They Are Imperfect and They Are Courageous

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In this 1945 photo, survivors of the Jewish Underground pose atop the ruins of the Mila 18 bunker in the former Warsaw Ghetto. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Leah Hammerstein Silverstein.)

Sometimes, heroic people in literature are depicted as almost superhuman. That can be enjoyable in a novel, even as those characters aren’t exactly realistic. But when heroic people have plenty of flaws yet still act bravely when the chips are down, well, attention must be paid.

I thought about that last week while reading Leon Uris’ Mila 18 — a gripping, heartbreaking historical novel that culminates with 1943’s desperate armed uprising against the Nazis by Jewish residents trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto. Before that resistance action, we meet the women and men who will directly or tangentially take part, and, while some are almost saint-like, a number of others are far from perfect. Several are excessively cautious or possess nasty tempers or are having extramarital affairs or are not the best of parents, etc. It makes their eventual heroism more relatable, and makes readers who themselves are imperfect contemplate what they might have done in that situation. Go down fighting before facing near-certain death against a brutal force with infinitely more firepower? Or acquiesce to being transferred to concentration camps for the slim chance of being chosen for slave labor amid everyone else being genocidally murdered?

Other novels — often wartime-set books — that feature flawed, realistic, relatable heroines and heroes include Herman Wouk’s War and Remembrance, Kate Quinn’s The Alice Network, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, etc.

In the latter two works, there is a clear arc from cowardice to courageousness for Henry Fleming (the soldier protagonist of Crane’s classic) and for Harry Potter’s Hogwarts schoolmate Neville Longbottom.

Quinn’s The Alice Network focuses on a World War I spy ring of women who feel far from fearless inside but intrepidly do what needs to be done.

The main characters in War and Remembrance‘s large cast are members of the Henry family — father, mother, two sons, one daughter — who all have personal lives that are checkered to some extent. But they mostly do the right thing during World War II, with one paying the ultimate price.

A character who bravely fights all kinds of self-doubt is Adah of Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen. She determinedly attends school in Nigeria even though discouraged as a girl from doing so, and even gets beaten for her desire for an education. She eventually relocates to England, deals with racism there, and escapes an abusive husband she had made the bad decision to marry — all while juggling a career and parenthood.

Then there’s of course Sydney Carton, in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, who’s a lazy and alcoholic attorney before gradually reaching the point where he finds redemption by making one of literature’s most heroic decisions.

Your thoughts on this topic?

My literary-trivia book is described and can be purchased here: Fascinating Facts About Famous Fiction Authors and the Greatest Novels of All Time.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column for Baristanet.com every Thursday. The latest piece — again about a court case that makes some of my town’s leaders and their attorneys look pathetic — is here.

103 thoughts on “They Are Imperfect and They Are Courageous”

  2. Hi Dave, I did read Mila 18, but years ago when I was in high school. I agree about Henry and Red Badge of Courage is a marvelous book. What about Scarlett from Gone with he wind. She overcomes her flaws at the end although we never know if its too late. There s also Ralph from Lord of the Flies who steps up at the end, again perhaps too little too late. There is also Nora Seed from The Midnight Library also manages to overcome her flaws in the end. Lastly, Pip and Estella both overcome their character flaws in the end (depending on which ending you read).

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  3. Hi Dave,

    Apologies in advance for this, but I feel like my answer to everything for a while is going to be TJ Klune’s “The House in the Cerulean Sea”. It’s an absolutely wonderful story about Linus Baker who saves the lives of some extraordinary children. But he has his flaws including voluntarily working for a government which seems to have come straight from the pages of “Nineteen Eighty Four”. He’s a lonely man and quite apathetic. Actually, even though I’m only about two thirds through, I’ve just realised these very special children will possibly save his life just as much as he does theirs ❤

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    • Thank you, Susan! Excellent comment! Some novels are indeed “the answer” in multiple blog-topic categories. 🙂 “The House in the Cerulean Sea” was also highly recommended to me in a Facebook comment a few weeks ago. Yes, the people that flawed heroic people help can also help the flawed heroic people.

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  4. A fascinating discussion generated by this week’s topic, Dave. I’m hard-pressed to think of a flawed character who engages in a heroic act. Most of the flawed characters I’ve encountered don’t overcome their flaws. The only character that came to mind is the minister in Joy Williams’s short story “Taking Care.” He lets his family take advantage of him, which could be viewed as weakness, but he takes care of his daughter’s baby after she runs off (again) in a way that can only be described as heroic.

