A literary hero is a fictional character who is considered to have great strength and courage.
What makes a true heroic figure in literature?
A literary hero is often used to describe the protagonist of the story. A protagonist is the main character in a literary work. The plot revolves around them and the audience tries to empathize with them.
A literary hero stands out in the story, overcomes personal obstacles, and always achieves his goal.
A literary hero can also be the antihero of the story. If the literary hero is the antihero in a story, then he must face difficulties, overcome them, and find a way to take control of his life. Normally, once an antihero manages to take control of his life, he becomes stronger than the antagonists who were suppressing him.
There are two books, in my opinion, that contain the greatest literary heroes of all time. Both books are deeply complicated and very intricate and possess multiple characters that could be labeled as protagonists, but these two stand out the most, well, at least for me they do. Neither of these books is for the casual reader and both are quite lengthy. If you decide to give them a try, you’d better write some time on your calendar for the next week or two.
The first book (and my favorite) is “Atlas Shrugged” by the gloriously and wonderfully talented (let’s not forget highly criticized) Ayn Rand. The main protagonist of the story is a woman named Dagny Taggart and the story is based on her and a man named John Galt.
The second book is “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck in which the protagonist is a man named Cal Trask.
If you are a person who has not yet found your literary heroes, I suggest you give these two books a try.
A literary hero touches you in many ways and, hopefully, to the core of your being. When you find a character that makes you feel part of them, a character that makes you laugh out loud as you read, a character that makes you cry because you fully share their pain and loss, when you find a character that I feel like you would die for, well, that my friend, it’s a feeling you never lose, no matter how long it’s been since you last spent quality time with them.
A true and iconic literary hero takes hold of your soul and we never, never leave.