Sonny

The novel's protagonist, Sonny is a high school senior and lives in a rooming house with his best friend Dwayne. His mother is dead, and his father runs the local domino parlor. Sonny has lived in Thalia his whole life, but he is still sometimes overwhelmed by the loneliness of the town. He breaks up with his girlfriend Charlene at the end of football season and starts sleeping with Ruth Popper, the football coach's wife. Sonny is kind-hearted and gentle, but he is sometimes overwhelmed by the enormity of Ruth's need and love for him. Sonny loves Sam the Lion and Billy, both of whom die in the course of the novel. Sonny's eye is seriously injured after Dwayne hits him with a beer bottle, making him ineligible for military service.

Billy

Billy is a mentally challenged boy who was abandoned by his father and now lives with...