Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of surviving a school shooting.

Simon is the protagonist and narrator of Simon Sort of Says. He was in seventh grade when he became the only survivor in his class of a school shooting that killed all his friends. Simon developed PTSD because of the experience, and the family suffered through mass amounts of media attention that eventually drove them to seek solace in the National Quiet Zone. Simon was relieved to move somewhere where nobody knew his name or his face and where he could hopefully start over. Simon’s brain “specializes in disaster scenarios” (10), and he is always imagining the worst, but at the same time, Simon has a strong sense of humor and sarcasm that he uses to make light of difficult experiences and topics. Simon’s main concern, particularly in the first few months of living in GNB, is to be seen as ordinary and not to be pitied, patronized, or seen as unusual: “I wonder if I’m ever just going to be normal, without anyone celebrating it” (82).

Simon’s trauma causes him to have strong reactions to things that remind him of the shooting, such as loud sudden noises, confined spaces, and rooms with only one exit.