The Seven Young Men are a group of adolescent boys playing pool during school hours in a Chicago neighborhood. Seeking comfort and safety in numbers, they form a voluntary brotherhood united by boredom, youthful bravado, and a desire to escape adult responsibilities. Despite their defiant posturing and dedication to reckless fun, they harbor a fatalistic understanding of their precarious place in society.

The civilian and police forces representing the racially unjust society of 1950s America. Though they do not physically appear inside the pool hall, they exist as the systemic, aggressive power that targets marginalized youth. This oppressive presence provides the grim, realistic context for the boys' prediction of a premature death.

The teachers, administrators, and parents who represent the orderly world of mainstream society. They embody the tedious responsibilities and rules that the young men view as suffocating, prompting the boys to seek autonomy within the walls of the pool hall instead of attending class.