Killing Mr. Griffin

Mark is the primary antagonist of the novel. He is a psychopathic teenager whose deeply disturbed behavior is successfully disguised by his manipulative personality. Mark has an innate ability to spot other peoples’ weaknesses. He knows how to take advantage of those weaknesses to fit his own narratives and goals. Mr. Griffin is not Mark’s first victim. By the end of the novel, he is revealed to be a serial killer. Mark motivates other characters to let go of their moral codes by making himself seem like the hero of their story. Mark lacks empathy and doesn’t care that he hurts others.

Dave is a popular teenager who keeps the reality of his family drama a secret. Dave struggles with understanding who he is because his father left the family when Dave was young. Without a father figure, Dave must make his own way through the awkward stages of figuring out what masculinity means to him. Dave is easily sucked into Mark’s plan to kidnap Mr. Griffin because Dave is stressed about school, particularly with regards Mr. Griffin’s threat to fail seniors. Dave must get good grades so he can go to college on a scholarship, leading to upward economic mobility and saving his single mother the financial and emotional stress of providing for him. Dave’s involvement in the crime is born out of his own insecurities. Dave is the secondary protagonist of this story because he also feels guilty about Mr. Griffin’s death.

Betsy is one of the teenagers involved in the kidnapping, killing, and cover-up of Mr. Griffin. Betsy is characterized by her vapidity. She has a superficial popularity that is developed from her cute looks, manipulative personality, and family influence. Betsy presents herself as a kind young lady in the community, but she is mean to other girls and obsessed with male attention. Betsy is seduced by Mark’s darkness in part because he doesn’t give her the attention she wants. When she watches Mark tie up and intimidate Mr. Griffin, she is enthralled by the violence. Betsy never has a moment of guilt or revelation, highlighting her character as secondary antagonist. Despite Betsy’s privilege and popularity, she is not a good person. Her outward appearance disguises her internal flaws and proclivities for violence.

Jeff is one of the teenagers involved in Mr. Griffin’s murder. Jeff is popular because he is an athlete. He follows along with Mark’s plans because Mark is his best friend, and he mistakenly believes that Mark always knows how to handle a situation. Jeff was in middle school when he watched Mark set fire to a cat, a fact that Jeff tries to ignore. Jeff avoids dealing with reality so he can keep living his dreams of popularity. Jeff inadvertently starts the plot to kill Mr. Griffin because he sarcastically says that Mr. Griffin is the type of man whom people would like to kill. Like Betsy, Jeff doesn’t get a moment of guilt or redemption. Unlike Betsy, Jeff goes against the violence of the crime, but not against Mark or Mark’s attempts at a cover-up.