Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and rape.

Tegan is The Crash’s protagonist. Though complex and flawed, she’s heroic in the story because of her resilience in the face of profound challenges and conflicts. She’s embroiled in numerous external conflicts over the course of the narrative, including three antagonists trying to harm her: Simon, Polly, and Dennis. She’s also beset by economic hardship, societal discrimination, and a potentially fatal injury. Despite overwhelming obstacles, Tegan shows determination and strength. She works past exhaustion to earn money, sacrifices financial security to keep a rapist from hurting others, fights for her very survival, and cultivates acceptance and forgiveness. Much of the strength she displays comes from her primary motivation: to ensure the health and safety of her baby and a good life for them both. The connection between this motivator and Tegan’s mental and emotional fortitude illustrates The Psychological Influence of Maternal Instinct.

Tegan’s humble circumstances and realistic flaws make her the archetypal everyman, someone relatable and recognizable as an ordinary person. Tegan’s greatest flaw, within the scope of the narrative, is her poor judgment of character, which is based in her tendency to form biases from unchallenged assumptions.