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  5. Sounds like I shall be adding Mila 18 to my reading list! 🙂 And I do love a good mention of the Alice Network, as it still holds a top spot in my Historical Fiction favorite reads list. It’s hard for me to narrow down this category into one book, since I gravitate towards the “flawed human” heroes and villains, and it makes up a big portion of my reading list! I guess a big one that popped into my head was an all-time favorite – the Count of Monte Cristo. Lord knows he’s pretty flawed, but you can’t help rooting for him in spite of it.

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    • Thank you, M.B.! “The Alice Network” is such a compelling novel, including its portrayal of spy Eve Gardiner as a young woman during WWI and as an older woman years later. A flawed heroine. And, yes, Edmond Dantes became quite a flawed hero after being framed and spending years in prison. Hard to blame him, and one applauded his revenge!

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  6. Dave, I’m going small here.

    Although considering the issues with gun violence in the USA, perhaps small is large.

    In Joy Fielding’s riveting “Cul-de-sac”, Maggie McKay lives in abject fear, is a coward in the face of life, and is all but married to her gun.
    Separated and with children, her gun is the only way she manages to carry on.

    After experiencing devastating events, and finally faced with an absolutely terrifying situation; she makes an heroic decision and takes action.

    The many imperfect residents of the everyday cul-de-sac, all have guns. Not all are heroes in the end.

    I don’t want to be a big spoiler here, so I’ll leave it at that.

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  7. When I read your comment about Mila 18 by Leon Uris, I immediately thought of Sophie’s Choice by William Styron and her absolutely horrible secret, which she had to live with and which made her, in my eyes, a heroine and the consequences for which she had to pay a very high price. I am very thankful of not having been forced to this kind of decision! Thank you Dave for this most precious post.

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    • Thank you, Martina! Excellent mention of “Sophie’s Choice” and the mind-numbing, traumatic, involuntary decision she had to make. She was indeed a heroine in a way just to be able to continue psychologically surviving after what the Nazis forced her to do.

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    • HI Martina, I hope you are well. Sophie’s Choice is the most compelling book I’ve ever read. The choice she was forced to make was so unbelievably inhuman. I have never forgotten that story and sometimes I look at my sons and I think of it. It makes me feel sick.

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      • Good morning Roberta and your personal words gave me joy🤣I above feel that I am getting old and slow! About Sophie’s choice I can just confirm your deep emotions concerning that most terrible decision, which fortunately we didn’t have to take!
        I wish you all the best 🌷

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        • HI Martina, my parents are aging and it is difficult for both of them, but my mother especially, to have to accept she can’t do as much now. She’s had to give some things up. I have encouraged her into drawing which gives her much pleasure. I also let her do some of the lighter cooking so she feels useful. I don’t want to overtax her but I know she needs to feel that she still contributes so I look for ways to give her that. I just don’t think I could bear such a decision as Sophie had to make. It would kill me. Have a wonderful week.

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          • Oh, yes, Roberta, it is very important, especially, when getting older to be able to do what one likes or find new occupations, which can give a sense of life! I have a big garden to take care of and three regular friends with whom I read books and I very much enjoy being able to read the posts of some very efficient bloggers, who do not mind my occasional contributions! By the way at the moment we are reading “La présence de la mort” by C.F.Ramuz, It’s an absolutely touching book about climate change, which this writer wrote already in 1922, but people then didn’t understand it! It’s probably why it hadn’t been a success and I didn’t find it in English.
            Aren’t we lucky, Roberta, of having been spared of certain experiences.
            All the best to you, too:)

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  8. Wonderful to see a post about an enduring theme in film and literature because humans endure and no-one knows whether or how until they are in a situation where they are tested. And of course, the more flawed that character is, the better. Just talking about that the other week with my Mr when we watched this film on Netflix called Black Crab which after a good start totally failed to engage us because suicide missions require that we know these characters, their fears, their flaws, their pasts and what they are fighting for and we didn’t. That is what makes The Magnificent Seven more than a Western. Aliens more than some Sci-fi trip to the stars. Charles Darnay is all very well in A Tale of Two Cities but he’s not who we are rooting for, or who keeps us glued to the page. I’ve read Jack Eisner’s The Survivor, which is autobiographical about the fall of the Warsaw Ghetto and it was after seeing The Wall, which is a film about that uprising.

