Patty is the narrator and protagonist of Patina. Patty is strong and determined on and off the track, although she struggles with anger and places immense pressure on herself to succeed. This pressure to succeed mostly plays out on the track. Patty uses her involvement in running and the track team both to honor her parents who can no longer run, but also to avoid addressing her problems. In this way, Patty serves as her own antagonist.

Patty has a strong desire to be considered “regular” and fit in, although nothing about her upbringing has been regular. Patty experienced multiple intense traumas at a young age: She lost her father suddenly, and her mother’s legs were amputated due to diabetes. Although she is cared for by her aunt Momly and Uncle Tony, these early traumas cause Patty to depend only on herself and to feel the need to take care of others. This is especially true in the case of Patty’s younger sister, Maddy, for whom Patty feels she needs to care for. Despite her devotion to taking care of others, Patty acknowledges that the pressure is “too much” (182) for her at times.

Patty develops the ability to depend on others and work as a member of a team. After Patty reacts negatively to her second-place finish at the first track meet of the season, Coach assigns Patty to the 4 x 800 relay to teach her a lesson about teamwork. At school, Patty also works on a group project with three peers she does not feel connected to. With help from Momly, her aunt, Patty learns to rely on others and to not feel like she must do everything herself, although she does succeed in taking on leadership roles. As much as Patty learns how to trust and support others, she also learns how to let herself be supported and to have others take on some of the burden that she often feels she needs to carry by herself. 

Maddy is Patty’s younger sister. She often serves as comedic relief in the narrative with her youthful questions and forwardness, but there is depth to her character and her larger function in the text. Maddy’s young age at the time of the story often serves as a contrast to Patty’s own lack of a childhood, and Patty is determined to keep Maddy’s innocence intact. Though Maddy has not had the same struggles as Patty, the text implies that Maddy may someday come to know her own unique struggle as she has never known life as anything other than a “raisin in milk” as the only Black kid in a nearly all-white school (29).

Although Maddy was not yet born or very young at the time of her familial upheaval, there is evidence that the trauma Patty struggles to process affects Maddy as well. When Momly is in the hospital after the car accident, Maddy fears that the doctors will “anfiltrate” Momly’s arm (159). Patty also recognizes in Maddy an underlying anxiety about the outcome of things that other children without her prior experiences might not possess. Patty states: “I could look in her face and see that she wasn’t so sure that things were going to be fine” (159). Maddy’s frame of reference for things at times goes beyond her age because of what she has experienced in her young life.

Maddy has been cared for by Patty for much of her life, and she relies on Patty for emotional stability and strength. There is evidence of this when Maddy asks Patty to write a letter to their mother’s legs, or to pinky promise to never lose her legs, and Patty joins the track team as a result. It is mentioned multiple times throughout the text that Maddy has a preoccupation with being physically strong. She often tries to pick Patty up, and at the hospital after the car accident, she goes as far as to try to pick up both Momly’s doctor and her hospital bed. This interest in strength and being physically strong indicates that Maddy desires to externalize what she sees as Patty’s internal strength.

Though the story only takes place over the course of the week, Maddy experiences a lot during the arc of the narrative and shows evidence of growth by its end. The morning of Patty’s track meet, Patty asks Maddy to help braid the back of her hair, something that Patty has always done for Maddy. Maddy does this (albeit a somewhat loose job) and is able to give back to Patty some of the care that Patty has always shown her.

Ma is Patty and Maddy’s biological mother. After the unexpected death of her husband, Ma used food, specifically desserts, to cope with her loss. This leads her to develop diabetes, which eventually requires the amputation of both her legs. Ma is religious and requires that Patty and Maddy attend church with her every Sunday. She is strict, but this comes from a place of wanting the best for them, even if it means that she questions when Patty wears nail polish.

In a show of great selflessness and love, she sent Patty and Maddy to live with her brother, Uncle Tony, and his wife, Emily (“Momly”). Despite no longer being able to solely care for her daughters, Ma remains an important figure in their life. Patty runs in part for Ma. Ma shows up for her daughters in the capacity that she is able, and frequently tells Patty that she “don’t make no junk” (24), which Patty uses as inspiration and affirmation in times of frustration or self-doubt.

