We Are the Ants

Diego is Henry’s new friend. He’s recently moved to Florida from Colorado and immediately befriends Henry, a friendship that grows into a romantic relationship. Diego struggles with his own demons. He is scarred by his past domestic abuse and two years in juvenile incarceration after hurting his father in self-defense. Diego is a secondary character who is complex because of his paradoxes. He has anger management problems that stem from his troubled childhood but expresses genuine appreciation for life and peace. Diego refuses to be defined by his past and inspires Henry to see the potential in the future and in living in the present. Diego helps Henry learn to love himself and accept flaws not as impediments to well-being but as quirks that keep life interesting. 

Audrey is Henry’s friend with whom he re-establishes a relationship after months of not speaking. Audrey was Jesse’s best friend, and his death by suicide drove Audrey into her own psychological crisis. Audrey pursues therapy as a way of helping her deal with her guilt. When she and Henry become friends again, this foundation turns Audrey into a secondary character whose alliance with Henry helps him combat his bullies and analyze Jesse’s death.

Jesse is a character who exists as a narrative memory. Jesse is Henry’s former boyfriend, whose death by suicide rocked Henry’s life. Jesse had seemed to be a happy boy, so his death by suicide came as a shock to Henry, escalating the already tragic event of the death. Jesse reappears to Henry in memory but also as a voice that mocks Henry. Jesse’s voice is thus the voiceover of Henry’s tortured interiority. Jesse is a secondary character whose memory symbolizes Henry’s character development and struggle with determining the value of life. In defeating his depression, Henry defeats the guilt he feels over Jesse’s death. Jesse is important to the development of the plot and characterization throughout the novel, but he’s more of a specter than an actual character.