A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz

                    Sometimes knowing who the protagonist in a book is hard.  I'm currently on page 277 out of the 561 pages in the book A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz. So far I can't get enough of this book. The quote "Sane families are all alike- but every crazy family is crazy in its own way" summarizes the book so far accurately. Being a good chunk into the book, I’m still unsure of who the protagonist in the book is. There are two possible choices for the protagonist; either Martin Dean, the brother of the famous criminal Terry Dean or Jasper Dean the son of Martin Dean. It's hard to figure who is the main character because one-third of the book is all a flashback of Martin Dean’s childhood and then of him as a young adult. Therefore, one would think that Martin Dean is the main character, but you can also argue that Jasper is the main character because he is the one who is being told the story of his father's childhood to and after the long flashback the story goes back to present time in Jasper point of view.

 Martin Dean is hard to describe since he hasn't found himself yet. He has always been a supporting character in other people’s lives trying to help them get to their goals even if they aren't the best ones. He even admits in the book he doesn't know who he really is and what his purpose is. For example in the book he self analyzes himself, “My problem is I can’t sum myself up in one sentence. All I know is who I am not. And I've noticed there is a tacit agreement among most people that they’ll at least try to adjust to their environment. I've always felt the urge to rebel against it.” (269). Thus, I listed him as a possible protagonist because usually in a book the main character doesn't really know who he is and the throughout the book he finds his purpose and himself and goes through a great journey on the plot mountain. In most books, the main character won’t tell you that he hasn't found himself but this is no ordinary book. Martin Dean has gone through a lot in his life such as being in a coma and being bedridden sick for the first few years of his life to his brother becoming a cold blooded serial killer. From there, going on to help a criminal publish his on textbook on how to become a criminal and then finding out that his cancerous mother was slowly poisoning him by feeding him rat poison along with his food.  It's pretty easy to see why he ends up in nut house. What I really think lands him in a mental asylum is that he is a natural philosopher, he observes every little thing and questions it. He doesn't see it as normal society would. He reads a lot and has a lot of time to ponder. When you have that much time to think, you tend to over think.  When you over think you, you end up on the edge of the brink. Hey that rhymes!

I also could see how Jasper Dean is the main character because he is the narrator of the book and the story is being told in his point of view, so it would make sense that he be the protagonist. He has his own problem in this book which is to get his old dad back mentally and to get his dad out of the mental asylum. While his problem is circled around Martin his father, he has internal problems. Most books, the main character has an external problem and an internal problem so when you compare a normal book to this book you would think Jasper is the main character because Martin at this point of the book, is just far off from normal and stable to really have an external problem because he is all over the place. Jasper is also trying to find himself and who he is and he has been searching all over to know about his dead mother Astrid who he just recently learned committed suicide by being blown up into pieces. His problem or issue fits a traditional plot mountain because as the story progresses his father is pushing him on the edge like the climax of a plot mountain. So it seems perfect that Jasper could be the protagonist.

          Hopefully by the next few pages or chapters I will know who the main character is. Whoever it is whether it’s Jasper or Martin I think the story would go on great because Jasper is turning into a mini Martin, so I’ll see where the story goes on from her.