Peter Hatch

Peter is the novel’s central character, its protagonist and first-person narrator. There are no specific indications of his exact age, but there are several references to his starting grade six, which makes him eleven or twelve. He is intelligent and outgoing, emotional and sometimes mischievous, able to make friends and keep them, but also sometimes lonely and suspicious that he is being ignored by his parents. This last is particularly significant, in that a significant element of the narrative is his movement from being upset at not being involved in the family’s decision-making processes to feeling that he is not only included, but that his opinions are valued. In short, and on one level, his journey of transformation over the course of the narrative takes him from feeling somewhat unwanted to feeling like he is truly a part of his family, perhaps more so than...