The protagonist and narrator of The Gold Cadillac, ’lois seems to be an older child or pre-teen. She observes relationships between people, especially her parents, with interest, and is curious about the world around her and why it works the way it does. ’Lois is close to her sister, Wilma, and loves the neighborhood she lives in. Over the course of the novel, her innocent, childlike perception of the world and the people in it is replaced by a wiser, more mature outlook. She has been altered not only by the trauma of the road trip but by the understanding that she can hold her head high when her father sells the fancy Cadillac, which had provoked both the conflict within her family and with the racist police officers. ’Lois realizes that the appearance of prosperity symbolized by the car is less important than the safety and happiness of her family. Even if others think the family has fallen on hard times, she knows her family is safe and intact and working toward their goal of a new house.

The second half of the novella is centered on ’lois’s first-person experience of racism and her resulting fear and confusion.