Peter Houghton Character Analysis in Nineteen Minutes

The main character in the novel and the perpetrator of the school shooting around which the narrative is centered. He is 17 years old when he commits the shooting and 18 when he is tried in court, yet due to the nonchronological nature of the narrative, the reader also gets glimpses into Peter’s life from infancy onward. Peter is a weak, sensitive, and troubled boy—this is true even as a baby, when he has difficulty sleeping. It is never properly explained why Peter struggles where others—notably his older brother, Joey—find life easy. Peter is subjected to intense bullying from his very first day of kindergarten, and this has a significant impact on his personality. He is desperate to be accepted but finds that he is automatically disliked by pretty much everyone he meets. The one exception to this is Josie, the daughter of his mother Lacy’s friend Alex. As children, Peter and Josie are best friends, and Josie defends him from bullies. However, once they get to middle school and Josie is accepted into the popular crowd, she realizes that being friends with Peter is a liability, and they drift apart. Peter is devastated and resentful about this turn of events. In high school, after a period of questioning his sexual orientation due to constantly being called slurs for a gay man, Peter comes to realize that he has a crush on Josie and confesses his love for her in an email that Josie’s friend Courtney sends to the whole school. Shortly after, Peter is “pantsed” in the cafeteria by Josie’s boyfriend, Matt, which is the final straw in triggering him to commit the mass shooting. After killing 10 people and wounding 19 more, Peter is captured and imprisoned. He is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, but he kills himself soon after the trial by stuffing a sock down his throat.

Peter Houghton Quotes in Nineteen Minutes

The Nineteen Minutes quotes below are all either spoken by Peter Houghton or refer to Peter Houghton. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

How could you change a boy’s bedding every week and feed him breakfast and drive him to the orthodontist and not know him at all?

Related Characters: Lacy Houghton, Peter Houghton

Page Number and Citation: 59

Explanation and Analysis:

Did everyone in jail think they were innocent? All this time Peter had spent lying on the bench, convincing himself that he was nothing like anyone else in the Grafton County Jail—and as it turned out, that was a lie.

Related Characters: Peter Houghton

Page Number and Citation: 121

Explanation and Analysis:

The town of Sterling would analyze to death what she had done to her son—but what about what she would do for him? It was easy to be proud of the kid who got straight A’s and who made the winning basket—a kid the world already adored. But true character showed when you could find something to love in a child everyone else hated.

Related Characters: Lacy Houghton, Peter Houghton

Page Number and Citation: 126

Explanation and Analysis:

Everyone wants their kid to grow up and go to Harvard or be a quarterback for the Patriots. No one ever looks at their baby and thinks, Oh, I hope my kid grows up and becomes a freak. I hope he gets to school every day and prays he won’t catch anyone’s attention. But you know what? Kids grow up like that every single day.

Related Characters: Peter Houghton (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 136

Explanation and Analysis:

Monsters didn’t grow out of nowhere; a housewife didn’t turn into a murderer unless someone turned her into one. The Dr. Frankenstein, in her case, was a controlling husband. And in Peter’s case, it was the whole of Sterling High School. Bullies kicked and teased and punched and pinched, all behaviors meant to force someone back where he belonged. It was at the hands of his tormentors that Peter learned how to fight back.

Related Characters: Peter Houghton

Page Number and Citation: 188

Explanation and Analysis:

What if you took the prey… and made them the hunters?

Peter got out of bed and sat down at his desk, pulling his eighth-grade yearbook from the drawer where he’d banished it months ago. He’d create a computer game that was Revenge of the Nerds, but updated for the twenty-first century. A fantasy world where the balance of power was turned on its head, where the underdog finally got a chance to beat the bullies.

Related Characters: Peter Houghton

Related Symbols: Hide-n-Shriek

Page Number and Citation: 222

Explanation and Analysis:

Like Peter, Derek Markowitz was a computer whiz. Like Peter, he hadn’t been blessed with muscles or height or, for that matter, any gifts of puberty. He had hair that stuck up in small tufts, as if it had been planted. He wore his shirt tucked into his pants at all times, and he had never been popular.

