(Part One)

This is the post modern era of fiction. But as we look back century by century then at the ideological level, the preliminary seeds of post modernism can be seen sprouting in “Don Quixote” (1505, 1615) by Cervantes. This novel laid the foundation stone for the concept of hero in Western novels. Apparently the hero is shown as being defeated step by step and his valiance was ridiculed but covertly this gave strength to the perspective of bravery. There is no doubt that the way Odysseus wandered at the elevated level of heroism and affirmed his position as vicegerent on earth, in the same context Don Quixote accepted the idea of facing accidents and difficulties and at the level of insanity of a divine maniac, verified his adventurous character. Therefore this character was praised and later from the womb of this character many heroes, anti heroes and villain heroes were born. Let us analyze different types of heroes from select novels, from Don Quixote till the twentieth century, and see what type do they belong to and what is the system of hidden concepts behind them, through whom the sketch of heroism and intellectual dimensions of people connected with heroism is formulated.

    Don Quixote is such a tragic comic hero who wants to bring to life all over again the adventurism like that of a courageous valiant or knight in the world that has no keen sensibility, persuasion and value of bravery. Gorden said that Don Quixote is such a hero who takes an adventure as an adventure and is always defeated but in most cases does not grasp the feeling of defeat. Instead of performing valiant tasks silently, Don Quixote spends his time more on thinking and talking. In the adventurous journey, his access is more of an actor who memorizes his character and practices to perform it, rather than a mad man. In the context of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, mad man theory* or actor theory* have justification. The same question is raised in reference to Don Quixote. It can be seen that both theories can be applied to Don Quixote as to reach the reality of truth, whether it is mad man hero or actor hero, both try to develop equitable adaptation through their expression and action. Similarly, the question arises if Don Quixote is an idiot who is trying to be a hero or a hero who is striving to be an idiot. 

    Don Quixote is such a hero who does not step down from elevated position while encountering most despicable and insulting incidents. On one hand, his stupidities become a reason for cheerfulness, and on the other hand, these leave a burden for the heart, and we wish that he breaks the circle of fabricated deceit and succeeds in attaining balance. Though the craze of bravery keeps his character at the status of idealism but apart from that he seems very humble, eloquent, kind and helpful, enthusiast of poetry, cultured and amenable and with good morals. 

    It is worth pondering that death does not find him in the state of insanity. He feels distressed that in meaningless bravery and pointless adventures, his self respect is destroyed. It is evident by his remorse on death bed that now he wants to rectify illusion and wants to die with his real identity. Actually the tragedy of Don Quixote was that he became oblivious of the capability of knowing the intermediary difference between dream and reality. This kept him desperately running after in search of the elevated and perfect dimensions of justice and truth. 

    It is said that Daniel Defoe adapted the basic idea of the hero of his tale “Robinson Crusoe”* (1719) from a real character Alexander Selkirk* who had to drop on an uninhabited coast because of the atrocity of the captain of the ship. He had to struggle a lot to stay alive. Defoe created this character Robinson Crusoe through his imagination. Robinson neither seems to be an adventurer from an epic nor a hero in flesh and skin, even then children and adults have regarded him the hero for nearly three centuries. 

    Robinson does not make himself prominent as a hero in his sayings.  He does not boast about his courage to end rebellious animals rather he accepts his unbiased emotions with fear and agony. Despite the fact that he thinks of himself as a common man who is sensitive and shows himself to be unconcerned about the expected desire to be a hero, even then he is very interested in acquiring ownership, power and pride. This is the reason that he calls himself the king of the island. Though Crusoe’s instinct of a trader resembles that of the instinct to stay alive but when he was leaving the island after being disappeared for 28 years, he had a good stock of gold. David Daichas* has said something very interesting in this context that he is such a sagacious and serious trader who does not take the direction of the sea in the enthusiasm of succeeding in a venture, on the contrary he starts a journey for trading therefore diplomacy is the key as opposed to bravery which can be helpful in understanding his deeds and actions. That is why Robinson is called first prudential hero* of English literature. One of his qualities is that after coming to the island, he does not return to his ancient instinct i.e. barbarism and he keeps himself constantly in a conscious state. In this context he may also be called a self-aware hero. 

    When we reflect on the concept of hero in Robinson Crusoe, Hayy Ibn-e-Yaqdhan by Ibn-e-Tufail immediately comes to mind. For Dr. Naeem Ahmed, its stature is that of a plagiarized text. There is no doubt that the translation of Hayy Ibn-e-Yaqdhan was published long before the publication of Robinson Crusoe, but despite many similarities, with reference to meaning and purpose and methodology, there is a lot of difference between both characters. Both characters act in different psychological and emotional dimensions of aloneness but Harry’s character is philosophical; he reached from search to experiment, from experiment to skill, from skill to discovery, from discovery to creation and from creation to Creator. Reflective and observatory power gave birth to needs and he learned to cook food, make tools, stitch clothes, plant trees, keep animals and hunt by himself. The female deer who fed him milk became old and weak and then he became conscious of senses. When she dies, he becomes aware of the concept of soul. When the power of fire reveals itself on him, he reflects on the quality of warmth. Gradually his search takes him to the four elements. He ponders upon the reality of matter and reason of cause and effect and reaches the relation of man and God by the reality of death. Robinson Crusoe’s problem is that of killing time and returning, apart from survival*, whereas every act of Hayy results in derivation and revelation and he gradually proceeds towards evolution. Robinson Crusoe comes towards society from an uninhabited island, whereas Harry goes back to the uninhabited island after getting disappointed. It is also criticized that Yaqdhan’s character presents that patriarchal utopia where there is neither woman nor society. This can be called the void between wisdom and Sharia, and no method has been told to bridge this gap. However Hayy’s character is the announcement of this philosophy that through the light of insight, it is possible to perceive the Truth. If both characters are compared, the difference between the wisdom of earning and wisdom of hereafter will be clearly visible. 

    Though the main character Gulliver*, from “Gulliver’s travels’ ‘ (1726) remained indulged in sensational and unusual travelling of diverse and strange lands and at the level of narration, he also becomes a fascinating and unusual person. But in its concluding impression, due to being aggrieved of human qualities, he could not achieve the prestige of a hero. Gulliver is such a hero whose concept of travelling lacks innovation and sensibility. He does not have the courage to escape dangerous situations as the great warriors of Homer’s Odyssey did through clever tactics of witticism and comprehension. He was made captive several times but he could not free himself through his own planning even from a single place. However externally in his voyage a heroic dimension is certainly felt. 

