Boy21

Russ Allen is an incredibly intelligent basketball prodigy from Los Angeles. His parents were recently murdered in a robberygonebad, after which he spent some time in a group home for kids with PTSD. Although he is still troubled, he has now come to live with his grandparents during his senior year. To maintain his anonymity and avoid being pestered by college basketball scouts, he is registered under the name Russell Washington. However, when he arrives in Bellmont, he is still pretty messed up, and desires to be called Boy21, fantasizing that he is an alien/robot from outer space who has been sent to Earth to gather data on human emotions. Once his data collection is complete, he believes he will be called back up into “into the cosmos, where I will be studied and disassembled” (39).

In many ways, Russ is Finley’s foil: he is rich, incredibly smart, extremely talented, and very tall, with a muscular, athletic build. Coming from a wealthy and well-educated family with a jazz musician father, Russ has been afforded many experiences that Finley has not: expensive vacations and boarding schools, celebrity training camps, a good childhood in a stable family. However, Russ is also like Finley in surprising ways: he was the only black kid on his all-white high school basketball team, and he has recently suffered the traumatic loss of his parents. In short, Russ understands what it is like to be alone, “like you’re not the person on the outside that you are on the inside” (216).

Russ represents Finley’s potential to change his life via friendship. Through Russ, Finley learns that sacrifice is an integral part of friendship, but also that friendship and human relationships are the most important things in life. In this way, Russ helps Finley open his heart and mind to other people, including his girlfriend, Erin, while eventually accepting that basketball is not as integral to his life as he once thought.

Erin is Finley’s girlfriend and best friend. During the off-season, they spend every waking moment together, practicing and getting ready for basketball season. Even though they break up every season, they know that they will get back together once that season is over, and that they will be together forever.

Erin is highly athletic, “so charismatic and beautiful that my dad and pop never pay any attention to me when my girlfriend’s around” (7). Finley frequently regards Erin as a not unpleasant distraction; he is constantly thinking about kissing her and scoping out her sports bra. While Erin enjoys Finley’s attention, she gets angry when other men try to sexualize her. She is independent, and does not like to be thought of as anyone’s property, which is why she gets angry when people refer to her as “White Rabbit’s lil baby.” She is highly sarcastic and usually unafraid of speaking her mind, frequently coming to Finley’s defense either verbally or physically. However, the reason she can get away with speaking her mind is thather older brother, Rod, is a member of the Irish mob and protects her.

In many ways, Erin is more of a shadow than a fully fleshedout character. She represents Finley’s future, specifically his opportunity to leave Bellmont. Erin shares this dream to leave Bellmont, as her parents are practically zombies—her father is unemployed and her mother is a quiet secretary—and she and Finley both want to get away from the constant threat of violence. Erin is exasperated when Finley keeps secrets from her, as she thinks that “Secrets keep people stuck in Bellmont forever” (99), though she accepts Finley’s decision not to speak about the death of his mother.

Terrell is the quarterback of the football team and, more importantly, the star shooting guard on Finley’s basketball team. He and Finley have a complex relationship in which Terrell, “chief carrot dumper” (14), bullies but also protects Finley, and Finley doesn’t like Terrell but values his position on the team.

Terrell’s older brother, Mike, is the “most feared drug dealer in the neighborhood” (152), so Terrell can offer protection to those people he likes and threaten violence to those who offend him. As a result, every interaction with Terrell is laced with the threat of violence, and he can get away with messing with people without fear of retribution. He exists in stark contrast to Erin, whose brother Rod also threatens violence; Terrell uses his proximity to violence to control other people, whereas Erin despises her brother’s lifestyle, not seeming to realize that it comes with a guarantee of protection.

At the beginning of school, Finley notices Terrell sporting brand new diamond earrings, and later he sees Terrell riding in Mike’s car while Mike smokes a joint. These events indicate that Terrell has appropriated some of his brother’s lifestyle at the very least, and possibly has even become a drug runner or errand boy for his brother to pay for his expensive taste. This flashy style contrasts with those of both Erin and Finley, who do not seem to value money as much as their peers. 

Pop is Finley’s handicapped grandfather, whose first name is never given. He is a crotchety old drunk who spends most of his time passed out in front of the television. He is a source of embarrassment to both Finley and his father due to his constant intoxication and apathy towards the thoughts and feelings of other people. Pop sports long white hair because he doesn’t care enough to go to the barber. He is routinely rude to both Finley and his father, verbally berating them for showing emotion and calling Finley a “dumb mute” (47). The only person whose company he finds relatively enjoyable is Erin, whom he jokes around with and allows great leeway in her actions. The old man has all but given up on life.

The reader later understands the reason that Pop’s demeanor is twofold: his incredible devastation over the loss of his beloved wife and his incredible guilt over the death of his daughter-in-law. The old man used to work in some capacity for the Irish mob, and then when his wife was terminally ill stole money from them so that she could die in her hometown in Ireland, putting into motion the events that led to Finley’s kidnapping and his mother’s subsequent death. Upon returning home to save Finley from his kidnappers, it is assumed that Pop’s legs were cut off by the mob to compensate for the money he had stolen. Pop feels completely responsible for the family’s standing with the mob as well as for Finley’s mother’s death. Tragedy has made this man hard, although his romantic side shines through when he gives Finley money to buy flowers for Erin after her accident as well as when he tells him, “Go be with Erin. She’s a good woman who loves you—the key to your happiness” (245). Pop sees a good woman as the key to happiness in life. 

Finley’s father, called Padric by one of the terrifying men at the Irish Pride pub, sleeps during the day and works nights as a toll booth operator and is the family’s sole breadwinner. Finley’s father doesn’t talk very much, mostly because he is still grieving the murder of his wife, who was his high school sweetheart and whom he loved very much. He pushed Finley into basketball after her death, even though the idea of basketball is still painful to him, as it has always reminded him of his dead wife.

In comparison to Pop’s snide cynicism, Finley’s father is always highly supportive of Finley, admiring his perseverance. He exists as one of the beacons of optimism in Finley’s life, telling him “it’s a long race and you can always outwork talent in the end” (8). Finley’s father is obsessed with Finley leaving Bellmont, telling him at every point that leaving this life behind is what Finley should work towards, no matter how long it takes. Finley’s father regrets not being able to give Finley a better childhood, but he tries to be a good father—unlike his father was/is to him—even giving Finley his meager savings when Finley finally leaves Bellmont to join Erin in New Hampshire. Finley’s dad taught him to always be respectful of authority figures along with the other morals that have made Finley the person that he is.