Unlike Peter, he hadn’t gone to school one day and killed ten people.

Related Characters: Peter Houghton, Derek Markowitz

Page Number and Citation: 277

Explanation and Analysis:

Children didn’t make their own mistakes. They plunged into the pits they’d been led to by their parents. She and Lewis had truly believed they were headed the right way, but maybe they should have stopped to ask for directions.

Related Characters: Lewis Houghton, Peter Houghton, Joey Houghton, Lacy Houghton

Page Number and Citation: 286

Explanation and Analysis:

Dorian Gray had a portrait that grew old and evil while he remained young and innocent-looking. Maybe the quiet, reserved mother who would testify for her son had a portrait somewhere that was ravaged with guilt, twisted with pain. Maybe the woman in that picture was allowed to cry and scream, to break down, to grab her son’s shoulders and say What have you done?

Related Characters: Lacy Houghton, Peter Houghton

Page Number and Citation: 357

Explanation and Analysis:

“He used to like the peanut butter on the top half of the bread and the marshmallow fluff on the bottom.” Alex smiled a little. “And he had the longest eyelashes I’d ever seen on a little boy. He could find anything I’d dropped—an earring, a contact lens, a straight pin—before it got lost permanently.”

Related Characters: Alex Cormier (speaker), Peter Houghton

Page Number and Citation: 386

Explanation and Analysis:

“Was there ever anything in Peter’s personality that led you to believe he was capable of an act like this?”
“When you look into your baby’s eyes,” Lacy said softly, “you see everything you hope they can be… not everything you wish they won’t become.”

Related Characters: Jordan McAfee (speaker), Lacy Houghton (speaker), Peter Houghton

Page Number and Citation: 419

Explanation and Analysis:

Peter Houghton Character Timeline in Nineteen Minutes

The timeline below shows where the character Peter Houghton appears in Nineteen Minutes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Expectations and the Failures of Family Theme Icon

Peter, Lacy’s son, is waking up. Lacy has left him a bowl of cereal and a... (full context)

...she dreamed of being in her own empty house with nothing to do. Lacy passes Peter’s room and makes his bed, something he refuses to do himself. (full context)

Lacy expected her second son, Peter, to be a “golden boy” like Joey, her first. Instead, Peter is a difficult baby... (full context)

...own. The women agree to get coffee, and while they sit and talk, Lacy breastfeeds Peter. Alex asks if motherhood is difficult, and Lacy replies that it takes some learning, but... (full context)

...son, she is not about to lose the other. The last time she spoke to Peter, they had an argument about the fact that he hadn’t taken out the trash. As... (full context)

...doesn’t “look like a person who’d created a monster.” Lacy says she wants to see Peter, but Patrick replies that she can’t, as he’s in custody. At 17, Peter is legally... (full context)

In the cell where Peter is being held, Patrick offers him coffee. Peter is crying softly. When Patrick asks if... (full context)

...comforted, but she is also troubled by the knowledge that it was Lewis who taught Peter how to hunt. Lacy is stunned by the idea that, having cared for Peter his... (full context)

On Peter’s first day of kindergarten, he is so excited that he wakes up at 4:30 in... (full context)

In the Houghtons’ kitchen, Lacy expresses her frustration that Peter has lost his lunchbox three times within his first month of kindergarten. She points out... (full context)

...her dirty, torn-up outfit. At home, Josie quietly explains that a boy named Drew bullies Peter, and that she wanted to turn it “the other way around.” Alex explains that you... (full context)

At the elementary school, Peter’s very young-looking teacher tells Lacy that, unfortunately, certain kids are singled out and bullied by... (full context)

Outside, Lacy finds Peter and tells him she loves him. She adds that she knows about everything going on... (full context)

...her answers, Logan shows up unexpectedly. Alex is momentarily thrown, but she quickly resumes talking. Peter gets new glasses and is thrilled by the fact that he can finally see clearly.... (full context)

...be married. They play house; Josie acts out going to work as a judge, while Peter makes dinner. Their teacher comes over and tells Lacy and Alex that Josie and Peter... (full context)

Soon after, the fifth-grade boys throw out Peter’s lunchbox yet another time, and Peter sadly tells Josie that he can’t come over for... (full context)

