One of the main conflicts of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy is between the various groups and characters in Phippsburg. One group of characters, led by Mr. Stonecrop and Deacon Hurd, want racist, patriarchal, and economic power hierarchies to remain intact. Although they claim that they are forward-thinking and want to change their town for the better—“if this town is going to survive, we need not only hotels to house tourists, we need goodwill to bring them in” (128)—their attitude is racist, prejudiced, and motivated by what benefits them the most.

The other group of characters, which includes Turner and Mrs. Hurd, evaluate people based on personal qualities like courage, humor, intelligence, and kindness. They want a community that uses these metrics to determine worth. Mr. Newton, for example, freely offers to take Turner to the hospital to try and find Lizzie (197), signaling that he belongs to the progressive group. Turner’s own allegiance to this group is demonstrated when he tells Lizzie that her skin color, “won’t make a bit of difference” when he offers her Mrs. Cobb’s house (167). Turner discards the town’s benchmarks of success or personal worth based on race.