Eliza and Her Monsters

With his own tragic backstory, Wallace is Eliza’s love interest and mentor. Like Eliza, Wallace is creative, anxious, silent, and prone to anger. He’s a mirror of her in many ways, but Wallace differs because he is caring, thoughtful, and honest. He tends to consider others’ feelings above his own; for instance, he doesn’t want to push Eliza into doing things she feels uncomfortable about, like the Halloween party. Perhaps due to his grief-induced struggles with things like speaking, Wallace doesn’t want to be the catalyst for anyone else’s anxiety. He respects Eliza’s limits with interactions, from talking to physical intimacy.

When he sends Eliza the email about his father’s death, Wallace shows his vulnerability. He believes in sharing the truth, no matter how painful it is, to have a healthy relationship. His honesty makes Eliza rethink her lies and feel guilty about not opening up. Because he values honesty and trust, Wallace is deeply hurt by Eliza hiding her real identity and changes his methods with Eliza, pushing her to overcome her anxiety and finish Monstrous Sea for herself, the fans, and his book deal—a rare moment when his empathy for her disappears under his expectations for Monstrous Sea’s creator. Overall, however, Wallace and Eliza develop a healthy relationship in which they respect and support each other and their mental health journeys.

Eliza’s parents, Peter and Anna, function mostly as sources of conflict, but they are also voices of reason. They are both active, fit, outgoing, kind, and involved in their children’s lives. They value a healthy lifestyle, living offline, and quality family time. The two latter ideals directly oppose Eliza’s priorities, as she’d prefer to be online and spend time alone. They don’t understand Eliza’s passion for art, believing Monstrous Sea is a fun hobby and not her passion, or why she is so quiet and only able to make friends online. Because they didn’t grow up with electronics, they don’t see the meaning in Eliza’s online friendships and interactions. However, Eliza doesn’t share enough information with them, and her refusal to open up causes them to make the major mistake of revealing her identity—pushing the plot to its climax.

Without Peter and Anna’s ongoing conflicts with Eliza and their blunder with the newspaper article, Eliza wouldn’t have experienced significant character growth. Without her parents’ influence, she would have kept lying to Wallace, would never have addressed her anxiety via therapy, and would never have become the confident person she is by the novel’s end.

Eliza’s younger brother Sully is active, blunt, expressive, smart, and kindhearted. He loves playing sports, being active, and video games. Though he’s competitive and often pesters his siblings with insults, he also reveals a softer, empathetic side when he stands up for Eliza. Because Sully is much more direct and assertive than Eliza, he functions as an advocate for her. Unlike their parents, Sully sees the value of Eliza’s art. He and their youngest brother, Church, adore her comic, but they also respect her privacy to be an anonymous creator, which shows how much they admire Eliza and her artistic accomplishments. He is the one who tells her parents that Monstrous Sea “is a thing. Eliza is famous. Not like a movie star […] but a lot of people wanted to know who she was” (301). Sully’s unexpected defense of Eliza’s comic to their parents makes him an essential secondary character; he reframes Eliza’s image of herself and her family while also enlightening their parents to ensure they can have healthy, positive family dynamics again. Without Sully, Eliza’s parents would never have understood that Monstrous Sea is Eliza’s passion—a hit comic that has provided her with financial stability, fans, and purpose. He plays a vital role in defusing the conflict between Eliza and her parents. Sully also assists Eliza with her mental health by being present for her and offering her an open door to vent.