Setting:

The setting of the story takes place mostly in the children's hospital but at times it takes place around Brent's community and in a rehabilitation center. The story takes place in the mid 1980's. Brent lives in a small town near Washington D.C. The setting around the action is pretty calm until Brent lights himself on fire. "We must be over Washington, but I can't see the monuments or the white house or anything."(23)

Characters:

Some of the major characters in the story are Brent, the nurses and his psychiatrist Michael Meager. The minor characters are his family and his friends. Brent is a kid around fourteen and is in middle school. He is very odd in his own way. He has black hair and likes to dress in all black. The nurses are very nice to him and are mostly all girls...