Darryl Glover

Character Analysis

Darryl might be Marcus' best friend, but he gets very few pages in this book.

Still, his muse status (Check out our Character Roles for more on this) makes him important to the plot…which makes him important to us. We wish he hadn't stabbed and caused everyone to be sent to a detention facility after the Bay Bridge blows up, but the plot demands sacrifices of everyone.

Especially of characters important to the protagonist.

Darryl the Best Friend

Darryl and Marcus both go to Cesar Chavez high school, and we first meet them both in Ms. Galvez's awesome social studies class. Darryl resists doing things like skipping school, but lets Marcus talk him into it. He also has a longstanding crush on Van, but seems to lose the power of speech when he sees her. Aww, Darryl. Buck up, little camper.

He's in Marcus's inner posse-of-four; Jolu describes him as the "second-in-command, the guy who had it all organized, who watched the details" (7.133). And there's a good reason that Darryl's the Robin to Marcus' Batman. Not only is he awesome with logistics, but he also knows Morse code and uses it to communicate with Zeb when they're locked up on Treasure Island.

But unfortunately we never really get inside his brain to gain access to his skills (or even his point of view). And that's because Darryl's…never really around.

Darryl the Absent

Since he's secretly imprisoned after the bridge explosion, it's not like he's texting Marcus every day. Everyone thinks Darryl might be dead for most of the book (he isn't: phew).

And then, when he finally makes an appearance, he's pretty traumatized. Even as the story ends and he's free, Darryl's still not physically present in Marcus's life except through his long emails. Then again, how much of a bubbling personality would you have left after weeks of torture? You probably wouldn't be itching for bro hangs.

In fact, throughout Little Brother, most of our understanding about Darryl just comes from Marcus thinking about him, which shows us that Darryl's important to Marcus. And, as you know by now, if something is important to Marcus, it's important to the story.