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Ramuz’s novels feature two distinct categories of characters: singular individuals and recurring types. The first category includes protagonists whose arrival upsets the balance of village communities, highlighting the rifts between them. They include Juliette in La Beauté sur la terre, Besson, the basket-maker in Passage du poète, Joël in L’Amour du monde, and Caille in Les Signes parmi nous. While their functions are similar, each character is unique. The second category of community members are the villagers, a small world of peasants, craftsmen, families, young lovers but also outcasts. All of them, as the writer often reminds us, are “placed next to each other.” The characters, as well as the situations and stories conjured up, are elements that Ramuz reprises as he sees fit from one text to the next, like so many variations on the same themes.