Craig Gilner is the protagonist of It’s Kind of a Funny Story. He is 15 years old during his stay at Six North, but some of the flashbacks take place when he is in middle school. Craig is a thin, nerdy student. He loves film trivia. The story depicts Craig coming of age as he grows in his relationship to his mental health, his attitude toward the world, and his relationships with others.

At the start of the novel, Craig is consumed by anxiety and depression. He struggles to eat and things that he used to love no longer interest him. The intense pressure Craig absorbs from the world and puts on himself manifest in his thoughts. He beats himself up for anything that he does outside of schoolwork or making money. To him, the smallest misstep means that he won’t have a happy life. At Six North, he continues to wrestle with this black and white thinking, assuming his condition is his fault or just a “pretext for being a prima donna” (302).

One of the first turning points in Craig’s mental health journey is when he realizes the conflict between his brain and his heart. He knows that he wants to live but that his thoughts and the pressure he’s under are getting in the way of his life.