The Minds of Billy Milligan

The Minds of Billy Milligan is the true story of a man with multiple personalities, written by Daniel Keyes. Out of control of his own actions, Billy Milliagan was a man tormented by twenty-four distinct personalities battling for supremacy over his body-- a battle that culminated when he awoke in jail, arrested for the kidnap and rape of three women. In a landmark trial, Billy was acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity caused by multiple personality -- the first such court decision in history -- bringing to public light the most remarkable and harrowing case of multiple personality ever recorded.

The Ten

These are the personalities that were known to the public at the time of the trial.
 * William Stanley Milligan: The original, unfused personality.
 * Arthur: The Mean Brit. Intellectual, controls who gets to "take the spot".
 * Ragen Vadascovinich: The Yugoslavian Papa Wolf. Has Super Strength and controls the spot while Billy is in jail.
 * Allen: The Con Man. Responsible for talking himself out of whatever mess the other personalities have gotten themselves into.
 * Tommy: The Escape Artist. Has a vast knowledge of technolgy. Sometimes mistaken for Allen.
 * Danny: The Shrinking Violet who Does Not Like Men after being Buried Alive by Billy's step-father.
 * David: The Empath. One of the few child personalities.
 * Christene: The Cheerful Child.
 * Christopher: Christene's older brother. Plays the harmonica.
 * Adalana: The affection-starved lesbian. Keeps house and writes poetry. Later turned out to be a Sympathetic Racist.

The Undesirables

Suppressed by Arthur because they possessed undesirable traits.
 * Philip: The thug. Has a strong Brooklyn accent.
 * Kevin: The small-time criminal.
 * Walter: The Australian. Fancies himself a big game hunter.
 * April: The bitch. Her only ambition is to kill Billy's stepfather.
 * Samuel: The Jew. The only religious personality.
 * Mark: The workhorse. No initiative. Takes care of monotonous labour.
 * Steve: The egomaniac. Makes fun of others with mocking imitations.
 * Lee: The Class Clown. His belief that nothing is sacred gets him into trouble.
 * Jason: The pressure valve. Screams and throws tantrums to let off tension.
 * Robert: The daydreamer. Although he dreams of making the world a better place, he doesn't have the ambition to actually do so.
 * Shawn: The deaf child. Assumed to be retarded. Makes buzzing noises to feel the vibrations in his head.
 * Martin: The snob. Puts on airs and wants things without earning them.
 * Timothy: Worked in a florist shop until a Depraved Homosexual made advances that frightened him. Went into his own world.

Compare When Rabbit Howls.


 * Abusive Parents: Chalmer is a particularly horrifying example.
 * American Accents: Philip has A Brooklyn accent, and April has a Boston accent.
 * Berserk Button: Anybody who dares try to hurt Christene will feel Ragen's wrath.
 * British Accents: Arthur speaks in an upper-class British accent. Christopher has a Cockney accent.
 * Bruiser with a Soft Center: Ragen.
 * Cheerful Child: Christene.
 * Depraved Homosexual: Timothy had an encounter with one.
 * Escape Artist: Tommy.
 * Feminine Women Can Cook: Adalana.
 * Freudian Trio: Possibly,
 * Arthur, the cool-headed Brit (Superego).
 * Ragen, the hot-headed Papa Wolf (Id)
 * Allen, the fast-talking Con Man (Ego).
 * I Just Want to Be Loved: Adalana.
 * Jerkass: Some of the personalities, specifically Philip, Kevin, Steve, and Martin.
 * Morality Pet: Christene, for Ragen.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Adalana. Ragen also has a tendency to do this.
 * Papa Wolf: Ragen.
 * Quintessential British Gentleman: Arthur.
 * Revenge Against Men: April.
 * Revenge Before Reason: April again.
 * Robin Hood: On one occasion, Ragen steals a wheelchair to help a poor child.
 * Shrinking Violet: Danny and Adalana.
 * Split Personality: What the whole book is about.
 * Sympathetic Rapist: Adalana "used" Billy's body for the rapes because she was so desperate to feel loved.
 * Sympathetic Criminal: Ragen regularly robs criminals in order to feed the "family". Then, of course, there was the wheelchair incident.
 * The Mean Brit: Arthur has a tendency to be this.
 * The Spock: Arthur.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Adalana.