Tub

Tub is a heavy-set man who is the story's protagonist. Among the three friends at the core of the story, Tub is the lowest in the hierarchy. The other characters make fun of him, mercilessly at times, due to his weight. They show up an hour late, when he has been waiting outside in the cold, almost hitting him, on purpose, with the truck, and then they leave him behind when they go hunting. They don't offer him any help, and they even drive away, forcing him to have to run to catch up and jump into the truck bed. Tub, however, is a good friend. He offers emotional support to Frank and explains that this is what it means to be a friend: always having someone on your side.

Tub's central conflict is with his weight and his eating habits. This is an inner conflict, because he has developed a set of private habits by which he indulges his desire for food while outwardly pretending to diet carefully. This duplicity is a source of great shame for Tub, who feels that he is leading a double life. When he finally tells Frank about his struggles, Frank responds by allowing Tub to openly indulge his appetites, and it is not clear whether this is the form of support Tub needs.

Kenny

The nearly polar opposite of Tub is Kenny. He exhibits a toxic form of masculinity: he likes to make fun of others, look tough as if he has no feelings, and engage in aggressive behaviors, such as nearly hitting Tub with his truck and shooting at objects for no good reason. In a misguided attempt to look tough, he shoots an old dog (at the request of the dog's owner, who cannot bring himself to put the dog out of its misery) without telling the other men that he was asked to do so; after all, that might make it look like he has feelings. In return for his machismo, he gets shot when he appears to threaten Tub.

If Kenny is taken to be a symbol of toxic masculinity, the story represents a refutation of that set of values. After Tub shoots Kenny in self-defense, he and Frank attempt to take Kenny to the hospital. However, their efforts to do so become less and less urgent as they get lost and struggle against the cold. By the end of the story, Kenny has been suffering for hours and is entirely exposed to the freezing weather, and the truck is heading in the wrong direction. One reading of the story is that Frank and Tub form an unspoken alliance against Kenny and all that he represents, and thus their failing efforts to rescue him are, at some level, intentional.

Frank

Frank's personality is somewhere in between the extremes of Tub and Kenny. While Kenny is around, Frank tends to imitate his attitude and behavior, making fun of Tub and acting cruel. However, when Kenny is out of the way, injured and languishing in the truck bed, Frank and Tub have a chance to bond, express their true feelings, and confide in and support one another. In this, process, Frank reveals that he is struggling with feelings he has for a fifteen-year-old girl. He knows these feelings are inappropriate, but he cannot control them. Frank appears to be moved when Tub extends support rather than judgment regarding this vexed issue.