Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

The Whole Stupid Society

There's not any one bad guy in the book. Geraldo who knocks Connie out and puts her in the asylum is awful; Luis, her brother who keeps her there and agrees to let them operate on her brain, is awful too; the doctors who don't care about her and just want to mess around with her brain are so bad we cheered when Connie poisoned them.

And what about Dolly, who betrays Connie for her pimp, or the orderlies who keep her tied down so long she pees on herself and then mock her for being dirty? Connie's antagonist isn't this person or that person, it's a whole culture that hates her for being poor, Hispanic, a woman, and mentally ill. "If only they had left me something!" she thinks to herself (19.78).

That "they," right there, is the antagonist.