    Tom*, the hero of “Tom Jones*” (1749), was probably the first hero of English fiction who can be termed as completely sane from top to bottom. His parentage is uncertain but generous company did not let him indulge in illegitimate acts. He is good looking, healthy and strong, above all he is sincere and kind hearted but inclination towards being occupied with the heedless pleasure of female bodies, overpowers his noble emotions. Tom Jones usually treats women politely. He respects their desire even at the time when he is pulling them in his hollows of temptation by pretense and also at the time when these women are themselves entrapping him in the snare of deception by seducing him. The interesting thing is that all his affairs including the true love of Sofia were initiated by women. This is the point through which Henry Fielding finds a way of pardon for his misdeeds. His physical relations with Molly Seagrim, Mrs. Waters and Lady Bellaston could not distort his character, because the essence of humanity and generosity always stayed in himself and finally he returned towards his true love. This is the inevitable proof which is given the name of loyalty to principles of love and the most important quality of hero.

    Before Tom Jones, Fielding presented Joseph* as a pious hero in “Joseph Andrews”* (1742) who did not let his chastity corrupt. This concept of a man’s chastity as oppose to a woman’s chastity came as a reaction from Richardson’s* novel “Pamela*”. Joseph Andrew is such a hero who can be considered as Pamela’s brother. The difference is that Richardson comically created Pamela according to the Christian morals of the 18th century who keeps herself a virgin till marriage despite being deceived and eventually forces the lord to bow down in front of her. Whereas Fielding shaped the character of Joseph Andrew based on that concept of true virtue which is bound by intrinsic emotion of a person rather than social or religious fear. Contrary to both concepts of piousness and chastity, the concept of hero of Tom Jones is attractive in this regard that the completion of his piousness occurs after passing through a long series of eternal flaws. According to Northop Frye* He is the member of that class of heroes who are connected with the realist stream of literature and they are at such an equal level with their readers that they suffer due to similar limits and stupidities. 

    Following Don Quixote, the novels that were written, their heroes are categorized as romantic or adventuress, however Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews are circumstantial heros and are attached to the rational and material concepts of life and universe. Important thing is that these heroes point to the view to come out of the concept of adventure for the sake of adventure and move towards the internal self of man from external self, however in this century “Sorrow of young Werther”* is the only novel by Goethe* whose tragic hero is the offspring of intense idealism and is a character representing inconsistency of action and imagination. Basically Werther is such a hero, understanding of whose restlessness of being, greatness of character and longing for death can be done in a better way through the psychological perspective of suicide. It is said that the Werther’s fate showed Goethe the liberation from the desire of suicide. Mian Muhammad Afzal has rightly written that the personality of the writer is visible through the portrayal of Werther’s character. Werther’s suicide does not bring a sense of humiliation and hatred against life, rather at the pinnacle of tragedy, it brings a feeling of awakening from a nightmare or flowing of time again after it was stopped. Where the selflessness of a kind heart or the perfection of an ideal man is verified, there the belief is revived in superiority of fate, reality of happenings of life, the downfall of morality and the result of withdrawing from life.

    In eighteen century and before that, in novels and stories like novel, the concept of reward and punishment overpowered the hero so much that his character ended in the cancellation of himself rather than passing through the natural process of identity, but the heroes of the novels of nineteenth century have a perfect concept of character and finally succeed in achieving the status of symbol in journey of their actions and reflections. Heroes of the nineteenth century are the people of the middle class; their focus remains on themselves and social revolutions related to themselves. These heroes also have a perception of intellectual, aesthetic and moral issues. The relation of individuals with society is that of a producer as well as a product, therefore the novels of the nineteenth century which, in the stream of realism and industrial philosophy, presents the encounter between society and individuals. The character of hero is seen struggling for his freedom and independence in the form of a problematic character*. There is a diversity found in the propositions of the heroes of nineteenth century’s Western novels as regards the concept of hero. Especially the heroes of the French novels “Red and Black*” (1830) by Stendhan*, “Old Goriot*” (1834) by Balzac*, “Le Miserable*” (1862) by Victor Hugo* and the heroes of American novels “The Scarlet Letter*” (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne*, “Moby Dick* (1851) by Harman Melville* can be presented as an example. It is important to mention Russian novels here as well which became famous like Western novels after being translated and their heroes became a part of the literary atmosphere of the West. In these novels the heroes of “Crime and Punishment*” (1866), “Letters from Underground*” (1864) and “the Idiot*” (1868, 69) by Dostoevsky* and “A Hero of our times*” (1840) by Lermiontov*, “Dead Souls*” (1842) by Gogol*, “Father and Sons*” (1842) by Turgaenev*, “War and Peace*” (1845-72) and “The Death of Ivan Ilych*” by Tolstoy* and “The Mother*” (1906) by Maxim Gorki* are also very important. In English novels the heroes of “Pride and Prejudice*” (1813) by Jane Austen*, “Wuthering Heights*” (1847) by Emily Bronte*, “Jane Eyer*” (1886) by Charlotte Bronte*, “David Copperfield*” (1850), “The Great Expectations” (1840) by Charles Dickens*, “The mayor of Casterbridge*” (1886) and “Jude the Obscure*” (1895) by Thomas Hardy* and “Heart of Darkness*” (1898) and “Lord Jim*” (1900) by Joseph Conrad* can be mentioned. 

(Part Two)

In Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice” this concept is central that even though love is an instant emotion but its gradual process brings stability. The hero of the novel, Fitz William Darcy*, is the representation of this theory. In the beginning he seems exactly like a villain because of the arrogance and discordance of his attitude. The pride in holding an office of State and social superiority strengthens this negative impression. As a result he appears as an irritable and hateful character but he was not considered as deserving of punishment because of some good qualities hidden in his personality and fate. His character apparently appeared as decided in the novel but after an expression of love to Elizabeth the signs of change start to become visible in his personality. Gradually his opinion strengthens, his behavior becomes tolerant, his actions become courageous and his personality adopts sensitivity and he actually becomes a better human being by evolving naturally. He becomes so much better, rather a self aware human being, that he could ignore the faults in others and could become compatible with them. If we reflect on Darcy’s concept of hero then we can see a complete chain of reformative comparison behind this compatibility. It is important to note that the change in Darcy had an impact on Elizabeth as well and she gets rid of her prejudices. Thus two classes embrace positive change.

As regards to breaking the conventional concept of beauty and of love, “Jane Eyre’s” hero Rochester* is also important. In Charlotte Bronte’s era and the novels in that era, sexual attraction and romantic fervor were considered as conditional for beauty, health and youth but Charlotte kept the hero and heroine of her novel deprived of these characteristics in comparison with the villain and showed in an atmosphere of mental stress that even without these qualities love can be tempestuous. Whether love blooms or not, emotional attachment is the real thing which attracts two lovers to each other. Jane Eyre is a governess in Rochester’s house. She cannot be called beautiful in regard to her features. Same is the case with Rochester. His wife is mad whose creepy laughters echo in the upper floor of Thornfield and because of this there is a hollow of mystery around him. Rochester is twenty years older than the heroine. We can say that he is of the age of her father but it is important that even after receiving a marriage proposal from the handsome villain, the heroine stayed attracted to him. According to J.M. Lyber* This affection brought softness to Rochester’s rebellious and headstrong nature due to which he became successful in knowing himself. 

