Milo

Milo
[[ |px]] Milo with Lethargians
Vital statistics
Title	Milo
Gender	Male
Race	Human
Faction	Student
Health	Above average
Level	Hero
Status	Alive
Location	San Francisco, California

Milo is the main protagonist of The Phantom Tollbooth. He is a ten year old boy. At the beginning of the book, he was bored and had nothing to do with himself. Then as he went on his adventure, he became more and more happy. Along the way, he became friends with Tock and the Humbug.

Role in Story

Milo had nothing to do with himself. Whenever he was at a place, he wanted to be at another. Milo's boredom stopped when a tollbooth appeared in his room. He entered and met the Whether Man. Milo found him unusual and continued on his journey. Milo get tired and wasn't paying attention to road. He took wrong turn and ended up in the Doldrums. There, he met the Lethargians and they tried to make him stay. A watchdog named Tock made him get out since the Lethargians turned out to be evil. After leaving the Doldrums, Milo drove to Dictionopolis and tried to find a way to get in. An officer was there with an excuse and gave it to him, and they let Milo and Tock proceed. They went entered the Marketplace and one person offered them a bag of pronouns. The Spelling Bee appeared and Milo tried to hide. She told him that she can't sting but she can spell any word that has ever been written in any language anywhere. Suddenly, Humbug appeared and told her "balderdash". That got the bee mad.

The Spelling Bee got in a fight with the Humbug and they destroyed the entire marketplace. Officer Short Shrift, a short and wide officer, arrested them and they went into the dungeon. While there, Milo and Tock met the Which, who tells people which things to choose. Then there was a reminder that the royal banquet with King Azaz was going to start. Milo decided to go up and they talked. He said he could rescue Rhyme and Reason and the King supported him. They left Dictionopolis and ran into a stop. A dodecahedron appeared and said the only way to get past is to remember any Mathematics. Milo remembered some and the stop disappeared.

Milo in the film

Milo drove through the Numbers Mine and spotted King Azaz's brother, the Mathemagician. After Milo said that numbers aren't important, he got really mad. Milo then realized that numbers are important after he told him how numbers are. Afterwards, he told the Mathemagician that he was going to rescue Rhyme and Reason. He thought it was a great idea, but not after he said he'd never agree with King Azaz. Milo then said that they would agree about one thing, agreeing about disagreeing. The Mathemagician said he'd been tricked and they left with a special pencil. They stopped at a small cart that said "Kakafonous A. Dischord, Doctor of Dissonance". They went inside and saw a person who was in love with unpleasant sounds. He also had an assistant, the Awful Dynne. Milo didn't want to be cured of pleasant sounds, so he went away. They then met Chroma the Great who conducts the sunrise and sunset. He told Milo to wake him up at 5:23 so he could conduct the sunrise. They were in a hurry to reach Rhyme and Reason, so Milo decided to conduct the sunrise himself. He ended up messing up the sky, and left before Chroma woke up.

The three went up the Mountains of Ignorance and met many demons. The official senses taker asked many questions that had to be answered before he took their senses. Tock took a bottle of laughter from Dr. Dischord, and so he used it on them. The senses taker ended up laughing really hard, and couldn't focus on taking their senses. They left and then ran into the Terrible Trivium who forced them to do useless jobs. Tock realized the man was evil and left before he could turn them into his slaves. They then ran into The Demon of Insencerity, the Gelatinous Giant, and many more. After they thought they had lost them, the demons came back.

Milo used the pencil he got from the Mathemagician and used it on the demons. They all disappeared, and Milo was able to save Rhyme and Reason. There was a celebration, and once Milo was ready, he left. He was back in his apartment, and the tollbooth disappeared. It turns out Milo was only gone for an hour. He learned that life is far from dull.

Although the tollbooth was gone, readers cannot be fully sure if there is no way back to the Kingdom of Wisdom.

Personality

Milo is mostly focused, but can be foolish at times. He was mostly stubborn before his adventure, but did become a better person afterwards. He gained a strong bond with Tock the watchdog.

He wears a white T-shirt, a black leather jacket, blue jeans, and white Converse sneakers.

Relationships

Tock

After meeting him in the Doldrums, Tock and Milo instantly became friends after Tock. Tock acted as a guardian of Milo, often giving him advice and answers to his question throughout their journey. Milo saved Tock when he was smashed by the demons in The Mountains of Ignorance by rescuing Rhyme and Reason from the mysterious Castle in the Air who then fixed everything that had gone wrong in the kingdom, and Tock was ticking once more. It's implied he that he and Milo are very close. He most likely waits for Milo to return.

The Humbug

Milo and the Humbug were friends as well, although the humbugs stubborness caused the two to fight at times.

The Whether Man

Milo met the whether man when he entered the new world. At first, he thought he was the weather man, but quickly found out he was the whether man. The whether man told Milo where to go in order to get to Dictionopolis.

Dr. Dischord

Milo is very annoyed of Dr. Dischord, who loves loud and unpleasant noises due to the absence of Rhyme and Reason. Although he isn't particularly enemies with him, Milo dislikes the doctor along with Tock.

Trivia

• Milo can be tricked easily. One example of this was in the Doldrums.
• In the film, he has his own theme song.
• It is implied that Milo lives in San Francisco, California, due to the fact he rode home from school on a trolley.

See Also

• Tock - Milo's best friend in the kingdom.
• The Humbug - Milo's other friend.