Character Analysis
Will has a big family. No really, here they all are: Roger (dad), Alice (mom), Stephen, Robin, Paul, Max, James, Barbara, Gwen, Mary, and Tom (who's dead). We'd hate to grocery shop for this group every week.
Will's the seventh son of a seventh son, so there are a lot of people roaming around their farm—too many people, if you ask his brother James. We see the family have petty fights with one another and get on each other's nerves, just like every family does. In other words, size—and Will—aside, they're pretty ordinary.
Even though we don't get to meet Will's older brother Stephen, and Tom dies before the book even begins, the whole clan is super important to our understanding of our main guy. Paul is always looking out for Will, offering to sleep nearby when Will is scared of the storm early on in the book, which helps us understand that Will is still very much a kid when we meet him, someone who needs to be looked out for. His oldest sister Gwen likes to take charge, too. In short, as the youngest, Will has a lot of older siblings to look up to.
We also see them join together whenever something's important, showing us that Will comes from a family that values collective well-being. Take Christmas for example. The Stantons sing carols, bake goodies, and open gifts together, gathering to celebrate and appreciate each other. Check it out:
It was the day when the delight of Christmas really took fire in the Stanton family. Hints and glimmerings and promises of special things, which had flashed in and out of life for weeks before, now suddenly blossomed into a constant glad expectancy. The house was full of wonderful baking smells from the kitchen. (5.1)
It's super important for us to see Will living a normal life at home so we have a point of comparison for the wacky and magical world of the Old Ones. We also see that his family means a lot to him. When his mom falls down the stairs by "accident" and his sister Mary gets "lost" in the snow, Will is sure the Dark are behind these events and does everything he can to save his family—just like he's been shown to do by his siblings (remember Paul and the snow).
As much as Will's family is a source of strength, though, the Rider's power grows when he threatens Will's family because of how much they mean to him—they're a chink in Will's armor, if you will, something that he can't resist defending when threatened. That said, we'll give you one piece of advice: Don't mess with Will's family. He doesn't take kindly to it, and he doesn't sit idly by when they're in danger. You've been warned.