In “Wuthering Heights”, Emily Bronte presented the concept of a villain like hero who is reduced from the honorable status of human being to that of an animal by the agony of environment and turbulence of love. Even after acquiring material gains, when the sorrow of deprivation of this cruel valiant did not end, then in the state of insanity death was the only cure.

Heathcliff’s* life started as a homeless orphan boy who wandered in the streets of Liverpool. When Emily wrote this novel in 1840, England’s economy was burdened. In an industrial area like Liverpool, factory workers were in a deplorable state which had frightened the upper class, therefore they tried to keep these factory workers in control by instigating the mixed emotions of sympathy and fear. Not only in the fiction of those times but in the whole of literature, the imagery of factory towns surrounded by smoke was common which was presented in contrast with the religious term for hell. Famous poet William Blake* gave this the name of “Dark Satanic Mills”. If we see it in this context then Heathcliff’s identity amongst other characters of the novel becomes possible as a wicked soul, haunted being or satanic ogre and according to Terry Eagleton* Heathcliff actually appeared as the personification of nervous convulsions which the people of upper class feel for laborers and servants. 

Our sympathy with Heathcliff stayed till the time when he appears as a weak and enslaved boy but when he becomes the villain, gains power and returns to Wuthering heights with immense wealth in the disguise of a civilized and noble man, then his character adopts that same intense sorrow which upper class feels for the people of lower class who live below the poverty line and is compassionate towards them with the urge to be charitable but he is also frightened that these people might get political, social or economic power through this little prosperity and would overcome their deplorable conditions. Nonetheless Heathcliff, according to his concept of a hero, seems to be a combination of sorrow, revenge and insanity. 

The hero of “The Great Expectations” is of much importance in the sense that through his practical steps. possible forms of self reformation were made evident. First form was self reformation at a moral level, Pip observes the faults and shortcomings in himself and immoral activities drive him towards a guilt. He controls himself externally to become inclined towards noble deeds. Second form is social self-reformation. He desires to become a member of the elite class by forming the relation of love with Stella. Third form is self reformation at the educational level. When he feels that he is illiterate he turns towards education. This desire is connected to the inclination for social advancement. 

To get married to Stella and become a gentleman, acquiring education becomes inevitable. Like the hero of “David Copperfield” the ignored childhood of Pip presents a grievous picture of obstacles, punishments and bitterness. The basic reason was cash nexus*; that war of running after money which Dickens understood as the root of all evils. Pip is such a hero who wants to change himself by understanding his carelessness, poverty and misconduct. If we ponder then we can understand the competitive or reformative struggle in this regard. In this idealistic struggle for self reformation, he comes to know that social and educational reformation is something irrelevant for the true capability of a man. For success a person’s emotional perception and compassion of heart is useful which gives the verdict on the ethical status of his action and intention. Pip realizes that it is better to be sensitive as opposed to social advancement, wealth and class status. We see that when he becomes a thorough “gentleman”, his attitude becomes cold for his friends. Anyhow he is such a hero who can be turned as the aggregate of self reformative consciousness in the turbulent time of English society. 

In the ideology of Thomas Hardy, the destruction of human beings has the status of a fixed principle which cannot be separated from the fate and environment of a human being. Hardy’s sensitive and elegiac nature makes it more solid. If we see in this regard then Hardy’s concept of a hero springs from a combination of pessimism, fatalism and circumstances and becomes the declaration of the struggle of an individual in society. The basic proposition of Hardy’s hero is love which is the emotional and instinctive need of a human being. It is that emotion which gives birth to meaning in human’s life and guarantees self affirmation and survival of being. Viewing from this angle, Hardy’s hero does not care about those demands of survival of being which are related to the wealth and successes of life but those demands which bound a person to the conventional laws of society and the authority of the State, and stifle his natural and individual desires. Hardy’s hero cannot relate to them and suffers in the struggle of breaking the barriers to come out. He longs for death or is killed in the effort of understanding himself as right or wrong. In this death or such a desire for death, D. H. Lawrence does not see that grand and unconquerable pressure of morality of life in front of which Oedipus, Hamlet and Macbeth took a firm stand and were killed whilst Hardy’s hero is conquered. Henchard and Jude are significant examples of subjugation. Judas is a dreamer* but his dreams could not give him anything. The walls of conventions, traditions and public opinion become a barrier in their fulfillment and his happiness is destroyed. Jude is the reflection of Hardy’s own self. He is such a hero who is neither completely non-conformist non conformist*. His being is hanging somewhere amidst revolt and obedience. The conformist hero usually thinks in accordance with the prevalent laws of the society whereas the non-conformist hero does not care about these laws. Basically Hardy’s hero is romantic and according to Spevy*, his tragedy is that he fails to achieve some alleviated spiritual state. The difference in the concept of hero of Shakespeare and Hardy is that, for one the tragedy of the hero occurs because of some fatal flaw* whereas for the other during turbulent circumstances, the hero’s own personal motive becomes the reason for tragedy. 

“Heart of Darkness” is considered as the most important novel by Joseph Conrad, nonetheless it is important to talk about “Lord Jim” because its hero Jim desires just to be a hero. Joseph Conrad was not convinced of any misguided revelation which prelude to ignore it rather than revealing human nature; therefore he desires to access the darkest realities of heart or the heart of darkest realities, in spite of believing in higher values. It was the cause of discord of this desire that the main character Kurtz of his novel Heart of Darkness became the symbol of the social life and moral decline of Europe. 

Kurtz* is such an archetypal hero who is suffering from the obsession of violence. He can be called the genius of evil because of his brutal planning. Basically he relates to the personalities like Goethe’s Foust, Satan of Milton’s Lost Paradise, Ahab of Moby Dick and Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights. Especially in a way of contradiction, his racial relationship can be compared with Satan. 

The way Joseph Conrad’s style of writing approves of evil, Kurtz grandeur becomes more prominent. Actually more than the concept of good or evil, Kurtz acts upon that law of jungle that states “kill or be killed”. Nonetheless, there are some good qualities in Kurtz’s character. He has god-gifted expertise in music and painting. His eloquence and miraculous capability have immense effect on people and makes them obedient. Even he remains an enigma for Marlow. Even his will is included in his downfall. Under which he ignores the hypocritical ways of ruling on which the new colonial system of Europe was placed. Kurtz develops brotherly relations with some local people, although he gains a lot of success because of this, but this becomes a reason for instigating his own White fellow rulers and he is expelled from there. 

