In truth, the protagonist is something we all carry inside us: the ghosts of our pasts. We all must "hump" these burdens with us everyday, and everywhere we go. What distinguishes the antiheroes from the heroes, however, is how we carry them. Heroes carry them as a small reminder of what can potentially happen, and as a guide for the future. Antiheroes carry them as regrets and as a solemn reminder of what did happen. In order to develop the plots of our own lives, we must be the hero.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Hero... maybe?
Most books will fairly early on give a protagonist to the book. But for a book with such depth as this, determining the protagonist is fairly challenging. The first two chapters suggest that Jimmy Cross keeps the story going and develops the plot, first going from antihero to a model lieutenant. "... his obligation was not to be loved but to lead" (O'Brien 25). Once chapter three starts, however, the reader is told that the narrator/author Tim O'Brien is in fact the protagonist. So which is it?
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are you saying that neither Cross nor O'Brien serve as protagonist?
ReplyDeleteIn a sense. They are simply characters to fill the spots needed to tell the nostalgic memories to the reader. Yes, they have moments where they are spotlighted, but only briefly in Cross' case. O'Brien's character in this novel serves to introduce the other stories and memories he has as the writer.
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