Roland Character Analysis

One of the novel’s antagonists. He’s a brutish and violent boy who is being unwound because he beat up his stepfather. He did this in retaliation for his stepfather beating his mother, but his mother took the stepfather’s side. Roland is the biggest guy in any room and wants everyone to know it. He’s skilled at orchestrating power plays that bring other kids to his side and ostracizes others, though many adults don’t seem to understand that he’s dangerous. Connor doesn’t trust him, especially after Roland threatens (or at least pretends to threaten) Risa with sexual violence in an attempt to get a rise out of Connor. At the Graveyard, Roland ingratiates himself to Cleaver and is so successful that Cleaver even teaches him to fly the helicopter—which only further fuels Roland’s sense of superiority. Connor suspects that Roland is responsible for killing the Goldens (though he’s not actually guilty of this crime), mostly because Roland spends much of his time at the Graveyard trying to get others to distrust and fear the Admiral. When the Admiral has a heart attack, Connor forces Roland to fly the Admiral to a hospital, where Roland’s attempt to turn in only Connor and Risa backfires, as the cops who come to speak with him take all three of them. At Happy Jack Harvest Camp, Connor and Roland finally clash, but Roland chooses not to kill Connor for reasons unknown. Soon after, he’s unwound. His unwinding is graphic and makes it clear that unwinding is inhumane, as victims are conscious and terrified for the entire process. Even after the surgeons remove sensory organs like Roland’s eyes and his ears, he can still hear them talking about basketball stats. Following the explosion at Happy Jack, Connor receives Roland’s arm with his shark tattoo, which Roland got as a child after drawing it on his cast when he broke his arm.