When hero is discussed in the context of “Heart of Darkness”, then Marlow is given the status of protagonist* and Kurtz is given the status of antagonist* and the reason is given that Marlow views the torturous, enslaved and death-like living of local population through the skeptic gaze of a philosopher and as he is the eloquent narrator of the novel as well, he is the substitute or surrogate* of the author’s soul because of appearing in Joseph Conrad’s other writings as well. That is why the readers feel comfortable in finding their identity in themselves rather than Kurtz. Although there is an inherent prejudice behind his adventures of proving imperialism apt as a project, as opposed to it, Kurtz is so honest in his violence and rebellion that he states clearly that his aim is not to trade but to forcefully acquire ivory from locals under the pretence of trade. Even then, such a dreadful picture of American world appears in Marlow’s observations and experiences which reveal the imperialistic mind of the White people to a good extent.

Those critics who give importance to adventure for the sake of mind, rather than adventure for the sake of adventure, for them Marlow supersedes Kurtz. In this context Lord Jim cannot also be accepted as a hero and it is said that he is handicapped as regards to the capability of understanding this story where he himself was the main character. F.R. Louis in his celebrated book “The Great Tradition*”, despite Joseph Conrad as the pillar of the great tradition of English novels, did not accept Lord Jim. 

Stendhal in “Red and Black” presented such a concept of a hero who dreams of progressing in the French society amidst the desire of army and church to rule and considers his lovers, his benefactors and even his religion as a stepping stone of attaining this status. Napoleon is Julien Sorel*’s hero whose obedient mind makes him determined and helps in conceiving his real emotions. The methods of military and formulas of war which were adopted by Napoleon to acquire power, Julien adopts those for trapping women in sexual incitement. 

(Part Three)

Julien’s failure in both love and life is termed as failure of the whole society which deprived him of every status and gave the lesson of compromise on hypocrisy till the last breath. Success could be obtained either through military or religion. Since Julien chose the intermediary path so death became his fate. D. L. Gobert stated that as a hero, Julien’s tragedy of identity seems superior than that power which devastated him. 

    If Julien is compared with the hero Duroy*of Maupassant’s* novel “Bel Ami*”, initially they both seduced women on the basis of sexual attraction and shrewdness and they have a shared attribute of developing progressively through them, but Duroy succeeds in acquiring social elevation through this attribute. Nevertheless, behind this success is the same venal society which helps a dishonest man. Duroy has nothing to do with that delicacy which takes birth from spiritualism. His epithet “Bel Ami” also holds an apparent meaning i.e. dear friend. 

    Maupassant himself has defined “Bel Amy” as the story of an ill-mannered man. An important thing to note in this context is that Duroy pauses in amazement, facing his reflection in the mirror but every time this moment stays at the stage of declaration of a weak collision of self awareness. And this clarifies that the boundaries of real and unreal or reflection and actual are enjoined, and are difficult to separate. The success and failure of a man is determined on the basis of the impression of the personality which is established in a society. By assuming his social image as reality, Duroy stays deprived of that stage of feeling and will which is visible in the heroic concept of Julien.

    For Duroy of “Bel Amy”, physical pleasure is an objective in itself and is the ladder to attain wealth and stature. If we bring to mind the hero Michel of Andre Gide’s novel “The immoralist*”, he also wandered to acquire physical pleasure, although his wandering did not include the lust for wealth and stature but as regards to conscience, he is also not alive. He does not give any importance to the servitude of his wife so much so that the poor woman catches germs of his disease. 

    But for Michel, the sacrifice of his wife remains meaningless. If something had any meaning for him, it was only the sexual impatience which makes him wander from one place to another but when he discovers at the level of consciousness that the remedy of his restlessness is in homosexuality, he becomes calm. Duroy’s direction is towards the external. Tragedy does not cross his path. For Michel, his wife’s death could become a tragedy but he disregarded it in the physical journey of search for self. Julien was also sinful like Duroy and Michel but his ego and his conscience gave him such a dimension of tragedy due to which his concept of hero became different.  

    The old Goriot of Balzac is such a tragic hero who takes his fatherly love to the heights of worship where a painful death becomes his fate. Old Goriot was deeply devoted to his daughters and wanted that his daughters should also love him with maternal emotion but he did not get anything from his daughters except for torments. He reaches such heights of fatherly love that he even cares for the lovers of his daughters and becomes happy by arranging their meetings. His relation to Eugene Rastignas was of the same kind. Goriot is such a father who leaves his being to be crushed under the feet of his daughters and he actually ruined himself in their love.

    The tragedy of old Goriot becomes more severe when his daughters do not participate in his burial and there were only four men in his funeral. According to Muhammad Hassan Askari, Goriot is not some poor madman but a complete human personality. His story compels to ask these questions that; Is selfless love, the second name of death? Does a great personality always have a tragic ending? Can spiritual elevation also be ludicrous?  

    Although the elements of stupidity, surprise and madness are mixed in the actions and emotion of Goriot but in his experience and imagination, his grief and helplessness appears to be higher than humanity. The happiness of children is something natural but this something guides him to the edge of destruction from the path of extreme love. In the downfall of King Lear, his daughters were involved. It is this common point of tragedy, on the basis of which, a mere trader like Goriot attains the status of a magnificent hero like King Lear.

    Victor Hugo, in his novel “Les Miserables”, has taken the spiritual journey of a pious criminal Jean Valjean* as a theme who had to bear the atrocities of confinement for nineteen years as punishment for stealing a piece of bread. When he escapes after breaking the prison, his heart is filled with severe hatred for the unjust society which makes a man criminal and then leaves him alone to suffer. It is deplorable that even if a criminal rectifies himself, society does not let him clear his name. 

    It was Victor Hugo’s theory that the power of sympathy and love can bring any lost man on the righteous path; even it can make him perfect. The extreme example of this theory is Jean Valjean who is transformed into a saint from a convicted criminal. Jean Valjean is such a hero who does not become slave to the misleading environment of society. He becomes an exemplary human being by using his desire on a positive level. So much so that when he was dying the same stolen candle-stands were placed at the head of his bed which were granted to him by the priest and Jean Valjean attained the inner light through these shining powers of love. 

    The infinite attraction of this light of love, obedience and loyalty can be seen in the ugly faced hunchback of Notre Dame, due to which he supersedes the most beautiful human beings of the world and becomes a declaration of the beauty and purity of morality of the human soul. The translator of “Notre Dame De Paris”* has also declared him a hero who sprouts eternal flower of love in an environment of hypocrisy, selfishness and lustfulness through whom a lethal blow has been given to so-called moralists. This is the reason why Victor Hugo is considered as the leader of humanity. Both heroes mentioned here are the best representatives of this concept. 

