# Joel — The Middle Five character guide

> Joel in The Middle Five by Francis La Flesche.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Big Seven, the Seven, Joel of the Big Seven

**First appearance:** 0015-xiii-the-secret-of-the-big-seven

## Snapshot

The Big Seven's commanding leader, Joel speaks Omaha ritual with a chief's gravity, drawing the younger Middle Five into a shared secret under the school's very nose.

## Who they are

Joel — called the Big Seven, or simply the Seven — heads the older Omaha boys at the mission school, a faction with its own secrets and its own code. He breaks school rules without flinching, addressing the younger Five in Omaha and invoking the sacred words of 'Obeying the Command,' a ritual older than any of them. His authority and the fraternal pact he offers pull the Five into the older boys' orbit, setting the school's social world in motion.

## Relationships

### [Me](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_five_se/characters/me)

_friendship_

Joel is a friend and peer in the Middle Five group, sharing in the boys' adventures.

### [Me](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_five_se/characters/me)

_friendship_

Joel is a friend and peer in the Middle Five group, sharing in the boys' adventures.

### [Me](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_five_se/characters/me)

_friendship_

Joel is a friend and peer in the Middle Five group, sharing in the boys' adventures.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_five_se/characters/joel
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_five_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_five_se/characters