...them in the basement. To their horror, Josie is holding a rifle, which Josie explains Peter retrieved from a safe. An argument ensues between Lacy and Alex, and Alex finds herself... (full context)

Peter, who is grounded, hears a noise coming from the basement and goes down to see... (full context)

On his sixth Christmas, Peter got a fish as a present. Even as a child, he was disturbed by the... (full context)

Lacy asks Lewis about Hitler’s mother. Lewis recalls memories of Peter, and thinks that Peter is still his son, even if he has committed an unthinkable... (full context)

...Ervin replies, “You could make that argument.” Back at the Houghtons’ house, Lewis pauses outside Peter’s room, where he usually says goodnight to his son every evening before bed. He hears... (full context)

...across her face and whose hair has been shaved. Through tears, Haley tells Josie that Peter killed Courtney and Maddie, and that he tried to kill Haley but Brady stepped in... (full context)

Having put Josie to bed, Alex briefly watches the news coverage of Peter’s arraignment, before turning it off to preserve her own objectivity. She knows some people will... (full context)

...Matt’s stomach could have been from Gun B or another gun. Patrick thinks it’s unlikely Peter would have switched guns to fire a single shot. (full context)

On the news, a reporter announces that it has been revealed that Peter was a fan of a punk band called Death Wish. Violent lyrics from a song... (full context)

The narrator lists items that the police removed from Peter’s bedroom, including video games, posters from gun manufacturers, a Bowling for Columbine DVD, and a... (full context)

...Josie accepts the Kleenex her mother offers her. Meanwhile, in his cell in maximum-security jail, Peter hears someone murmur, “I know what you did.” When Peter replies, the voice introduces himself... (full context)

...her memory; Patrick knows that this is a normal response to trauma. He asks why Peter didn’t like Matt, and Josie replies that everyone teased Peter, not just Matt. She mentions... (full context)

Lacy brought homemade muffins, books, and magazines to give to Peter in jail, but all of this was confiscated by the correctional officer. A frightening-looking man... (full context)

...about the way that everyone in Sterling will judge her parenting, blaming her for what Peter has done. She thinks that while it is easy to love a popular, successful kid,... (full context)

Jordan goes to see Peter, and Peter immediately complains about the fact that he is in jail, which he believes... (full context)

When Jordan asks further questions about the email, Peter says he doesn’t want to discuss it. Jordan finds himself thinking about the struggles his... (full context)

On the first day of middle school, Lacy gave Peter a Superman binder, something that would have been cool three years earlier but now “doomed”... (full context)

...upset, the girl says, “I did it.” Meanwhile, in class, Josie receives a note from Peter joking about hating math. Josie smiles, even though she actually enjoys math. Josie’s perfect grades... (full context)

...the World Trade Center. They all watch the news coverage on television. Horrified, Josie nudges Peter and points out that there are people jumping from the tower. When the building collapses,... (full context)

...and control over the situation, even though in reality she is terrified. When she sees Peter, she is shocked by how tall he has become. Peter plays soccer on the middle... (full context)

On one particular day after soccer practice, Matt is in the shower and angrily tells Peter to stop looking at his penis, while Drew calls him a “fag.” Peter replies that... (full context)

...she is shunned by the other girls in her grade because she is always defending Peter from bullies. (full context)

Derek Markowitz tells Peter that his mother forces him to play soccer because she is a nutritionist who’s “nuts... (full context)

Joey is more popular, charismatic, talented, and academically successful than Peter. In Peter’s eyes, Joey’s only weakness is that he faints at the sight of blood.... (full context)

Dolores Keating is a decidedly ordinary girl who transferred into Peter’s middle school that year and sits in front of him in French. One day, Peter... (full context)

One day, after waiting for Josie to walk away from “Courtney & Co.,” Peter approaches her, giving her a fright. He accuses her of being fake in front of... (full context)

...and tries to get her to go outside, but Josie refuses. She then brings up Peter, asking if Josie ever had any inclination he could do something like this. Alex brings... (full context)

