What makes a good protagonist?
If you’ve been putting enough effort into your writing to come across this blog, then chances are you’ve already read—and practiced—most of the usual tips on creating “sympathetic” and “compelling” characters. Another exercise you may find useful in creating a really great character is to ask yourself, “Who is my character’s role model?” In other words, who did your character grow up trying to become?
When I had grown up and started three successful small businesses, I sat down one night to watch a reruns marathon of “WKRP In Cincinnati,” one of my favorite shows when I was a tweener. And I realized, “Omigod, I grew up to be Andy Travis.” Fortunately for my employees, I had picked a decent role model, and I’m still glad I grew up to be a little bit Andy. Of course, my other favorite character was Daffy Duck, so nobody turns out perfect.
A good protagonist, just like a good antagonist, is trying very hard to achieve something, and that something needs to include a “somebody,” a self-identity that will affirm the character’s self-worth. It’s like Rocky tells Adrian: “I just want to go the distance. That way I’ll know I wasn’t just another bum from the neighborhood.” In other words, Rocky wants to do well against his antagonist so that he can respect himself. Ironically, of course, Apollo himself is Rocky’s role model in many ways.
The real-life drama between Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler, two individual people who very definitely affected the course of history, was shaped by their role models and how they each went about trying to become that role model. Like the Batman and the Joker, Hitler and Roosevelt were very similar people.
Both had weak fathers, and were spoiled rotten by domineering and emasculating mothers. Hitler’s mother died when he was on the threshold of manhood; Roosevelt’s mother controlled his personal finances until well after he became president. Without adequate fathers to serve as role models, both boys turned to larger-than-life exemplars, sowing the seeds of epic narcissism. Typical for boys who need more than an ordinary hero to look up to, young Hitler fixated on the mythological German warrior Siegfried. Unfortunately for history, Siegfried (his name means, literally, “Freed by War”) is a violent and fatalistic character, and Hitler’s narcissism became rooted in a Gotterdammerung fantasy he made all too real.
Roosevelt, along with the rest of us, was lucky. He found a larger-than-life role model, but one made of real flesh and blood—his cousin, Teddy Roosevelt, who just happened to be President of the United States. Importantly, TR was no ordinary president, but one who believed that Government could be a force for good in society, and not merely a “necessary evil.” For his entire life, FDR wore old-fashioned pince-nez spectacles and used anachronistic expressions like “Bully!” precisely because he spent his whole life trying to become TR.
Both Hitler and Roosevelt suffered disabling injuries when they were 29 years old. Roosevelt was stricken with polio and paralyzed from the waist down. Hitler, an artist, was seriously wounded twice during the Great War, the first time by bullets that partially crippled his hands, the second time by poison gas that damaged his sight. Such a blow to vanity usually results in a deep, prolonged depression, but in the case of our two characters, Providence intervened. Rather than being “cured,” both men, moping over their infirmities, stumbled over their Destinies.
Roosevelt, in a desperate attempt to regain the use of his legs and thereby return to his playboy lifestyle, bought a bankrupt health spa at Warm Springs, Georgia. There he helped doctors and therapists invent what we call rehabilitation, and in the process found out what he was Good For. He and his fellow patients recovered very little of their lost physical abilities, but Franklin began to receive dozens, then hundreds of letters from people he had tried to help. The letters ran to a common theme: “My left leg is still paralyzed. But—I don’t feel like a cripple anymore.” Roosevelt had discovered a talent in himself for helping people recover their self-esteem and self-confidence. When the Great Depression came, Roosevelt said to himself and others, “You know what I’m good at? Inspiring people to pick themselves up and try again.” His crucial vanity, the kind of vanity that makes a person think they can be President of the United States, was coupled to his inspirational vision, and he became the great TR-style leader he always wanted to be.
After the war, Hitler also discovered a latent talent for inspiring defeated people. Under his leadership, Germany willed itself out of the Great Depression and ahead of the rest of the world. Unfortunately, his gloomily unrealistic role model led him and his country down the path of Fatalism. “If we cannot conquer, then we shall drag the world into destruction with us!” He too achieved the status he had always dreamed off: the Hero of Gotterdammerung, the End of the World. Happy ending.
