Leave Taking Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Enid

A Jamaican-born mother in London who came on the Windrush believing she was going home. She buried her sister's death and her own displacement under silence and discipline — and loses the daughter she raised to the truth she refused to tell.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Party Nobody Wants; Part 2: The Sister's Child; Part 3: Grey Skies, Old Ghosts; Part 4: The Truth and the Leaving
Themes:: Displacement and belonging; Family secrets and the cost of silence; The dead and the unfinished rituals; Mothers, daughters, and impossible promises

Del

Enid's other daughter, the one who stayed behind, drunk and furious at a party meant for her sister. Learning she is her dead aunt's child confirms a lifetime of feeling she belongs nowhere, and she leaves to find out who she is.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Party Nobody Wants; Part 2: The Sister's Child; Part 3: Grey Skies, Old Ghosts; Part 4: The Truth and the Leaving
Themes:: Displacement and belonging; Family secrets and the cost of silence; Mothers, daughters, and impossible promises

Viv

The daughter going to university, the one the party is for. She resists her mother's control, defends her sister, and urges Del to take responsibility — then leaves the next day as planned.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Party Nobody Wants; Part 2: The Sister's Child
Themes:: Mothers, daughters, and impossible promises

Brod

A retired postman and obeah man who sees through Enid's evasions. He pours libation, reads the candle, and keeps insisting the truth is the only thing that can save Del.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Party Nobody Wants; Part 2: The Sister's Child; Part 3: Grey Skies, Old Ghosts; Part 4: The Truth and the Leaving
Themes:: Displacement and belonging; Family secrets and the cost of silence; The dead and the unfinished rituals

How they are connected

Key relationships

Del Enid
Enid's other daughter, the one who stayed behind, drunk and furious at a party meant for her sister.
Viv Del
She resists her mother's control, defends her sister, and urges Del to take responsibility — then leaves the next day as planned.
Brod Enid
A retired postman and obeah man who sees through Enid's evasions.
Brod Del
He pours libation, reads the candle, and keeps insisting the truth is the only thing that can save Del.

Go deeper

Leave Taking themes & symbols

Displacement and belonging · Family secrets and the cost of silence · The dead and the unfinished rituals · Mothers, daughters, and impossible promises

Themes explained

Read the full Leave Taking summary

The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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