Selena goes to see Lacy in order to gather information for Peter’s defense. Her questions begin at Lacy’s pregnancy and Peter’s babyhood. When she asks about Peter’s... (full context)

When Selena asks about weapons, Lacy admits that Peter knew where the key to shotgun cabinet was, but that she doesn’t know where he... (full context)

Patrick asks Natalie if Peter ever came to a GLAAD meeting, and Natalie says he did, just once. He didn’t... (full context)

At the jail, Jordan asks Peter about Joey, and Peter replies, “He got his golden boy straight-A self rammed by a... (full context)

Selena accuses Jordan of wanting Peter not to be acquitted because he’s scared of him. She says that Jordan doesn’t understand... (full context)

...to do so. Meanwhile, at the police station, Patrick is playing the computer game that Peter created. It is set in Sterling High, and each room contains weapons that the player... (full context)

Jordan goes to visit Peter in jail and tells him they are going to waive the probable cause hearing. Peter... (full context)

Jordan is at the jail talking to Peter and fantasizing about dropping the case altogether. He asks Peter about Josie, and why he... (full context)

The Houghtons’ dog, Dozer, whom they’ve had since Peter was three, is sick with kidney failure. The whole family has arrived at the vet... (full context)

At school, Peter only ever uses the stalls to pee. Back in English, his class is doing a... (full context)

...needs to have sex and decides to set her up on a blind date. Meanwhile, Peter has an after-school job at QuikCopy, which he hates. He is saving up money to... (full context)

Josie looks so different now that sometimes Peter fails to recognize her. They haven’t properly spoken since sixth grade. After they start working... (full context)

Peter asks if Josie has a crush on Matt, which she denies. He then asks what... (full context)

...learning about graphs, and each student has to present a graph showing a particular correlation. Peter’s is on popularity; he has placed everyone in their math class at different points based... (full context)

Josie tells Peter to never speak to her again. Matt tells Josie that he thinks Peter is right... (full context)

...ask. Becoming Matt’s girlfriend has rescued Josie from the damage to her reputation caused by Peter’s presentation. She refuses to be friendly with Peter again, remaining cold at work. (full context)

One day, at work, Peter sets fire to the trash inside a metal dumpster. As the fire spits and grows,... (full context)

While they are walking away, Josie hesitantly asks why Matt targets Peter. Matt says Peter started it, and when Josie keeps asking, he gets angry. He says,... (full context)

...to the car, she lets the money fall from her hand onto the floor. Meanwhile, Peter comes up with the idea for a video game in his sleep. He dreams about... (full context)

Peter’s English teacher Mrs. Sandringham pulls him aside at the end of class and tells him... (full context)

In gym class, Peter and Derek discuss what Peter should name his game. While everyone else gets picked ahead... (full context)

Peter offers to put down $5 on the game, but Kurt replies, “How about if I... (full context)

In December, Peter starts a new job at the Sterling High library. He likes it, because none of... (full context)

They ask each other if they hate each other; Peter says he “sometimes” hates Josie, but Josie says she doesn’t hate him back. Prompted by... (full context)

...another time, getting ready to give her statement. She wonders if the Houghtons ever expected Peter to do something monstrous when he grew up. Diana is shocked to see that one... (full context)

Someone had put a cross there for Peter, too, but people took it down. Alex reflects on the unlikely but true fact that... (full context)

...the opportunity to tell the world that she was just as shocked and horrified by Peter’s actions as they were. She feels that she “lost” her son and doesn’t know it... (full context)

Patrick is visiting Philip O’Shea, Ed McCabe’s partner. He asks Philip if Ed ever mentioned Peter, and Philip explains that Ed noticed that Peter struggled to fit in and he thought... (full context)

When Peter was a child, his parents sent him to sleepaway camp. Although Joey loved this camp,... (full context)

...entitled “Where Are They Now?” Drew strikes up a conversation with her and says that Peter isn’t “crazy.” He says he remembers looking into his eyes and seeing that everything he... (full context)

In court, four television cameras are set up, filming Alex reading the charges against Peter. When she reads the name of one of the people Peter killed, Grace Murtaugh, a... (full context)