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  10. “The Kite Runner, book came out 20 years ago! Info notated from Wikipedia “it tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of Afghanistan’s monarchy through the Soviet invasion, the exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.”

    Thinking now, 20 years later,US no longer in Afghanistan, was costing billions a month. I do feel for women, girls,not getting an education, they deserve to. All the people are suffering now under Taliban. Yet perhaps it was time for the US to leave.

    Indeed depressing the myriad of atrocities going on all over the world, moving backwards, not forwards. Women were making inroads through education, now lives are turned upside down,freedoms repressed, adds to psychological problems, fear. I do try to stay hopeful but it’s not always easy in our precarious world. Take away rights of one group it effects all of us. Despicable Florida Governor, you wake up.

    Well at least DJT was indicted, sad for our country,how did we elect this vile man? How is it that his ilk, many in Republicans can still support this weasel? One can be a convicted felon and still run for President. 😡

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  11. I love this post! And the true story sounds like a fascinating read. There is nothing more interesting than reading about how everyday people became heroic to helps others or to stop bad people from doing worse.
    I never really liked novels where the hero/heroin has special powers or was almost too good to be true. That’s why I’ve written my novel’s MCs as realistic as possible – and some readers don’t like them because they’re maybe a little too real.

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  12. “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”
    ― Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
    With that said, I’d like to add Maugham’s Razor’s Edge as well as Steinbeck’s East of Eden primarily since all the characters in these novels are pretty much heroes of their own lives –inasmuch as they either got in the way or they got out of the way. They teach first responders that one dead rescuer is no rescuer at all, but yikes! that’s a very slippery slope. Last mention “A Hero’s Journey” by Joseph Campbell. Great theme Dave. Susi

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    • Thank you, Susi! Great, relevant Dickens quote! And “The Razor’s Edge” protagonist Larry Darrell is an interesting character — a war hero of sorts, but even more heroic in a way when he tries to find some meaning in life after his traumatic WWI experiences.

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  13. I am delighted that you read and enjoyed Mila 18 by Leon Uris, Dave. The idea of hero and heroism is a complex conversation. Deep within us, we want to engage in heroic acts, to be bold and act with courage. Heroes and heroines inspire us to seek excellence, to show empathy, and a strong sense of moral responsibility. Consider Joseph Campbell’s hero archetype which describes the journey of a hero through a series of stages. An individual receives a call to adventure, and embarks on a journey that leads to a confrontation with a powerful adversary and returns to the ordinary world transformed.

    I agree Dave, that Leon Uris created flawed heroes (in all of his novels), who do not appear to be heroes, but when they are confronted with evil, they accept the challenge, knowing that they may endure hardship, even death.

    I think the best quote that speaks of heroism is from J.R.R. Tolkien

    I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
    “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
    J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

    A great conversation, Dave – one that Don and I continued over coffee this morning. It is in the action that we find our courage.

    By the way, I have decided to read Trinity. You will recall that I started to read it in my early 20’s and then stopped because of the difficult topic. I think I’m ready for it now.

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  14. As individuals, we never truly know how we would respond when violence strikes our home, community, or country. Flawed fictional heroes and heroines give me hope that, in spite of all my fears, I, too, would somehow rise to the occasion and do my part in defending home and country. Even our soldiers on the front-lines must face their own fears as revealed in the powerful novel “The Yellow Birds” by Kevin Powers (USA, 2012) of a harrowing story about the friendship of two young men trying to stay alive on the battlefield in Iraq.

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    • Indeed. I find this to be a great point, with many interesting aspects to it. Take some of the Homer’s heroes, from Achilles to Odysseus, and put them through Dave’s imperfection lens. It’s been argued that if Odysseus wasn’t driven so much by seeking personal glory, many of his (mis)adventures would not have happened. And while adventures sound fun on the surface, through that lens you see how many of Odysseus’s people lost their lives in his quest for personal glory, deaths that were otherwise avoidable, for example with the Cyclops. Oh, and those adventures kept him from returning home for a little longer than was absolutely necessary, too 🙃

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      • Thank you, Endless Weekend! Great observations about Homer’s work!

        Yes, some heroes are in it more for the glory than for helping their fellow humans. Perhaps the results of ill-motived heroism end up being the same, perhaps not.

        And, yes again, there can be needless deaths when the heroism isn’t accompanied by at least some focus on avoiding such deaths.

        Oh, and you’re right that some heroes would rather be out “hero-ing” than being back home. Not exciting enough there, or maybe a desire to avoid family responsibilities.

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