at the very end, as well as the wealthy woman who takes Joseph as her lover are important characters to the first work.

The character of...