Despite her struggles, Ma is a consistent figure in Patty’s life. She reaffirms this when she comes to Patty’s track meet on a day she normally uses for rest between dialysis appointments. She shows up to support Patty and shows growth and acknowledgment of Patty’s increasing maturity by not giving her a hard time for wearing fingernail polish.

Momly is one of the more complex characters in the text, although at first, she seems flat. There is some initial tension between Patty and Momly: Momly is white and therefore cannot do Black hair (leaving Patty to do Maddy’s hair, for example), and Patty views Momly as in some ways trying to usurp Patty as caretaker for Maddy.

Momly proves herself to be one of the people in Patty’s life that is there for her the most. She consistently tries in subtle ways to lighten Patty's burden by driving Patty and Maddy to school and church, caring for Ma, and helping Maddy with her homework so that Patty doesn’t have to. Even if some of her attempts are a bit misguided (she makes turkey wings every night after Patty made an offhand comment that she liked them), Momly operates from a place of love and wanting the best for Patty and Maddy.

Patty and Momly have a lot in common, although Patty does not realize this at first. In a rare conversation in which Momly talks about herself, she tells Patty of her difficult upbringing after her mother suffered a stroke. Much like Patty, she was left without a mother and father at a young age and had to figure out life for herself. She gives Patty one of the most important pieces of advice in the text relating to the theme of the lingering effects of childhood trauma: “Folks who try to do everything are usually avoiding one thing” (146).

When the accident happens, Patty realizes how much Momly does for her, and how much Patty and her family do not need to worry about simply because Momly takes care of it. The relationship between Momly and Patty is one of the more central to the text and is established as such not just by their similarities, but when Momly insists that Patty attend practice and her track meet after the accident. Momly wants to give Patty the chance at having a more normal childhood, or at least to access a childhood while Patty can still do so. Although Momly never comes out and says so explicitly, through her actions she communicates her deep love for Patty and desire to support her and her growth.

Uncle Tony is Patty and Maddy’s paternal uncle, and he has primary custody of them with his wife, Momly. Uncle Tony is partially responsible for Patty’s interest in running because he always told stories of Patty’s father sending photos and videos of Patty learning to walk and run as a toddler. These stories, though Patty doesn’t remember them herself, inspire her to begin running as a member of the track team.

Uncle Tony often acts as comedic relief, but in the poignant and emotional climax of the narrative, it is Uncle Tony who enables Patty to give in to her emotions. Uncle Tony comes to Patty’s room after returning home from the hospital after Momly and Maddy’s car accident. He brings her an empty plate and tells her that there is a strawberry cupcake on it, which was her father’s specialty. He encourages Patty to express how she is really feeling. He shares his own sadness and vulnerability in losing his brother, and with this gesture, Patty gives in to her sadness and mourns the loss of her chance at a “regular” upbringing and childhood.

Becca serves as an example for Patty that her initial assumptions about others, especially those who are wealthy, are not always correct. Although Becca is undoubtedly wealthy, Patty finds that this does not equal automatic happiness. Becca’s parents, both astrophysicists, are rarely home, and often leave Becca in her grandmother’s care. This bothers Becca, which Patty connects to because of her own life experiences.

While Patty and others at Chester Academy are preoccupied with fitting in, Becca seems content to stand out. She unapologetically leans into her interest in space and the universe and is unconcerned when TeeTee and Taylor find her space-themed bedroom decorations odd.

Becca also proves herself to be a trustworthy person and partner. She is Patty’s first real connection at Chester Academy after inviting Patty to sit with her at lunch and takes a genuine interest in what Patty has to say. She is the only one that tries to take on responsibility for their group project and encourages their teacher to change the parameters of the project to make the workload more equal. Though Patty and Becca do not become close friends over the course of the text, Becca is an important figure in the story as a support to Patty and a reminder about the importance of revising one’s assumptions.