    The impact of the story of Adam and Eve can clearly be seen in the concept of hero of the saintly and the learned priest Dimmesdale* of Nathanial Howthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter”. In Christian tradition, the fusion of sin and knowledge is ancient. Adam was exiled from heaven for eating the fruit of the prohibited tree i.e. the knowledge of good and evil. This was the sin which gave Adam the knowledge of his existence but because of being exiled, he had to go away from heaven that is the other name of comfort and rest, and struggle was attached to his fate. 

    The symbolic dimension of the repercussions of exile can be felt by the problems in which human life is involved. The process of childbirth by a woman makes it more visible. This is the reason when Dimmesdale and Hester* commit the sin impulsively by being enchanted by each other, then being a woman, Hester’s pregnancy and birth of a girl makes her punishment visible sooner than later and she takes the blame and adorns herself with the red mark of fornication as a medal of disgrace. Whereas being a man, Dimmesdale’s punishment stays concealed and he had to suffer the consequence in the form of self pounding and mental torture but this punishment also gives him self-awareness. 

    The burden of sin or guilt of conscience takes his mind to such elevation of kindness where he could form a deep bond of knowing sinful acts of human beings like him. Although before sin he was an aloof person despite having a conscience that was alive, and who is not even capable of keeping a natural sympathetic connection with any man and woman. 

    But just as he falls from the status of perfection, an emotional change occurs inside him. Therefore his heart starts beating along with other hearts in unity of harmony. Such eloquence comes in his sermons that he makes religious congregations vibrant with the awareness of his spirituality. He ponders on his sin as an experience of everyday routine. When he protests on his own sin in his sermons by stating its background, people take his eloquent speech as a pan-human analogy of confession rather than his being but despite all this rhetoric, he could not gather the courage to clearly admit his sin.

    Another analysis can be that the wall of hesitation which Hester did not allow to come in her way, Dimmesdale kept buried under it till his death. This increased his guilt. His physical and spiritual state becomes deteriorated day by day. It becomes his routine to whip himself. All his violence is focused on self destruction. Actually this was Dimmesdale’s victory which puts him to sleep as he confesses. 

    It is notable that the puritans takes sin as such an earthly experience which closes the door of heaven for a human being or takes it as a threat given to him by society which does not refrain from giving lawful punishment, although Dimmesdale’s attitude shows that experience of sin can become a declaration of self growth, sympathy and understanding of humanity. Dimmesdale’s name also helps him in determining the direction of his concept of hero. Dim* or Dimness* come to mind.

    The ambiguous state between light and darkness or good and evil; if we look into this didactical state of human brain, our tragic hero appears as a changed personification of the Christian belief of sin and knowledge and this is proven that; 

    How great a person may be as regards to his personality, he can be given a punishment for breaking moral laws, and this punishment is given by his conscience.  

    Obviously Dimmesdale’s worshiping of conscience was different from the pure and religious society which is satisfied in propagation of sin and where malicious and evil people like Chillingworth lived. Actually through his hero, Hawthorne gives a blow to that hypocritical concept which has been spoiling the face of society.

    Captain Ahab* of Pequod in Moby Dick* is an insane hero beyond the common human stage of wisdom and action, in whose composition has the instinctive desire of death. He has the characteristics of both ancient and modern types of hero. He is simultaneously a hero of tragedy and comedy. He has the essence of legendary characters like Odysseus and Foust. At the level of a symbolic character, Ahab’s status can be considered as equal to many personalities, for example like the Christ, or as a “man child”* when he cannot compete with his father and he expresses anger or while protesting as the Satan against God’s authority. According to Nelson J. Smith*, these individual identities are a result of a wrong perception. Ahab is an amalgamation of these personalities and separately an “Archetype” as well. Actually Herman Melville had the intention of molding Ahab as a character of a rude and torturous captain but gives him the greatness and majesty of a hero.

    The critics of Moby Dick give an undisputed status to the madness of Ahab. Observe that if the whale was consciously an evil creature then Ahab’s ferocity in chasing it could be accepted but it is not so. Ahab’s madness took such forms of demotion or mutation of imagination that he sees reality in mirage. Actually Ahab is a visionary melancholic. He gave himself the title of strong minaret and volcanic mountain which shows the experience of vanity and rebellion whose punishment is nothing but wandering and destruction. Herman Melville also led his hero of the novel “Mardi” through the same wandering and destruction, in search of such “Yellah” which is analogically an example of beauty and purity. Nonetheless, being determined for destruction of one’s own self, ruining the deepest being of one’s own blood and annihilation of one’s own pure soul, is such an American attitude which Lawrence found in the avenging relation of Moby Dick and his hunter Ahab. 

    Actually whale is that unbiased power which represents God at an analogous level for some critics. Moby Dick has an independent being which cannot be defeated. One can go along with it but it cannot be disregarded or it cannot be understood because most parts of her being stays submerged all the time. A human being can have the surface level of the sea for observation and explanation whereas truth and reality stays locked and concealed in its depth. 

    Ishmael tries to clarify the concept of whale through many ways but it cannot be cleared. When he talks of its whole being, he falls short of believing which complete being; head, scalp or skin or some other part. He could not describe the whole being of the whale and its essence. This puzzle can be read as a metaphor of the relation between God and human beings. It can also be taken as the relation between dream and reality or life and death. However that relation between Moby Dick and Ahab, though justified through any angle, does not bring any difference to Ahab’s bravery and he stays at the status of an elevated hero. 

(Part Four)

In the discussion on the concept of hero, though Dostoevsky’s heroes are more helpful but heroes of some novels by Lermon Tov, Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Maxim Gorki are also important. Pechorin*, the hero of “A Hero of Our Time” is such a puzzle of human self in which LermonTov has brought together the different and diverse complexities and restlessness of the human being of his time. Gogol has presented the concept of such a hero in “Dead Souls” in reference to earning money by pledging the souls of dead farmers, in whose unbelief his own society is also present as a stimulant. That is why he falls in the category of anti-hero. 

In the thought and action of Bazarov, the hero of “Father and Sons” an unregulated glimpse of expression of nihilism and denial is found. For Russian critic P. Sarov, he is the true example of deniers and denial. He is such a character casted in the moulds of refusal that goes against discipline and order and gives priority to emotions on principle, rationality on conviction and criticism on praise. 

