The four conspirators in the plan constitute the main cluster of characters in The Lynchers, although they are ringed by lovers, family, and community members. Littleman, Wilkerson, Saunders, and Rice form an uneasy alliance based not on friendship but on need, brought together by Littleman and unable to maintain coherence after he cannot participate.

Littleman is the orchestrator of the plan, A cripple, he uses his cane and his tongue with equal fervor. He seems rational early in the book, an intellectual, a radical, a man obsessed with issues of race and class, but an eloquent spokesman against the evil and injustice he sees in his world. His passion ignites all the other characters — he draws them into the plan and makes it seem possible. He articulates for the other characters the disparity and despair in their lives, and his words offer them a way out. After...