What Happened to Goodbye Character Roles
Protagonist: Mclean Sweet
As the narrator of What Happened to Goodbye, it's clear that high school senior Mclean Sweet is the star of this show. Everything that happens in the book is told through her perspective, and revolves around Mclean's issues with being set adrift after her parents' nasty divorce. Over the course of the book, we get to see her grow into herself—and start to trust people again. Self-discovery is a beautiful thing, man.
Antagonist: Divorce
Even though she always hates on her mom, Mclean's mom isn't the main antagonist of the book—nope, Mclean's main nemesis is her parents' divorce. Before the divorce happened, she was living a pretty normal, charmed life, but now everything's been tossed upside down and she doesn't know who or what to trust anymore. Throughout the book, we see Mclean sort through her feelings about her parents' divorce—it's not easy or pretty, but it's definitely necessary for her to stop it from affecting every area of her life.
Guide/Mentor: Deb
Even though Deb doesn't seem like she'd be anyone's first choice for an inspirational role model (after all, she's kind of an odd duck), Mclean comes to admire the heck out of Deb. After all, Deb's not afraid to be herself, unlike Mclean, who is always hiding behind some kind of persona. And even though she's been hurt in the past, Deb isn't cautious and skeptical when it comes to making friends—instead she throws herself wholeheartedly into every endeavor.
As Mclean spends time with her, she realizes that maybe it's not so bad to be passionate and to form real connections. It's certainly working out for Deb, after all.
Foil: Katie Sweet/Katherine Hamilton
Aside from the name change, Mclean's mom has taken on a new role and identity since her divorce. As Katie Sweet (married to Mclean's dad), she was a hands-on wife who hardly wore any make-up and worked in the restaurant and garden alongside her husband. She also loved going to trashy motels with her daughter.
Now that she's married to the basketball coach for Defriese though, she's hardly recognizable to her daughter. Katherine Hamilton is a primped, beautiful, rich woman who has two twin babies. Katie Sweet's not totally lost though, and by the end of the book, Mclean realizes that the "new" version of her mom isn't that different from the old one—and that at the end of the day, her mom loves her just as much as she always did.