The Boy is the eldest child of a Black sharecropping family living on a sprawling plantation in the 19th-century American South. He handles daily chores like gathering firewood and looking after his siblings while his mother works. Lonely and confined to the farm, he desperately wants to learn how to read so he can enjoy stories on his own. He holds a deep affection for his family and their hunting dog.

Sounder is a mixture of Georgia redbone hound and bulldog with a broad chest and a great square jaw. He possesses a remarkably loud and clear voice that carries across the countryside. As a highly skilled tracker, he helps the family catch possums and raccoons to sell for much-needed cash.

The Mother works constantly to support her children and pay rent to the plantation landlord. She spends her days shelling walnuts, doing field work, cooking, and maintaining the small cabin. To comfort her eldest son, she recites biblical stories from memory. She hums nervously whenever she worries about her family's safety.

The Father is a quiet sharecropper who struggles to provide for his family during a harsh, windy winter. He relies on hunting in the woods with Sounder to bring in extra income for winter clothing and food. Desperate to feed his wife and children, he takes risks that attract the attention of local law enforcement.

The Schoolteacher is an elderly, kind man with white hair who lives in a town cabin. He offers the boy a chance to wash up and provides a safe harbor from the hostility of the surrounding area. Recognizing the boy's intense desire to learn to read, he offers him an education in exchange for help with household chores.

The younger children of the sharecropping family spend their time playing around the cabin. They rely on their older brother to look after them while their parents work or travel to town.

The Sheriff manages the county jail where the father is held. He possesses a bull-necked appearance and a hostile, suspicious attitude toward the sharecropping family. He deliberately crushes a homemade cake out of claimed suspicion.

Three white lawmen who arrive unannounced at the family cabin. They chain the father and force him into their wagon, shouting racial slurs and threatening violence to enforce their authority.

The Prison Guard watches over forced laborers outside of town. When he notices the boy standing near the wire fence looking for his father, he cruelly throws an iron scrap at him, laughing at the resulting injury.

Children from nearby sharecropping cabins who occasionally visit the family's home. They provide brief moments of socialization and demonstrate Sounder's friendly disposition.