“It is because he is never less than perfect that Milton’s God is so dull.”
Isaac Asimov said this while writing about writing scientists as villains. I read it in the early 80s when I was twelve, long before I ever knew who Milton was or what Paradise Lost was about. But I understood well enough how a perfect hero can be dull.
What makes a hero? More important to a Catholic writer, what makes for an engaging Catholic hero?
For many cradle Catholics, the Saints are held up as our first heroes. But until I read Ann Ball’s Modern Saints, I had a hard time connecting with all the perfect people with golden halos whose eyes were always looking up to Heaven, even if the instruments of their torture and death were just a few feet away.
Seriously, do you remember your grade-school holy cards? I dunno about you, but if I was standing five feet from the grill they were going to cook me on, I’d have a hard time looking up at the ceiling. But that’s just what St. Lawrence always seemed to be doing whenver I looked at him on a holy card. Among other reasons, this was why I had a hard time thinking of them as real heroes. Heroes I wanted to follow, anyway.
To make your hero a protagonist that I’ll want to share with others, a few points need to be in place. To make a Catholic hero is trickier, but not impossible for the honest writer:
First, your hero needs to be flawed like me in one or more important ways.
Superman could leap tall buildings in a single bound, but had to keep some things about his life hidden in order to live semi-normally. Lizzy Bennet may have had wit, charm, moxie and good looks, but wasn’t as pretty as Jane nor poised enough to gain her in-laws’ approval. King David led a life of military victories and nigh-unimpeachable virtue, but let a wild crush mess up a good part of his and other peoples’ lives.
Your hero’s flaws endear him to the reader. We like Superman because most of us have secrets of one kind or another, but learn to live our lives and do good in spite of them. We love Lizzie in part because most of us have had in-law troubles, and she surmounted them through her unashamed love for Darcy. And we love King David, not because he always kept winning, but because when he fell he rose up again. Just enough to get to his knees, that is, so he could repent and sin no more.
Showing a hero with flaws helps the reader identify and connect to them. Showing a hero overcome those flaws in a believable way, using God, the Sacraments or a host of other options, can make your hero into a Catholic hero, one your reader with hopefully emulate when faced with challenges of their own.
Next time, Heroes Part II: Against All Odds!
John McNichol lives in Vancouver, Washington. He is the author of The Young Chesterton Chronicles, an exciting Catholic adventure series for young men of most ages.
Book 1, The Tripods Attack!, is available from Sophia Press.
Book 2, The Emperor of North America, is available from Bezalel Books.