Despite being a historical novel, Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is devoid of any hero. However a conqueror from history, Napoleon, appears as an evil soul but this impression comes from his character that those who are given priority over masses as heroes of history, they are much hollow and worthless. Tolstoy believed that such an incident in which five hundred thousand people kill each other cannot be the result of a desire of a single man and if a broader perspective is adopted about history then belief in that eternal law is restored through which events appear. Actually Tolstoy believed that events were predetermined. This was the perspective which did not give the centrality of a hero to any character. In “Anna Karenina”, in the character of Leon, the element of the guidance of a reformer prevails instead of the struggle of a hero. However the tragedy of the hero of Tolstoy’s short novel “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” combines experience of depth with the hollow soul of an ordinary human being. This is the hero in whose being Tolstoy has tried to resolve the contradictions of his own self.

For Tolstoy there are two types of life; artificial and purposeful. In artificial life, facts remain hidden. It has selfishness and self interest. Relations are hollow. Life is the synonym of deceit and escape which bewilders a human being at the time of death. On the other hand, purposeful life strengthens the mutual relation of humans. It remedies aloneness and gives strength to face death. The character of Ivan Ilyich represents artificial life. 

It is a character which worships society and which considers progress, lust for high status and comfort as the center and axis of his life. In his daily life no evidence is found regarding life after death when suddenly a long and painful illness enters his life and he is shaken. Horrible questions about life and death shake him from inside. The social affairs, their formality and their purposelessness become evident to him. 

Finally in the state of drowsiness, he feels that he is squeezed into a big sack of black color and is continuously struggling to get out of it. When his resistance dies, he admits the indigence of his being and surrenders in front of the unbearable wave of pain. Then a light appears at the mouth of the sack which gives him courage to overcome the terror of death by showing a glimpse of eternity. At the stage of self-awareness, he wants to tell people that by accepting the reality of death, human life can actually be made meaningful but he cannot speak and for people his being stays as a social worker facing the torment and agony of death. 

Intellectually, as the direction of Ivan Ilyich was towards ritualism and Bazaraov’s direction was towards nihilism, in the same manner the hero of Maxim Gorki’s novel “The Mother” is tilted towards communism. Pelageya Nilovna* was Pavel Vlasov* mother and her stature is no less than any heroic personality. She is a labourer who actually obtained the right, not only to be the mother of the hero of the novel, but the mother of all workers associated with the liberation movement. Due to this reason, she keeps the labourers tied in the relation of spiritual unity. The passion of justice and humanism gives her insight and she becomes capable of letting people know about the reality that “a living soul cannot be killed” and also that “even an ocean of blood cannot drown the truth”. This great awareness can be seen in the personality of her son who gives up ignorance and listens to the voice of his conscience, raises questions on the slavish practices of factory and for the welfare of labourers, adopts the difficult path of revolution. 

In “Crime and Punishment” Dostoevsky has presented such a hero in the form of Raskolnikov* who sketches the concept of an unusual man by getting impressed with the revolutionary theories and practical victories of the conquerors of his time and then murders a usurer old woman by thinking of himself as an exceptional man so that he can use her innumerable wealth for the betterment of himself and others but after murdering he encounters an extreme form of spiritual anxiety and dilemma of conscience. He starts to faint now and again. This does not come in his understanding a crime has been committed but how it will become beneficial for humanity. 

The concept of an unusual man or superman that appears as regards to Raskolnikov is enjoined historically with the concept of Napoleon and philosophically with the concepts of Nietzsche and Hegel. As regards Napoleon, Raskolnikov wants to know that when anyone kills somebody, he is punished as a convict but the same man kills thousands of people and crosses all human limits, how can he be given the title of a conqueror? The superman of Nietzsche also does not do any struggle for the betterment of society. He blindly uses his power for his personal glory and individual survival and pursuit of making the world bow down at his feet. His aims do not measure up to the wellness of humanity and development. Raskolnikov seems to be acting on one element of philosophy of superman as regards to testing his great ego or courage of will. When he gives this reason that it is rightful to commit a crime if it results in noble service then his theory correlates with Hegel. 

The result of Raskolnikov’s crime does not come out in the form of evil or good in favor of humanity but faces him in the form of a haunting question: how can a murderer and emancipator fit into one body? This contradiction makes Raskolnikov deserving of his own humiliation. In short Raskolnikov is such a misguided hero who represents that code of ethics of Dostoevsky that crime cannot be the source of good and that all such theories are wrong in which the lesson of human destruction is given. A human may achieve power by affirmation of self but he will always be nothing in front of the superior power of the universe. 

The matter of rejection and affirmation of self, being and nothingness of human essence or the rise and fall of a person in the eyes of society, is connected with the hero of Dostoevsky’s novel “Notes from Underground” who suffers from the two sided desire of humiliation; whether this desire is at the level of subject and object, humiliation is like an honor for him which provides him power and satisfaction. 

Actually the problem of the underground man was that he found satisfaction in staying separated from the society but remained in his mind and on his path. He considers himself more intelligent than others thus could not make decisions about any act with confidence. Inactivity comes into being because of the intense state of his consciousness as he could think of the multiplicity of results which could occur due to the performance of any act and also of the possible arguments that could be given against it. Underground man is misled by the laws of cause and effect therefore he analyzes and evaluates again and again before action. Dostoevsky does not believe in this matter that inactivity can be the best strategy. It was his view that a man working with a decided mind is more dangerous than the man who does not work and whose mind is active and changing. If we ponder, then the justification for the act of the novel’s hero is totally based on internal illusions or mental emotions otherwise the reality is that his humiliation or respect was of no importance for the society. Actually the whole suffering of the hero was because of not keeping any belief in the absoluteness of truths and virtues. 

In the discussion on the concept of hero, Prince Myshkin* of “The Idiot” is also an exemplary hero of his kind who has qualities of sincerity, simplicity and naivety. He does not keep sorrow or anger for anyone but his society redicules him every now and then because he does not bother about the contradictions of life and world and bears every body’s torture. He is an idealistic hero who wants to change hypocritical environment of society with love and service and wants to give the lost status to an individual but the society keeps him suffering from agonies of different sorts and adorns him with lowly titles, although morally he has thousand times superior and better qualities then the society. He does not protest or ask for his rights. He is so good at heart that he asks for mercy even for the sinners and criminals. 

Prince Myshkin is such a hero with Christian attributes, who returns after recovering from epilepsy, then he gives his heart to a wretched characterless girl Nastasia but instead of being impressed by him, due to her vindictive nature, Nastasia sells herself to a mad trader and as a result is killed by him. When Myshkin reaches the place of crime, he feels deep sorrow at Nastasia’s devastation but even in this state, his sympathy for the killer does not decrease. 

It is the stage where from one angle, Dostoevsky succeeds in attaining the pinnacle of human love but what happens to Myshkin and why was he defeated; the analysis of Muhammad Mujeeb states that the recurring madness of Myshkin is the proof of his failure in which Dostoevsky is also involved because of not making Nastasia happy with God and the world, is actuslly accepting that some agonies of heart are such whose medicine is not available with the savior. It can be seen that Myshkin’s character is a satire on the insensitivity of modern society which has changed so much, that for it, the simple act of love and goodness is at the equal level as stupidity.

