Will is the protagonist of the novel. Throughout much of the novel, his primary characteristic is his self-centeredness. He must leave his hometown to go live with his aunt’s family. He is unhappy about this because he lost his entire family in one way or another to death due to the Civil War. His Uncle Jed did not fight in the Civil War on moral grounds, and Will refuses to see him as anything but a traitor and a coward, leaving him unhappy about having to live in the man’s house. Because Will is unable to empathize with other people due to his self-centeredness, he does not show his uncle the respect the man believes he deserves and is disdainful of him, even though his uncle has given him a place to live and food to eat. His self-centeredness also makes him unable and unwilling to see the losses other people faced in the war. For a long time, all he sees are his own difficulties.

The characteristic Will prizes most in the novel is courage. He is coming of age during a time of war and the reconstruction that happens after it. Therefore, battlefront bravery is a central concern for him.