Josie asks about Peter, wanting to know how he looks and if he will be given a life sentence.... (full context)

Peter is slowly becoming accustomed to the dull brutality of life in jail. He has even... (full context)

Elena writes that she feels connected to Peter because she was also bullied in high school, and she is now writing her undergraduate... (full context)

The narrator lists the similarities between Peter and Derek, while also pointing out the major difference: that Derek never killed anyone. Selena... (full context)

When Elena comes to visit Peter in prison, he is pleasantly surprised to see that she is “hot.” He fantasizes about... (full context)

Jordan goes straight to the prison and immediately demands to see Peter, whom he yells at for talking to the press. Peter explains that Elena was his... (full context)

Lewis has been telling Lacy that he is visiting Peter in jail, and now that she knows this is not true, she decides to follow... (full context)

Lacy says that Peter needs them, but Lewis says he can’t go to see him. He thinks about the... (full context)

...that he will use Josie as a witness, which will both provide crucial support for Peter and force Alex to step down. Selena applauds his brilliance, and Jordan suggests they have... (full context)

On Peter’s birthday, a correctional officer brings him a “present”—a new cellmate. it is a young man,... (full context)

...Selena suggests they invite Alex in for coffee. Jordan questions Josie about her friendship with Peter. When he asks what Peter’s relationship with Matt was like, Josie begins to cry. At... (full context)

...feed the deer during winter, hoping to “cancel out” Lewis’ hunting. Today, to her surprise, Peter follows her out onto the lawn, wearing only a t shirt and vest. He has... (full context)

When Peter keeps asking questions about how Lacy asked Lewis out, Lacy asks if he likes someone,... (full context)

Peter has decided to send Josie an email confessing his feelings. He writes and rewrites the... (full context)

In order to save face, Josie forces herself to act casually about the email, calling Peter a “total loser.” She gets to work on Matt’s essay, and he kisses her hand... (full context)

Josie rummages around in her bag for an apple, and at that moment Peter speaks to her from the next table, asking if she’d like to join him for... (full context)

Peter is clearing his driveway with a snowblower when the machine runs out of gas. He... (full context)

...that he would never leave even if she wanted him to. A few days later, Peter goes back to Mr. Weatherall’s house, claiming to need even more gas. As soon as... (full context)

The jury for Peter’s trial is being selected, a difficult task considering that all members need not only to... (full context)

...and talks to him. Lacy, meanwhile, has driven to Boston to buy an outfit for Peter to wear during his trial. A sales assistant comes to help her, saying she knows... (full context)

Lewis has come to see Peter in jail for the first time in months. When he sees Peter he apologizes, not... (full context)

Patrick and Diana discuss the guns Peter used to commit the shooting. Diana tells Patrick that Jordan will ask him why Peter... (full context)

When Diana asks about Drew’s relationship with Peter, Drew says that he knew Peter “forever,” and that they were neither friends nor enemies.... (full context)

...trial. She asks him why Josie is still alive, how she escaped being shot by Peter. Patrick says there are some things he can’t understand, and Alex feels deeply reassured by... (full context)

When Peter is brought from his cell, he realizes that no one has given him a bulletproof... (full context)

There is also another crowd chanting messages of support for Peter. They identify themselves as the Bullied Victims of America, and Selena reveals that she encouraged... (full context)

Peter tells Jordan he’s going to be sick, but Jordan instructs him to swallow it. Diana... (full context)

In his own opening speech, Jordan argues that when Peter walked into Sterling High on the morning of the shooting, he didn’t want to murder... (full context)

...to share his doughnut. When Michael is called to the stand, Diana asks him if Peter said anything when he ran into the school, and Michael says that Peter asked the... (full context)

Yet when Peter got home, instead of thanking Lacy he complained that he would have to put the... (full context)

...this moment Diana gets up again and asks if Drew has bullied anyone other than Peter. Drew admits that he has; that he has called people names, pantsed them, and even... (full context)

While Derek was in the parking lot, he saw Peter getting something out of the back of a car and went over to say hi.... (full context)

...television monitor with Hide-n-Shriek playing on it. The avatar is a boy that looks like Peter, who gets to select a weapon from a vast array of choices. After a weapon... (full context)

