Paul Proteus is the central protagonist of the story. Proteus’s name itself, which is taken from classical Greek mythology, suggests that he will be liable to be changing throughout the story. He begins the story as the manager of Ilium andthe son of a famous industrialist, with a beautiful wife and an upper-class life that seems to be set up for him. As the story develops, he abandons that life in favor of a simpler one. He struggles, however, to ever really find any agency in the novel. Even as the head of a revolutionary organization, he finds that decisions are made for him. By the end of the novel, he realizes that there should be a middle ground achieved between progress and human values. 

Wife of Paul Proteus, Anita’s origins are humble. She was born in the Homestead area with others in the lower social strata. Her marriage to Paul Proteus was her chance to rise out of those beginnings. Anita, however, seems unable to see a ceiling that will satisfy her insatiable need for climbing the socioeconomic ladder. Interestingly, Anita has artistic proclivities, which the current mechanized system cannot account for; though she is unable to see that in the world Paul envisions, her art would be able to thrive.