Dick Keene
Dick Keene is a student in Mrs. Underwood's second-period Algebra II class at Placerville High School, a member of the Placerville Greyhounds backfield alongside Mike Gavin. During the hostage crisis, he undergoes a startling transformation from a quiet onlooker into a central figure in the group's violent turn against Ted Jones, revealing the ease with which ordinary adolescents can shed restraint when authority collapses and peer pressure reverses direction.
Identity and Initial Role
Dick Keene is first noted as one of the students who, in the stunned silence after Charlie Decker shoots Mrs. Underwood and Mr. Vance, might have acted to stop him. Decker reflects that if someone had screamed melodramatically, "somebody aggressive like Dick Keene would have belted me over the head with his algebra book, thereby earning a key to the city and the Good Citizenship Award" . This early assessment positions Keene as physically capable and potentially heroic, yet he does nothing at that moment. Later, when Decker draws a chalk circle on the floor for the fight between Irma Bates and Grace Stanner, Keene is among those who watch with absorbed fascination, not intervening . His passivity in the early stages marks him as a follower, waiting for a cue.
Arc Through the Crisis: From Observer to Aggressor
As the morning wears on and Decker's psychological dominance over the class solidifies, Keene's demeanor shifts. When Ted Jones tries to rally the class to resist, Keene tells him bluntly, "Shut up, Ted. Okay?" , cutting off the only voice of opposition. This moment signals Keene's alignment with the emerging group consensus. The turning point comes during the final hour, when Decker asks the class to identify the "final order of business." Keene raises his hand along with most of the others, signaling his readiness to participate in whatever comes next . When Ted attempts to walk out, Keene is the first to physically restrain him: "after Ted had taken two steps toward the door, Dick came out of his seat, took two running steps of his own, and collared him" . From that point, Keene becomes one of Ted's primary tormentors, pinning his arms and later raising his knee "expertly in the big muscle of Ted's thigh" . He also verbally attacks Ted, calling him a "cocksucker" and accusing him of hypocrisy .
Relationships and Conflict
Keene's relationship with Ted Jones is particularly revealing. Before the crisis, they "shot a lot of pool together down at the Harlow Rec, and sometimes went cruising in Ted's car" . This pre-existing friendship makes Keene's betrayal all the more striking. When Sandra Cross finishes her story about losing her virginity to Ted, Keene coldly tells Ted, "You got yours, didn't you?" , publicly siding against his former friend. His participation in the attack is not merely passive compliance but active cruelty: he is one of the students who "fell on" Ted in the final assault .
Change and Ending
The aftermath of the crisis brings a strange coda. In Joe McKennedy's letter to Charlie Decker, he mentions that "what happened to Pig Pen, no one in town can believe it, about him and Dick Keene" before the passage is censored . This cryptic reference suggests that Keene and John "Pig Pen" Dano were involved in some further shocking event after the hostage crisis, though the details are withheld from the reader. The implication is that Keene's transformation during the crisis was not an isolated incident but part of a deeper, lasting change.
Thematic Significance
Dick Keene's trajectory from potential hero to active participant in mob violence illustrates the novel's central theme: the thin line between civilization and savagery. He is not a disturbed outsider like Charlie Decker but a normal, popular athlete who, given the right circumstances, becomes a perpetrator of cruelty. His willingness to turn on a friend and his later, censored fate suggest that the violence unleashed in Room 16 did not end when the hostages walked out.
