Character Clues

Character Analysis

Family Life

In this book, there are basically two types of families: good ones and bad ones. Way more importantly than this, though, is what this means in terms of characters in the book. Pretty much across the board, the kids who come from good families are terrible people who outcast the kids who come from bad families, who are all pretty much just trying to survive.

What this means, then, is that the kids from good families are bad kids, while the kids from bad families are good when all is said and done. It's an interesting twist, and it invites readers to consider the social hierarchies in their own lives, calling into question the merits of the kids who rise to the top socially, and suggesting that this has more to do with having money and parents who can tend to them than any actual superiority.

The one glaring exception is Torey, who comes from one of the good families—parents are married, both are gainfully employed—but, over the course of the book, comes to recognize that none of this makes him a better person than the kids who don't come from as much. And as he does, the sort of false characterization that families enact on their kids' social lives is exposed for the heap of lies that it is. Money or rides to sports practice aren't what make a person valuable; it's who someone is that counts.

Words

One of the ways that people show their true colors in this book is through what they say. So, for instance, though Renee Bowen might be a popular kid because she comes from a "good" family, when she opens her mouth, the nastiness inside her comes rushing out. At one point she even goes so far as to say:

Three boon brains equal one normal brain. (5.45)

Stay classy, Renee. At the point in the book when she says this, all we really know about her is that she's friends with Torey and Alex, and since Torey is our main man, we're inclined to assume she's all right. Until she says this, that is. Just like that, we're clued into the fact that not only is Renee clearly not a very nice person, but also that Torey doesn't keep very nice company. And so the plot thickens.

Another example of just how much words can show is in this book comes from the one and only Mrs. Creed, who is so dead set on blaming Bo for Chris's disappearance that she bellows in the police department:

Richardson, when you go to the chair, I'm pulling the switch! (10.35)

Just to be really clear, Mrs. Creed is an adult and Bo (last name Richardson) is a teenager. While the gusto with which she points the finger at Bo and the eagerness with which she anticipates his death sentence reveal a truly wicked wrath, this moment also demonstrates just how extreme Mrs. Creed is. Without any evidence of Bo's guilt, she's already committed to the fullest extent to his punishment. Given her behavior here, it's no wonder Chris did what he could to elude her grasp.

Actions

As much as characters blow up their own spots when they open their mouths, what they do also tells us a whole heckofa lot. For instance, consider Mrs. Creed's walk up to the podium at church one Sunday:

I heard the clicking of high heels on the tile floor. It was loud. But Mrs. Creed always had that loud, here-I-come sort of stepping. (2.20)

The way Mrs. Creed just walks communicates how harsh, controlling, determined, and threatening she is. And not just in church because she's walking up to discuss her son's disappearance—Torey tells us she always walks this way. In other words, this lady is always trying to run the show. So when we see her going through Chris's room methodically cleaning or searching for a diary later on, we're not confused about her intentions: this woman is on mission, and nothing's going to break her stride.

Our favorite example of actions revealing character, though, comes in the form of Bo Richardson on the night he goes to Ali's house and schools the Pig and Mrs. McDermott in proper parenting techniques. Torey tells us:

I could not believe this couple was up there doing the nasty, banging off the walls, and Bo Richardson was climbing the stairs like taking them on was nothing. (8.91)

Despite his reputation as king of rough and tumble rejects, through his actions in this scene, it becomes crystal clear that Bo is not only brave, but ready to defend Ali and her brother, to protect them from the callous and gross behavior of the adults in their house. Even Torey—who's been indoctrinated into the club of Bo is Bad—immediately recognizes Bo's clarity and conviction, saying to himself, "[…] you would never think he had this big side, this side that was unselfish enough to think of Ali" (8.119). Bo does, though, and his actions show it, no matter what people say.