Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses racism.

Chan Kim is the protagonist and narrator of Necessary Roughness. He is a teenager with a round face, dark eyes, and a cowlick in his spiky black hair. He was born in Korea and moved to Los Angeles, California when he was three years old, where he lived until his junior year of high school, when the family had to pick up and move to Iron River, Minnesota. Chan is athletic and finds joy in sports; he used to play soccer but takes up American football upon moving to Minnesota. Chan works hard in school, but the classroom is not where he thrives. His love of sports over academics is one source of tension between Chan and his father; Chan feels underappreciated and misunderstood by his dad. Their tension also comes from Chan’s stubbornness, which he has inherited from his father.

Throughout the novel, Chan transforms from an angry, lonely kid who resents his new home to a confident teenager navigating multiple cultures. Chan manages to expand his identity, becoming a football player and a Minnesotan, without sacrificing his past or his ancestry.