Who is your hero’s Hero?
When I had grown up and started three successful small businesses, I sat down one night to watch a reruns marathon of “WKRP In Cincinnati,” one of my favorite shows when I was a tweener. And I realized, “Omigod, I grew up to be Andy Travis.” Fortunately for my employees, I had picked a decent role model, and I’m still glad I grew up to be a little bit Andy. Of course, my other favorite character was Daffy Duck, so nobody turns out perfect.
A good protagonist, just like a good antagonist, is trying very hard to achieve something, and that something needs to include a “somebody,” a self-identity that will affirm the character’s self-worth. It’s like Rocky tells Adrian: “I just want to go the distance. That way I’ll know I wasn’t just another bum from the neighborhood.” In other words, Rocky wants to do well against his antagonist so that he can respect himself. Ironically, of course, Apollo himself is Rocky’s role model in many ways.
The real-life drama between Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler, two individual people who very definitely affected the course of history, was shaped by their role models and how they each went about trying to become that role model. Like the Batman and the Joker, Hitler and Roosevelt were very similar people.
Both had weak fathers, and were spoiled rotten by domineering and emasculating mothers. Hitler’s mother died when he was on the threshold of manhood; Roosevelt’s mother controlled his personal finances until well after he became president. Without adequate fathers to serve as role models, both boys turned to larger-than-life exemplars, sowing the seeds of epic narcissism. Typical for boys who need more than an ordinary hero to look up to, young Hitler fixated on the mythological German warrior Siegfried. Unfortunately for history, Siegfried (his name means, literally, “Freed by War”) is a violent and fatalistic character, and Hitler’s narcissism became rooted in a Gotterdammerung fantasy he made all too real.
Roosevelt, along with the rest of us, was lucky. He found a larger-than-life role model, but one made of real flesh and blood—his cousin, Teddy Roosevelt, who just happened to be President of the United States. Importantly, TR was no ordinary president, but one who believed that Government could be a force for good in society, and not merely a “necessary evil.” For his entire life, FDR wore old-fashioned pince-nez spectacles and used anachronistic expressions like “Bully!” precisely because he spent his whole life trying to become TR.
Both Hitler and Roosevelt suffered disabling injuries when they were 29 years old. Roosevelt was stricken with polio and paralyzed from the waist down. Hitler, an artist, was seriously wounded twice during the Great War, the first time by bullets that partially crippled his hands, the second time by poison gas that damaged his sight. Such a blow to vanity usually results in a deep, prolonged depression, but in the case of our two characters, Providence intervened. Rather than being “cured,” both men, moping over their infirmities, stumbled over their Destinies.
Roosevelt, in a desperate attempt to regain the use of his legs and thereby return to his playboy lifestyle, bought a bankrupt health spa at Warm Springs, Georgia. There he helped doctors and therapists invent what we call rehabilitation, and in the process found out what he was Good For. He and his fellow patients recovered very little of their lost physical abilities, but Franklin began to receive dozens, then hundreds of letters from people he had tried to help. The letters ran to a common theme: “My left leg is still paralyzed. But—I don’t feel like a cripple anymore.” Roosevelt had discovered a talent in himself for helping people recover their self-esteem and self-confidence. When the Great Depression came, Roosevelt said to himself and others, “You know what I’m good at? Inspiring people to pick themselves up and try again.” His crucial vanity, the kind of vanity that makes a person think they can be President of the United States, was coupled to his inspirational vision, and he became the great TR-style leader he always wanted to be.
After the war, Hitler also discovered a latent talent for inspiring defeated people. Under his leadership, Germany willed itself out of the Great Depression and ahead of the rest of the world. Unfortunately, his gloomily unrealistic role model led him and his country down the path of Fatalism. “If we cannot conquer, then we shall drag the world into destruction with us!” He too achieved the status he had always dreamed off: the Hero of Gotterdammerung, the End of the World. Happy ending.
Who is your hero’s Hero?
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