Stan Parker 

Stan Parker, on the surface, is a simple man, but the internal monologue Patrick White gives his protagonist paints a much more complex individual. When he is young, Stan has no faith that he can understand the world around him, whether his parents, the poetry his mother loves, the God his father worships, or his own emotions. 

He thinks, "He was no interpreter … He was nothing much. He was a man." Much of what other characters in the novel see of Stan substantiates his assessment of himself. He is seen working his land, building his house, assisting neighbors with projects on their property, rescuing people from natural disasters, or attending church services. Stan acknowledges that he's not much of a talker and doesn't enjoy the conversation or company of other men. This makes him difficult to understand, not only for strangers and acquaintances but also for his own family. 

Beyond his reliability and dedication to the tasks of farm life, Stan's soul-searching is his defining feature. Late in the novel, in church, he thinks, "It is not possible, he considered, that I shall not eventually receive a glimpse. Which made him smile luminously." 

Stan has been on a lifelong psychological journey to understand his place, negotiate his purpose, and comprehend a spiritual force at work in the universe. He has sometimes taken to religion to mitigate his need to know. 

While at the communion service, Stan begins to believe that it is simply not possible that he will never know or understand the mystery of the world. And when he is approaching his imminent death, he experiences an epiphany. As he walks through his property, he reflects: 

I believe … in the cracks in the path. On which ants were massing … But struggling. Like the painful sun in the icy sky. Whirling and whirling. But struggling. But joyful. So much so, he was trembling.

In this vision, he observes and acknowledges the details of his world and gleans a truth about life from the mundane scene. There is work, there is struggle, but there is also fulfillment. This last statement of his theology aptly describes his life as depicted in the novel. 

Amy Parker

Amy Parker marries Stan when she is young and desperate to escape a situation where she is the primary caretaker of several younger relatives. Amy can be difficult to read like her husband, though her inner monologues reveal a greater sense of frustration than Stan's. 

Amy wants to understand her husband and her children, to see inside their minds. Despite moments of affection, "there were times also when she could not read their thoughts, when their faces became like little wooden boards, promising forever to remain flat and impregnable." Amy often feels disconnected from those she loves because she cannot access their inner thoughts. 

Ironically, she is just as difficult for others to understand. White remarks, "Stan Parker would sometimes fail to recognize his wife. He would see her for the first time. He would look at her and feel. This is a different one as if she had been several."

Amy wavers between periods of satisfaction and comfort and those of restlessness, the latter of which is best represented in her affair with Leo. She has difficulty expressing her true feelings clearly to others, as seen when she rushes to leave Mrs. O'Dowd's deathbed, overcome by emotion, but is judged as cold and aloof. She expresses strong passion in her scenes with Leo and when she seeks affection from a young Ray. However, she is also known to be secretive and...