Jacob Miller Character Analysis

Jacob is considered the best-lookinng boy in Claudia and Monday’s grade; he and Monday become romantically involved, though he hides this from his friends at school. Monday has had a crush on Jacob for years before seventh grade and finally decides that this is the year she’s going to act on her feelings. At first, things seem to go well: Jacob invites Monday to his house, they kiss, and he promises to tell their classmates on Monday that they’re a couple. But as the weeks wear on, Jacob consistently ignores Monday at school but sees her on the weekends. Monday insists to Claudia that Jacob is a good guy and will eventually be more open about their relationship, but Jacob’s actions suggest otherwise. When Monday confronts Jacob, he makes it seem like Monday is seeking him out because she’s overly promiscuous—and then he insists that Monday and Claudia are sexually involved. He’s also the one to encourage Monday to dye her hair to look like Beyoncé, which yields disastrous results. Claudia believes that because of the way Jacob messed with Monday’s head and strung her along, he’s partially to blame for her death. Monday often said that she didn’t give up on Jacob because she hoped things would be “better” if they were involved, suggesting that she was trying to use their romantic relationship to escape abuse at home. Following the discovery of Monday’s body, Jacob is distraught—his photo at the funeral is the one that ends up on the cover of Time magazine. Claudia refuses to forgive him and seems to believe that he’s going to experience guilt over his role in Monday’s death for years to come.