Benjamin Brookes

Ben is a stoic and blunt person shaped by the society he lives in. Due to his troubled past and difficultly fitting in during his childhood such as belittling, bullying, and constant social and emotional beat-downs, Ben grew to be an impulsive, violent person who often struggled with anger issues to an extent which is demonstrated with his constant fights with Ricky throughout the episodes and his fight with Kenny. Despite this behavior outlining his personality, Ben is a sensitive person at heart. Being sensitive since childhood. Ben cares deeply for the few people he surrounds himself with. As seen with his many interactions with Ricky, how he cares for Donna, and how he tried to warn Stuart about Heather. However, this care if it starts to interfere with his personal issues can quickly become muddled as seen with Ricky. Yet another side effect of the harsh social constructs of the 1950s is Ben’s poor mental state. Ben struggles heavily with depression with it constantly haunting his daily life with lack of motivation, lack of enjoyment of things he used to enjoy, loneliness, irritability, feelings of worthlessness, and more. He also suffers from anxiety of what people would think if he embraced his real self, resulting in him refusing to think about it and running away from his problems. His struggles are only fed into more when he was sexually assaulted by Heather and by the uncaring attitudes that the people around him gives him, leaving him alone to stress over during a time where he needed others the most. The only person that Ben being able to trust being Ricky when they became friends. Additionally, Ben is also perceived to have poor emotional management, being taught to hide and bury his emotions, he ends up always letting it bottle up until it explodes. This hate for vulnerability is also what makes Ben end up hurting the people around him in order to protect himself from his own problems. This is deeply remorseful for and struggles with constantly. With how the story is going so far, it can be inferred Ben will reach a breaking point sooner or later. It should also be noted that Ben also has a fractured sense of self due to everything listed before. He consistently struggles with his identity as a whole, unable to perceive or make out what outlined and made him identifiable to himself. However, as the story progress Ben slowly starts to become a happier person once he finds someone that understands him and comforts him, treats him good, accepts him, and that he could trust; Aka Ricky. Ben ends up falling in love for the first time with Ricky as their relationship starts to progress as the story goes on. Though, as of the prom arc and the aftermath, their relationships starts to hit major bumps as Ben is forced through a hard questioning period of his life where he starts to realize who he really is as a person and starts to struggle accepting it himself. In all, Ben is an impulsive, angry, hurt person who constantly runs away from his problems in fear of what would happen. However, it is clear he also wishes to be accepted and loved.