I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

Ellison offers up no backstory for Ted. The reader learns very little about him besides that he identifies himself as the “youngest” of the group and is able-bodied until the end of the story, when AM transforms him into a monstrous, inhuman lump of flesh. Nevertheless, the reader sees every event in the story through the lens of Ted’s perspective.

Ted is an analytical, logical thinker who first disagrees that they should search for the canned goods at all, since AM has used the promise of food to trick them before. However, he allows himself to be swayed by Nimdok’s certainty of his vision and Ellen’s hope for some kind of appetizing food. In fact, Ted’s actions often show concern for his fellow survivors: He turns away and vomits at the sight of Gorrister’s slaughtered corpse at the beginning of the story, he participates in protecting Ellen from harm, he joins in the effort to comfort Benny after he loses his eyes, and he sacrifices his own chance at death to ensure that his fellow survivors escape eternal torment.

However, Ted’s mind often floods with bitter, cruel hatred toward his friends. Though he insists that AM never altered his mind, his inner

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