In the same atmosphere of agony and despair Dostoevsky’s heroes try to understand human fate and human nature. In this atmosphere, the desire for nearness to the divine appears as an analogy behind which the sickness of epilepsy was at work which hauntingly it is understood as a two way expression of tranquility and confusion. Like the idiot, Dostoevsky himself also had this sickness. All his heroes have actually come out of the heavy bag of his own self. He knew that cowardly and slavish attitudes are present in the being of a human as an inherent essence. The meaninglessness and conventionality of life promotes them even more. In this situation how welfare and greatness can be achieved? 

This is the question due to which his heroes, becoming prey of duality or deception of perception at a personal level, stay hanging between good and evil and cannot resolve the moral dilemma of freedom and fatalism. Dostoevsky’s heroes develop by taking the passion of knowing the limits of reality, going against the imprisonment of self. Superiority and priority is their problem which takes them sometime to the heights of the sky and sometimes to the darkness of hell. In the condemnable and wounded paths of life, their being sometimes becomes the symbol of torment and sometimes the declaration of the struggle between intention and action, and reward and punishment. The quality of colliding with the fixed notions of truth and falsehood, takes them many times in the scope of anti-hero.

(Part Five)

And now the heroes of the twentieth century novels are awaiting our analysis. The heroes from the novels of twentieth century, for instance, “Remembrance of Things Past*” (1913-1927) by Proust*, “Siddhartha*” (1922) by Herman Hussey*, “A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man*” (1916) and “Ulysses” (1922) by James Joyce*, “The Magic Mountain*” by (1924) Thomas Mann*, “The Great Gatsby*” (1925) by Scott Fitzgerald*, “The Trial*” (1925) by Franz Kafka*, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover*” (1928) by D.H. Lawrence*, “Nausea*” (1939) by Jean Paul Sartre*, “The Outsider*” (1943) by Albert Camus*, “The Old man and the Sea*” (1950) by Ernest Hemingway*, “The Tin Drum*” (1959) by Gunter Grass*, “Dangling Man*” (1944), “The Adventure Of Augie March*” (1953) and “Herzog*” (1964) by Saul Bellow* and “Love In The Time Of Cholera*” (1982) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez*are reflections of the same quest and search. There is no doubt that all these heroes provide great help in reading the condition of human predicament and their prudence and fate. 

    In the discussion on the concept of hero, the hero of “Swann’s Way*” is very important as regards to a new and deep dimension of the retrieval of love. Swann is a womanizer. He does not perceive women in that form in which they really are. In the painting of “Jethro’s daughter*”, he falls in love with Odette because of a mild resemblance and because this comparison had made Odette more attractive to him due to his bent of mind, although she was not of the type which Swann’s imagination had felt. When Swann learns about this lie that in his absence, she warmly receives her lovers, even guests like a prostitute, then Swann’s love takes a tragic direction. A point of argument that lies behind the concept of hero in Swann is that though love surrounds humans, when it does not succeed in creating any spiritual relation between them, then this love grows with doubt and suspicion and ends in the feelings of boredom and confusion.  

    Heroes of Proust basically have a sensual mind. They have exceptional memories. Proust was impressed by Bergson’s concept of time according to which the past remains eternally protected along with all its elements and it can be brought completely in the present with the help of perception. This is the reason that the heroes of Proust have a deep conformity with the concept of “intentional memory” of Bergson. In the dimensions of time, giving priority to the recreation of the past and bringing out the details of memories from the unconscious is their special attribute due to which the past becomes bright and active by becoming a part of the present. Swann is such a hero whose deep and extensive memory can be presented as an example in European literature.

    In his novel, Hermen Hessy presented a Brahman boy named Siddhartha as a hero who finds contradiction between acquired knowledge and actual reality, and then the quest for awareness takes him towards the different stages of self. By passing through these stages, he succeeds in disclosing the signs of life and universe on himself and overcomes grief. According to Wazir Agha, he acquires that angelic and meaningful smile which arises out of the process of knowing and identifying. 

    The basic point of Siddhartha’s salvation is that in the quest for reality, the actuality of experience should be taken as a basis instead of following. Siddhartha is impressed by Buddha’s teachings. He also wants to be free from the circle of transmigration but he does not become a disciple of Buddha because he was in pursuit of that pleasure which Gautama Buddha had acquired. That is why he himself carved the path of his salvation and gives preference to diving in depths instead of swimming on the surface. In this way he keeps the direction of awareness turned towards himself. When he crosses the river, the physical experience of women attracts him towards it. Kamala is a dancer who teaches him the art of intimacy and the hidden signs behind the kindness of women. She provokes him to acquire wealth. The path of devotion and meditation turns toward pleasures of life and the web of wealth grasps Siddhartha, until twenty years have passed. One night, in a dream, he sees a dead bird in Kamala’s golden cage. Because of this intuitive heart wrenching and warning sign, the halo of temptation and lust breaks and he feels nauseous in the search for wisdom. He crosses the river again and starts living in a hut with Vasudeva. Here the resemblance of river and water is revealed on him. Water starts talking to him. All mysteries are revealed and he attains “Om”. Qamar Jamil writes; 

Siddhartha reaches the world of souls through the world of senses and in the end both these worlds join to become one and this happens when Siddhartha is at the bank of the river which flows between the two worlds.

    River is the symbol of mystic knowledge and it reveals that totality which is acquired by the simultaneous observation of the present and the absent. Siddhartha dwells by the river bank and to stay attached with both banks i.e. both sides of reality, is very meaningful. This means that Siddhartha has made that bridge which joins one river bank to the other. Actually this bridge is a reflection of that mental and creative peace which is free of any constraint of time and space, which Hermen Hessey desires. Asif Farrukhi states that the river can be the symbol of life as Siddhartha is dwelling besides its bank. He is passing through the bazaar but is not a buyer. For Saleem Ahmad this river is time; the border line between life and death. 

In the concept of the hero of Siddhartha, the significance of the river is the key. No doubt Siddhartha is a symbolic hero of a philosophical level who completes the process of human consciousness through amalgamation of being and nothingness, life and death, and senses and spirit and crosses the limits of time. 

