Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Ed

Just because you're the protagonist doesn't mean you're the hero (check out Breaking Bad). Sometimes it means you're the anti-hero. And Ed sure doesn't have the noble characteristics that most heroes have, like hopes and dreams (he doesn't want to do anything in life), courage (he chickens out when he goes to Edgar Street), strength (he gets beat up), and decisiveness (Ed is plagued by passive inaction). He isn't particularly good-looking, creative, or funny either, and he irritates people all the time—even his own mom.

Sounds like a winner, doesn't he? Make that like a whiner, actually. But Ed grows into his role as hero in a lot of ways over the course of the book. He eventually puts a stop to the horror on Edgar Street, and learns to be a better friend to Marv and Ritchie, and as the book progresses we see him mature into someone who actually cares about other people and does things to help them too. We may not always like Ed or agree with what he's doing with his life, but we definitely sympathize with him.