One! Hundred! Demons!

Barry’s mother is a recurring antagonist in the graphic memoir. She is abusive and sometimes violent, embittered by her past growing up as a refugee in the war-torn Philippines as the daughter of a white American father and a Filipino mother. Barry’s mother describes starving as a child, and is bitter that she had none of the luxuries Barry has living in the US.

Barry’s mother often lashes out at Barry, calling her daughter stupid and denigrating her interest in books, drawing, and doing well in school. She also lashes out at Barry during Barry’s teen years. When Barry acts out, partying or running around with boys, Barry’s mother berates her, using shaming language. The more Barry seeks her mother’s approval and love, the more her mother withholds it. When Barry gets into a toxic relationship with a boyfriend who shames and denigrates her, she realizes that she has recreated the same dynamic she has with her mother.

Barry’s mother presents in a feminine way, with long hair and makeup, but expresses rage when she sees wealthy little girls similarly express femininity through dolls, pretty clothes, and long hair. Barry’s mother experiences class anxiety and rage, channeling these destructive emotions outward into a hatred of frivolous things like the dolls those girls carry. Barry both inherits that same rage, and finds herself on the receiving end of it.

Barry’s grandmother is a fixture in her childhood house and a “philosophical sort of person” (57) with interesting opinions. She speaks a mixture of Tagalog and English, and connects Barry to her Filipino heritage. Grandma tells Barry stories of monsters and passes colorful judgment on white women from their neighborhood. Grandma also loves music and dancing, and inspires a festive atmosphere in Barry’s household. She cooks traditional Filipino foods that fill the house with extravagant scents. Barry learns that her white neighbors judge the smell of her grandmother cooking, but Barry feels incredibly nostalgic for it.

Grandma shows Barry warmth and kindness, especially when Barry’s mother treats her with detachment and cruelty. While Grandma does not protect Barry from her mother’s violence, she does offer Barry some respite and a warmer alternative. Barry observes that her grandmother treats her mother with coldness, implying that their mother/daughter relationship closely parallels the relationship between Barry and her mother. Grandma seems to have had a fractious relationship with her own mother as well.

The Professor is the nickname given to a kid Barry meets during a summer in the Philippines. Barry enjoys his intellectual and inquisitive nature and develops a crush on him. His curiosity about the way head lice adapt to the skin color of the people they infest inspires Barry to look more critically at her own mixed-race identity. The Professor’s open-minded inquisitiveness serves as a counterpoint to the bad boyfriend who views Barry’s upbringing with judgment and condescension.

Barry openly describes this boyfriend as the worst she ever had and draws him with an unflattering ponytail. He demeans her personality, calling her shallow and boring, and offensively referring to her upbringing as “ghetto” (21). This boyfriend has a powerful effect on Barry’s self-esteem, making her anxious about her personality and her art. At first Barry thinks the boyfriend reminds her of her childhood crush, the Professor, but realizes that he reminds her of her mother.

Dean is a guy that Barry procures acid for and falls in love with, only to be rejected. Dean bags groceries at a store in a rough part of town, where he survives multiple armed robberies. Barry considers him extremely cool: He has seen dramatic things, and has a similar interest in exploration and experimentation. Though Barry is no longer interested in experimenting with hard drugs, she agrees to supply Dean with acid, yearning for connection and intimacy—and seemingly experiencing these during their high. However, when she confesses her feelings, Dean tells her that he is in love with someone else and takes off; he has just been using her to get access to drugs. This experience shows Barry’s self-destructive cycle—getting pulled into dangerous people-pleasing because she is seeking validation.

Mrs. Lasene is an elementary school teacher who shows Barry kindness. When Barry is having trouble with other kids, Mrs. Lasene allows her to spend recess in her classroom drawing at the art station in the back of her room. Her classroom becomes a place of refuge for Barry and allows her to see her art and creativity as a place of refuge, too. Mrs. Lasene even stands up to Barry’s mother after Barry uses her mother’s stationary to draw a picture for her teacher. Mrs. Lasene becomes an alternative maternal figure for Barry.

Ev is one of Barry’s childhood friends. Two years younger than Barry, she lives across the street and they play together often. Barry loves Ev and considers her a good friend until becoming suddenly aware that having a younger friend will damage her precarious social standing in middle school. As a result, Barry abruptly drops Ev. Adult Barry still feels guilt over this betrayal and wonders if Ev is reading this book; her narrator breaks the fourth wall to apologize to Ev directly. This is one of several examples of Barry weaponizing a social trauma she’s experienced to harm someone else.

Gladys is a younger friend Barry has in middle school. When Barry starts Junior High, however, she again becomes standoffish toward her younger friend, recapitulating her treatment of Ev. Barry ditches Gladys even more overtly, abandoning her in the middle of play to run after a group of hippies she sees on a bus. Unlike Ev, Gladys boldly calls out Barry for abandoning her. Gladys is overtly emotional when she calls Barry a traitor for leaving her and refuses to repair the friendship.

Ronnie relentlessly bullies Barry, pushing her down on her way to school. Ronnie represents Barry’s growing understanding of the concept of hate. A teacher helps her understand the difference between the destructive hate Ronnie performs toward Barry, and the reactive hate Barry feels in response.

Rippy and Scammy are the nicknames Barry gives to the two hippies that give her a job, but never pay her for her work. They represent a turning point in Barry’s life, where she goes from highly idealizing the hippie life to seeing the darker reality of this particular couple’s itinerant lifestyle. Barry’s earnest desire to find freedom and fulfillment in being a hippy makes her vulnerable to the couple, who take advantage of her. The self-absorbed hippies demonstrate the importance of connection and the dangers of complete freedom, which in this case results in harmful narcissism.

Norabelle is a teenage girl who spends a summer staying with the adult Barry. Barry is inspired by Norabelle’s unselfconscious girlishness. While shopping, Norabelle encourages Barry to buy a cute thing that brings her joy—stationary decorated with seemingly childish iconography that Barry finds delightful. By giving herself permission to buy the paper and setting aside the shame she feels at enjoying it, Barry reconnects with her femininity and childlike wonder.

Bob is a friend and casual romantic partner of Barry’s who dies by suicide. He is the first person in her life to do so. This experience causes Barry to confront a feeling of numbness that comes in the wake of such a traumatic event—an emotional repression that Barry learned to perform as a child to cope with disturbing and destructive events. Barry has trouble fully recalling Bob’s face even though she spent a summer kissing him and spending time with him and other friends. He becomes a faceless gray figure in her memory.