The Landry News

Mr. Larson is the secondary protagonist of the novel. Like Cara, his character arc is heavily influenced by his backstory and the years he toiled to support his family. At the book’s opening, Mr. Larson is burned out by teaching, which he shows by ignoring his students. Mr. Larson’s tragic flaw is not realizing his own emotions. He wants to believe he doesn’t care about his students because caring feels like more effort than he can put toward his job, but once he realizes the truth of Cara’s editorial, he sees himself for what he is—a teacher who’s forgotten the purpose of teaching. His response to the editorial shows that he needed a reminder of why he chose his profession. Mr. Larson’s change from ambivalence to a deep involvement in the learning process is a key part of the story’s narrative drive and of the beneficial collaboration between students and teachers in a healthy learning environment. Mr. Larson’s character, as a sympathetic adult with a checkered history, is a means through which the book can introduce young readers to the complexities and challenges of adult life, such as burnout.

Dr. Barnes is the principal at Cara’s school and takes the role of the novel's antagonist. For years, Dr. Barnes has tried to get Mr. Larson fired because he views Mr. Larson as a poor teacher and because the two men have disagreed on several best practices of education. Dr. Barnes’s character represents narrow-mindedness and control in the novel. From the outset of the novel, Dr. Barnes is set in his ways, and he makes it clear there is no room for anyone who questions him. This aspect of his personality becomes a threat to Mr. Larson and The Landry News when Dr. Barnes realizes he can twist the newspaper into a tool to use toward his own ends. He either doesn’t realize or doesn’t care about the harm his actions bring to the students in Mr. Larson’s class. By weaponizing the newspaper—and, thus, the right to free speech—Dr. Barnes sends the message that whoever holds the power is right, even if no one agrees with them. This sets the harmful precedent that the students have no recourse when Dr. Barnes attacks Mr. Larson for allowing the divorce story into the paper, and the final chapters of the novel represent the power of a community to fight back against those who use their power to push their own agenda.