Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Betty Small

David's whole family is antagonistic, but the leader of the antagonism pack is his mother. Throughout the book, David longs for her love and fails to get it. He describes the "tidal wave" of her anger, and tells us the only way he could access her soft side was to get sick—but when the lump on his neck begins to grow, she fails to get him timely medical treatment.

When he falls in love with literature, she burns his books. When she thinks he's dying, she grudgingly buys him another copy of Lolita, only to take it away when she realizes he's going to live. And when he tries to express his fear of his grandmother, she silences him. Oh yeah—and she doesn't tell him he has cancer. It's safe to say she stands in the way of any kind of normal childhood development.