The story’s protagonist, Nick Adams is a sensitive young man who joins his father on the trip to the Indigenous camp. Although the text does not explicitly state this, one gets the sense that he does so reluctantly. For much of the story, Nick simply observes his father’s actions, following orders when told to do so. A brief exchange in which Nick’s father rebukes the boy for saying that he knows about pregnancy suggests that he wishes to impress his father.

Nick shows himself to be an inquisitive boy. Throughout the story, he asks his father a number of questions, including those about death and dying. He is also sensitive and less used to the masculine bravado and bloody nature of his father’s profession. He turns away three times during gory scenes, though he cannot avoid seeing the dead Indigenous man’s slit throat or the pool of blood he lays in.

The narrator says that by the end of the story, Nick felt sure he would never die. The ambiguous wording points to a couple of possibilities. He may feel that he will never die because of his closeness to his father, who is rowing the boat away from the camp and who helped deliver the baby.