...is thrown by her encounter with Josie, whom she holds partially responsible for the bullying Peter endured. She is impressed with what a kind, eloquent, and beautiful young woman Josie has... (full context)

On the drive home, Alex mentions that in court, the email Peter sent confessing his crush to Josie was read aloud. Josie cringes, reliving the humiliation of... (full context)

Lewis wakes Peter up; after seeing how cranky he is, he leaves his son in peace. Peter gets... (full context)

...life.” Diana pulls up the surveillance footage from the day of the shooting. It shows Peter coming into the cafeteria and shooting, eating the bowl of Rice Krispies, reloading his gun,... (full context)

...there is a partial print on Gun B that is inconclusive; it might belong to Peter, but there is no way to tell for sure. He then explains that it is... (full context)

...that he’s worked with the FBI on other school shooting cases, including Columbine. He believes Peter was not suffering from mental illness on the day of the shooting, and that there... (full context)

While they are on break, Jordan brings Peter a sandwich that Peter says he doesn’t want to eat, because he doesn’t like turkey.... (full context)

All this indicates that Peter is not yet capable of making particularly rational, calculated decisions. While interviewing Peter, Wah was... (full context)

Wah explains that the computer was supposed to be a “safe haven” for Peter, which is why this incident was particularly horrifying. He also notes that PTSD can be... (full context)

Wah says that Peter only returned to a somewhat normal state after he was taken into custody, when he... (full context)

...felt trapped. Back in the courthouse, Diana is now questioning Dr. Wah. She suggests that Peter could have lied in his interviews with Wah, and she raises doubts about the fact... (full context)

Back in jail that night, Peter is given a letter from one of the students he shot, Angela Phlug. She explains... (full context)

Lacy dresses in a way that Peter likes or that reminds her of him somehow. When she sees him in court, she... (full context)

...when Joey died, she and Lewis were too absorbed by their own grief to support Peter. When Jordan asks if Lacy ever imagined Peter could be capable of committing the act... (full context)

Peter admits to all the acts that he stands accused of, and when Jordan asks why... (full context)

...remember anything, but he now realizes if she can say even one kind thing about Peter, it would be the last hope of a different outcome. Selena informs Alex that Jordan... (full context)

...breaks down again, reminded of the moment that one of the guns dropped out of Peter’s bag. She says that Matt tried to fire at Peter and missed, and this is... (full context)

...age and her grade in school. Then she describes the moments leading up to when Peter murdered Matt, including when Peter shot Drew as he was trying to escape. (full context)

...tells her he loves her, and Josie starts crying, convinced that she’s about to die. Peter enters and points the gun at Matt; at this point Josie screams and, startled, Peter... (full context)

...runs to Matt, trying to stop the blood gushing from his wound. She demands that Peter help her, but when he walks over, he shoots Matt in the head. Peter asks... (full context)

...to help, but he is interrupted by Diana. He explains that he figured out that Peter couldn’t have possibly shot Matt, and Diana tells him that Josie just confessed to doing... (full context)

Jordan, meanwhile, tells Peter that if he had been honest about what Josie did from the outset, the trial... (full context)

Peter is convicted of eight first-degree murders, though in Matt and Courtney’s case this is diminished... (full context)

Weeks pass after the trial before Lacy finally manages to enter Peter’s room. She tidies his things and thinks about how powerless her love is, since it... (full context)

In Sterling High, there are ten chairs bolted to the floor as a memorial to Peter’s ten victims. Alex is pregnant; she and Patrick are at the school for the ceremony.... (full context)

Nineteen Minutes

Peter Houghton Character Analysis

Peter Houghton Quotes in Nineteen Minutes

Part 1, Chapter 3: Hours After Quotes

Part 1, Chapter 5: The Day After Quotes

Part 1, Chapter 7: Ten Days After Quotes

Part 1, Chapter 8: One Year Before Quotes

Part 1, Chapter 9: One Month After Quotes

Part 2, Chapter 1: Five Months After Quotes

Part 2, Chapter 3: Five Months After Quotes

Peter Houghton Character Timeline in Nineteen Minutes