Mosquitoland

Beck is an aspiring photographer who is taking a break from college to seek out his estranged foster sister, Claire, and do some soul searching. Mim finds him attractive and essentially admits to being in love with him, but he remains brotherly and platonic towards her. He is a good guy, a fact that is emphasized in his desire to help Claire, his punching of the pedophile, Poncho Man, and his commitment to reuniting Walt with his family in Chicago. Beck is a vital component of Mim’s story because he helps her work through the most painful parts of her life, and he shows her the restorative effects of genuine human connection. 

Walt is an innocent, jovial, and loyal teenager with Down’s syndrome who’s been left to his own devices. His mom is presumed dead, his dad’s whereabouts are unknown, and he’s been living in the woods near a highway overpass. When Mim finds him, his enthusiastic demeanor is contagious. She follows where he leads—into the woods and a murky pond—and she feels herself changing for the better in his presence. When Mim sees how Walt has had many difficulties in life yet remains so content, her perspective changes for the better. 

Mim’s father is a pragmatic man who loves his daughter but also misunderstands her. His sister had psychosis and committed suicide, and his wife suffered from debilitating depression, and as a result he has always been extremely protective of Mim. When he sees a tendency towards “substance and despair” in Mim (4), his reaction is to fix her so that she can live a well-adjusted life, unlike the other women he’s loved. What he views as protective and caring, Mim views as oppressive and authoritative. He thinks that she has psychosis, but she doesn’t view herself as sick. This disagreement creates a perpetual tension, and they have a difficult time relating to one another. 

Eve goes back and forth in Mim’s memory as being full of youth, vigor, and fun versus being aloof and detached. Mim idealizes her mom and views her as an extension of herself, but from Mim’s memories, it’s unclear how Eve really feels about Mim. Even when Eve is having fun with Mim, she is still off in her own world. The full picture of Eve’s condition becomes clear at the end of the novel when Mim finds out that she’s been hospitalized for depression. Mim’s surprise at her mom’s condition reveals that she wasn’t aware of how sick her mom was all along. 

Kathy is Mim’s stepmom who’s pregnant with her half-sister. In the beginning, Mim hates Kathy and thinks of her as a vapid home-wrecker, but by the end Mim’s opinion changes. Kathy is the one who wrote the letter to Eve asking her to think about what’s best for Mim, and she’s the one who ultimately takes Mim to visit her mom. Mim may have hated Kathy for most of the novel, but Kathy always showed Mim unconditional love in return. This misperception reveals that most of Mim’s feelings for Kathy were conjured in her own mind. Mim needed someone to blame for her life falling apart, and Kathy was an easy target since Mim didn’t really know her.

Arlene is the elderly woman who sat next to Mim on the Greyhound. Mim felt an immediate connection to Arlene because she wasn’t like other older women—Arlene had flair and wisdom, and she was gentle and understanding with Mim. Arlene is a compassionate, welcoming, and accepting woman, as evidenced by her love for her nephew, Ahab. Although Ahab’s mother stopped speaking to him because he had a boyfriend, Arlene continued communicating with him. Before she died in the Greyhound accident, she was on her way to visit Ahab and give him a wooden box with his name on it. 

Poncho Man is a middle-aged, predatory villain who rides the bus with Mim. He continuously flirts with Mim, and he eventually tries to rape her in the bathroom. Even after Mim escapes from the bathroom, he continues to stalk and pursue her. He is an aggressive pedophile, although he puts on a charming face for the public. He’s a married lawyer, and he seems to have connections in the community, as evidenced by his relationship to the diner’s owner.