The Terra Cotta Girl
The main character of the poem is known only through description. Her orangish-brown complexion fits with the description of feet to indicate she hails from a rural part of a southern state. The ability to gain a permanent suntan as well as the direct reference to the deeply ingrained and shared adherence to the precepts of the Baptist denomination provide more than information to assume that she is a southern girl. However, her move away from home to college has put the fear into her mother than she is falling under the influence of less than conservative ideals as well as ideas like lesbian experimentation.
The Terra Cotta Girl's Mother
Southern born and raised. Heavily influenced by a Baptist church that may well have been the only church for miles with a congregation numbering more than a few hardy radical souls. So ingrained is her religious faith that she was seen fit to try to "fix" her daughter through counseling.
The Quiet Girl
Probably raised in a small town not that different from the one the terra cotta girl grew up in. A place defined by conservative Baptist beliefs. Likely it was this shared heritage that created the affinity between the two girls and thus led to the outbreak of fear and overreaction.
The Counselor
The setting is outside the counselor's so he, and it almost outside the realm of possibility that the counselor is not a he, is never actually present in the poem. It is his waiting room, however, and his presence is still palpably felt even if he is not in person. It should almost go without saying that this is not a counselor in the medical sense. The girl's mother did not make an appointment with a psychologist: the counselor is an agent of the Baptist church and the counseling is not intended to explore her feelings for the quiet girl, but to end them
