The collective voice and speaker of the poem, representing American working-class laborers. They are the agricultural and industrial workers who perform the world's great work and produce its food. Despite their immense power and the fact that great historical figures arise from them, they suffer from constant exhaustion and a historical tendency to forget past mistreatments.

An unnamed, symbolic figure representing the upper classes and cultural elite who oppress the working laborers. This entity uses the phrase "the people" as a derogatory term, speaking it with a sneer or a smile of derision. They maintain their power by exploiting the labor of the masses and keeping them trapped in a cycle of constant work and historical forgetting.

A famous historical military leader cited by the poem's speaker. Rather than being an independent creator of history, he is framed as a temporary, disposable figure who originates from the working mass and is eventually replaced by others of his kind once he dies.

A revered American historical leader. Like Napoleon, he is presented not as a standalone maker of history, but as a product of the collective working class. His presence emphasizes that even the most notable political figures are born from everyday laborers and are ultimately transient.

A personified conceptual entity within the poem's framework. Unlike the harsh economic and agricultural demands that continuously drain the working class, this entity is positioned as a potential, albeit morbid, reprieve from the endless cycle of exploitation and labor.