No names given whatsoever.

Father of the boy. Very protective, wants to live, strong, brave. Only thing keeping him alive is his son, whom he is ready to do anything for.

Travelling down the road with his father. Doesn't know much of the world before the apocalypse except of what his father tells him. He is very thoughtful, and caring. Whenever he sees someone else walking down the road he wants to help them. However, most of the time this is not possible (because they have low food supplies themselves). Can be stubborn at times, but mostly listens to what his father tells him.

Walking along the road alone. Bitter. Doesn't know why the boy and man stopped to help him. He is grateful, but doesn't show it.

Shown only through flashbacks of the man's memories. She wasn't strong enough to carry on through the apocalypse so she killed herself. The boy was very young so he doesn't really remember much of his mother. She was stubborn yet rational too.

His truck stopped and he got out to go to the bathroom when he ran across the man and the boy.

He gave stitches to himself!

Whenever they come across any source of food, the man knows how to check if it is edible.

Because the novel is written in the man's perspective, the reader doesn't get a sense of what the boy is feeling. We only see the responsibilities of the man and it's not until the very end where the man dies the boy gets the spotlight. We never see what is running through the boys head, we only see what the man thinks is running through the boys head.

The man dies, thinking that the entire world is evil and that no one can be trusted.

The boy represents the goodness left in mankind. He thinks that people can be nice and that they should help others. In a way he represents the new emerging race of mankind.

The man lost faith in the goodness of humanity, and along with his intense desire to keep his child protected, made him sometimes make the wrong calls. For example, at the end, the man who found the boy said they had to get off the roads. The man made sure they stayed on the roads.

He takes the man's rags. He basically kills a man.

Even though the father tries to portray themselves as the good guys, the boy is convinced that they killed the man by taking his clothes. The man tries to tell the boy that it was for their own good, but the boy feels like it is his responsibility to help out people in need.

Another conflict; the father killed the arrow man but does not want to admit it to his son. The son wants to make sure that the arrow man is okay and trusts that his father is telling him the truth.