Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Stan "Pop" Samson

Pop may not be a bad guy in the usual sense of the term, but he's definitely the character who stands in the way of Lily getting what she wants. He threatened Lonnie with an ax, has racist tendencies, and is too strong willed to break either of those things on his own. Lily's main desire in the book is to have a perfect day of celebration, and it seems that Pop is usually responsible for gatherings going bad.

Like every one else in this story, though, Pop is surprisingly capable of change—so instead of being in the way in the end, he winds up helping Lily have her dream day. Lily may not see it coming, but like we said, Pop's not a bad guy in the usual sense of the term; he just needs to wake up a bit and right his course of action. Which is exactly what he does.