Jim Hawkins

Jim is the hero of the novel, which opens when he is 13 years of age and just entering junior high school. His name is Jamie, but he hates that name and prefers to be called Jim. He is the second youngest child of the family. The Mormon faith is a big part of his life. As the story opens, Jim has fallen out with the three boys he considers his closest friends, but he is still holding onto the idea that they might become friends again. The other boys, Shelby, Slater, and Jack-o, are loud and rude. At one point, to get back into their group, Jim drinks an entire can of beer, then throws up in his father's car. Later, the three boys harass another boy in their class, Garth Plimpton. By then Jim has begun to realize that he does not want to be that...