The boy is a youth tasked with cutting stove-wood on a rural farm in New England. Though described as doing a man's work, he remains a child at heart, longing for a half-hour reprieve from his exhausting chores. He represents innocence in an increasingly industrialized environment, pushing himself to meet adult expectations while still possessing a child's vulnerabilities.

The buzz saw is a piece of industrial machinery used to cut wood for fuel. It is described with animate qualities, making mechanical rattling sounds alongside animalistic snarls. It operates with a menacing presence, acting as an unpredictable and indifferent force of industrialization that threatens the safety of the rural workers.

The sister is a young girl on the farm who performs domestic duties, contrasting with the heavy industrial labor of her brother. Wearing an apron, she acts as a messenger to call the farm workers to their evening meal. Her sudden arrival introduces a brief distraction to the routine yard work.

The speaker is an anonymous observer who reconstructs the events in the rural farmyard. They maintain a calm and somber tone, taking in both the natural beauty of the Vermont mountains and the mechanical menace of the wood-cutting operation. Although largely detached, the speaker harbors a quiet empathy for the working youth.

The doctor is a medical professional called to the rural farm to assist with an emergency. He brings modern medical intervention into the agricultural setting, employing ether to anesthetize his patient. He represents clinical authority and the limitations of scientific intervention.