Bobby Phillips

Character Analysis

The Invisible Boy

Our protagonist, Bobby Phillips, isn't a kid that you can easily get a read on at first sight. That's because you can't see him—at least not for most of the novel. When Bobby wakes up at the beginning of the book, he figures out pretty quickly that something is terribly wrong:

It's when I turn on the bathroom light and wipe the fog off the mirror to comb my hair. It's what I see in the mirror. It's what I don't see.

I look a second time, and then rub at the mirror again.

I'm not there.

That's what I'm saying.

I'm. Not. There. (1.3-7)

From that moment forward, he goes from being a normal kid to someone who desperately needs to figure out how to reverse his condition. And it's going to be a rocky ride…

A Kid on a Mission

Bobby doesn't just sit around and kvetch about how awful his life is and how everything is ruined now that he's invisible; he doesn't even give himself a single day of moping. As soon as he realizes that his condition is real, he starts problem solving:

So I look at them sitting there and I say, "I'll be up in my room. I've got to figure out what to do."
And it's true. I've got to figure it out. Because this, what's happening right now, this is about me. (1.82-83)

Bobby knows that his life is in his own hands, and it's up to him to make some changes. Even with his genius scientist dad telling him that he'll figure it out, Bobby knows that he's the one who has to do everything that he can. And that's exactly what he does when he so much as suspects that his blanket might be the cause of his problems.

He might be invisible, but that doesn't mean Bobby's going to back down from taking the reigns in his life. Instead of waiting around for his dad and Alicia's dad to test the blanket, Bobby goes right to the source of the problem—Sears, Roebuck and Company—and steals legal documents in order to find other invisible people. And his hard work and tenacity pays off… without him having to ask grown-ups for help.

Get the Girl

Even though he's got other things on his mind (like the fact that he might be irreversibly invisible), Bobby still manages to find time to develop a serious crush on a pretty girl. He is a fifteen-year-old boy, after all. As soon as he sees Alicia, Bobby thinks that she's super pretty and that he'd like to get to know her better:

She says, "Hello?..." And it strikes me that she's easily the prettiest girl who's said hello to me in at least two years. (10.8)

And though pursuing Alicia comes with risks, Bobby makes it happen (did we mention that he's a pretty determined kid?). He strikes up a conversation with her first, and then a friendship. He's never had a girlfriend before—heck, he's never had a girl friend before—but he manages to build a strong bond with Alicia. She's blind and he's invisible, and they come together over these simpatico differences.

Bobby and Alicia end up talking constantly on the phone and instant messenger, just like any other teenage kids flirting with each other. And when Alicia pushes Bobby away because she's scared, he pushes back—he doesn't let her just slam the door in his face and tell him that she doesn't want to risk showing him her emotions. Nope, he chases after the girl:

I fold up the letter and stick it in my pocket. As I open the front door, something moves. I turn, startled. It's me, in the big hall mirror. But I don't stop to look. I'm out the door. I'm in a hurry. I've got to get over to Alicia's house. I need to tell her how much I love… how much I love her poem. (28.97)

After Bobby receives Alicia's email in which she admits her feelings, he runs to get her. Because that's what the hero is supposed to do at the end of the story. And in this story, it's what the hero's been doing the whole time: Taking charge of his life, and going after what he wants most. It's just the kind of person Bobby is, through and through.