Said

Said (sah-EED), an Arab thief and a traitor, uncommitted to any person or cause. Indigent and unwed, twenty-year-old Said acquiesces to marrying Leila, the ugliest girl in the village. He dreams of going to France to purchase a new wife but until then spends time at the bordello. Requiring money to fulfill his dreams, he begins to steal from his fellow workers in the orange groves and is thrown in jail. After his release, Said is ostracized by the farmworkers but protected by the French colonial bosses. When the rebellion gains momentum, he is given an assignment but sells out to the French Legion for money. After returning to the village, he is executed. Said does not appear in the land of the dead but disappears into nothingness.

The Mother

The Mother, Said’s impoverished mother. She is caustically humorous and fond of impersonating the sounds of barnyard animals. She derides her daughter-in-law, Leila, for being ugly and idiotic. She is ostracized by her peers for her son’s thievery and is forced to wander from village to village, residing in public dumps. She accidentally kills a soldier before dying and is thus revered by the revolution. She arrives in the land of the dead to find her peers and the soldier she murdered all very amiable. She warns her son not to serve any facet of the rebellion or any purpose whatsoever.

Leila

Leila, Said’s hideously ugly wife, who wears a black hood over her face. She readily accepts her plight in life. To be with Said, who she knows detests her, she takes up stealing. When she is not on the run with her mother-in-law from village to village, she is in prison with Said. Said puts out one of her eyes, and she accepts this as a good thing. Like Said, she has no passion for the rebellion. When Leila dies, she, like her husband, disappears into nothingness.

Warda

Warda, a prideful whore in her forties. She views prostitution in a shroud of glamour and mystery. She does not undress before her clients as the French whores do but instead makes the men undress. Her time is spent more on clothes and makeup than in the art of sex. During the revolution, façades are stripped away, and Warda is disgraced by becoming a commercial sex toy. Her only joy is that she is murdered by a group of jealous village housewives.

Djemila

Djemila (jeh-MEE-leh), an Algerian whore who arrives from France. She brings with her the French custom of undressing for her patrons, which soon becomes the standard.

Malika

Malika, a young, inexperienced whore under Warda’s wings.

Kadidja

Kadidja (kah-DEE-jeh), a gamy, base, sixty-year-old Arab woman. She organizes the rebellion, draws the men into it, and eventually dies for the cause. She leads the village women to ostracize Said’s mother for her son’s crimes. After venting her hatred at Sir Harold, she is killed by his son. Her death manages to stir up more trouble. Kadidja arrives in the land of the dead and is infuriated that the conquering revolutionaries are becoming like their European foes.

Sir Harold

Sir Harold, a narcissistic French colonist. He is prideful and obsessed with his self-image. He employs Arabs in his orange groves and keeps a close tab on them, even leaving behind his glove—stuffed with straw—as a symbol of his presence. Because he views all Arabs as thieves, he is not pleased when they take it on themselves to isolate Said for stealing. Sir Harold is killed in the revolution and retires to the land...