Seventeen-year-old Duncan is the narrator-protagonist of Acceleration. A year ago, he failed to save a drowning girl named Maya. He visited doctors and took medication to alleviate his trauma—to no avail. In the aftermath of Maya’s death, Duncan became obsessed with the idea that he could’ve saved her. His fixation, his guilt, cost him his girlfriend Kim. She told him, “You’ve locked yourself up in some dark little prison cell” (55). The cell coincides with Maya’s death. In order to let himself out of the cell—by way of a second chance—he pursues Roach as if saving his targets will make up for the past.

Duncan is a pessimistic character. Throughout the novel, he gives little sign that he thinks his life can improve. Even his neighborhood, known as the Jungle, embodies a fight for survival. He doesn’t expect to escape the Jungle, and those closest to him (Jacob, Vinny, etc.) feel the same. Duncan’s father is beaten down by his graveyard shifts, and while father and son don’t have an antagonistic relationship, the former doesn’t inspire or galvanize the latter into action. Duncan is closer to his mother whom he hates to disappoint.