Diana (Crab)Tree

Character Analysis

For a person who calls her zine No Regrets, you'd think Diana hadn't made any mistakes in life. Or never experienced loss. This is not the case with Diana, though. Nope—her mom died when she was a kid, and she's not naïve when it comes to mistakes—and yet she's still positive. Why? We'll let her explain it:

"So when I say "no regrets" I mean there's no reason to look back, wishing you could change things. I do look back with sadness sometimes, but just as often I remember the happy times I had with my mother. And I always look to the future with hope. If you have no regrets, you stop wishing you could rearrange your past, and you start looking forward to whatever is up ahead." (7.69)

Hmm… always looking ahead. We can get behind that. Diana is optimistic. She knows there's no point in dwelling on the past, since you can't change it, and getting angry at the world because her mom died won't bring her mom back.

Interestingly, Diana's the most positive person in the entire book—as well as the person who's been through the darkest stuff, too. Whereas John sends his time moping and building up walls, Diana responds to tragedy by seizing the day. She chooses positivity, even removing the "crab" part of her last name for her zine. She might be Diana Crabtree in real life, but when she's running the show on the page, she removes anything gloomy sounding, instead calling herself Diana Tree. Now that's positivity for you.