    To understand the concept of hero, it is useful to study the novels of James Joyce. In the character of Stephen Dedalus, the hero of “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, the different forms and images of flight and flying are seen as a motif for example he watches the birds flying over his head, standing on the stairs of the library of the university, or he observes the flying birds while standing in the water or the stranger girl, in whose personality he feels the resemblance of a unique and beautiful bird. This moment is the moment of epiphany* which Joyce has interpreted as a spiritual intuition and which suddenly arises in the form of a sound, sign or idea and relieves an individual from the crisis that he has been suffering for a long time. Stephen Dedalus is an artist. He is looking for the essence for beauty and art. According to his aesthetic ideology, he takes beauty as the substitute of truth and truth as the substitute of beauty. The expression of his craft is in his flight but his environment and people of his surrounding want to impose restriction on his flight that was eagle-like but he wants to free his soul of this web which is knitted by the residents of Ireland. 

In the concept of hero of Stephen Dedalus*, the involvement of the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus is quite obvious. Dedalus was a talented builder of the Crete Island who, as per the orders of King Minos, prepared a maze to capture a man-eating ogre. In this maze, one could enter but it was impossible to escape from it. It was sheer coincidence that despite the opposition of the king, Dedalus himself had to be besieged in this maze along with his son Icarus. Dedalus explained it to his son that the earthly and oceanic paths are within the sight of the king but the open sky could be chosen to escape. Thus they escaped the Crete Island with the help of artificial wings made of wax. Dedalus instructed his son not to fly too high otherwise the heat of the sun would melt his wings but Icarus disobeyed his father and kept on flying high and high in enthusiasm. As a result, his wings burnt and he died after falling in the sea. Joyce has treated this myth symbolically in the sense that Dublin is a modern maze; it is a prison from which Stephen must escape. Katharine Gibbs* states that this city spiritually represents the tattered, dusty, paralyzed and imprisoned world. So, on one hand, its identity is established by its name that is in relation to Dedalus as a craftsman or an artist, and on the other hand, it correlates with the misfortune and rebellion of Dedalus’s son Icarus*. The adventures of Stephen Dedalus, in its nature, is born out of the combined colors of intelligence and passion, so the hero of the novel and the hero of the myth can be placed side by side, and past and present can be compared. 

As regards to the concept of hero, Hans Castorp* is an extremely important hero from “Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann but the heroes of “Death in Venice*” and “Doctor Faustus*” cannot also be ignored. Aschenbach*, the hero of “Death in Venice” is an aged artist who brings his family to spend holidays in Venice. Here he sees a young boy on the beach; he follows him and keeps watching him in fascination. His beauty entices him so much that he falls in love with him and in the end dies in that city by falling prey to an epidemic. The important thing is that the love of Aschenbach is of a symbolic kind which is not only synonymous to the love of life and youth with beauty but is also connected to that destruction and narcissism that is concealed in the personality of that artist and his aesthetic experience. With reference to Saul Bellow, Shams-ur-Rehman Farooqi has compared the hero of “Lolita*” by Nabokov with Aschenbach by which the reflective dimension of this character becomes more prominent. He writes;

    Although in both novels, there is an older person subdued by unusual sexual desire for a younger person (a girl in “Lolita” and a boy in “Death in Venice”) but the internal life of Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert is like a dirty joke, where as the mental life of Mann’s Aschenbach is the expression of the spiritual and universal dilemma of Apollo and Dionysus as stated by Nietzsche. There is no doubt that this analysis of Saul Bellow seems quite correct. It is a reality that the main character of Nabokov, reminds of a character from Greek anthropomorphism, whose body is that of a human, but his head and feet are that of a goat and the main character of Mann is a tragic character which becomes a symbol of Adam, stimulation and downfall. 

    In Humbert’s feeling for Lolita, the involvement of sexuality is quite obvious but he gives it the name of love. He is such a character who does not give importance to the principles of morality in his actions. The matter of Aschenbach is different. He is physically ill but his sickness reaches his soul. As regards to the tragedy of the fate of an artist, Aschenbach can also be compared with Thomas Mann’s “Doctor Faustus” who appears as a symbol of a mutual relation of art and evil between Syphilis and symphony of piano. In “Magic Mountain” as well, disease coincides symbolically with the atmosphere of its era. This is the reason that Lewis Mumford has given it the name, disease of odyssey. The hero of the odyssey, Hans Castrop is in favour of the disease and considers it a sign of escaping from spiritual crisis. Stephen Schultz states; 

    The germs of disease automatically reach those people whose minds are full of fresh ideas or who are bestowed by God with a special brain to resolve problems of the universe.

    When Hans Castorp goes to the sanitarium to meet his cousin and friend Joachim who is under treatment there, the instigation of disease becomes a creative and intuitive halo and he has to stay for seven years in the mechanical environment of the sanitarium as a patient. Time is static in sanitarium. It seems that everything is drowned in its eternal world. There are heart piercing scenes of sickness till death inside the sanitarium and the natural beauty of mountains outside of it. Sanitarium proves to be a university for Hans Castorp. He gets a chance to meet patients who have different languages, races and peculiar attitudes and to listen to their diverse talks full of emotions, contradiction, deprivations and sufferings. This expands his mental horizon morally and spiritually. It indicates that this is not a sanitarium but a prison of sick values where human life deprived of spiritual energy is sobbing and is a picture of adversity and death. No doubt sanitarium seems like an analogy of a small universe in which every representative of the consumptive world of Europe is lying sick and fighting the war of life while spitting blood. But from this war, Hans Castorp arises as such a hero who acquires unfathomable maturity by understanding questions connected to sickness, death, fate, civilization, history and time and space and he succeeds in reaching that feeling of eternity which is rarely acquired by anyone. 

    In twentieth century American novels, the hero of Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” is given unforgettable status as regards to the amalgamation of tradition and imagination. Gatsby* is a tragic hero who collects wealth by different means and organizes a lavish ceremony every week to end his loneliness. This gives him much fame. Gradually he increases his influence. The nobles participate in his party but considering him a ludicrous character, use him for their own objectives. The center of his dreams is a married woman, Daisy Buchanan of high status, whom he fails to make his own. Despite all his efforts, the class of his beloved does not accept him. He does not do any such effort to understand and implement the sociology and secrecies of that class which could make a place for him in that class. The way through which he collides with the society does not show any consciousness in him of understanding society. Gatsby’s death occurs in very painful conditions. He was killed by a bullet by the owner of a motor showroom when he was taking a bath in the pool. Gatsby’s death in water also has a symbolic angle. The part “Death by Water” from T. S. Eliot’s poem “Wasteland” comes to mind. Similarly, the secret behind rain on his funeral is that his being is purified after being washed by tears. In Christian society, water has a religious dimension because of its purifying nature i.e. Baptism. It is very tragic that only three people come to give shoulder to Gatsby’s coffin. In this manner his fate is like that of old Gorio. The narrator of the novel writes letters to many people, to participate in funerals but no one gives importance to his death. It is evident by Gatsby’s grievous devastation that the people who try to base idealism on the foundations of material values, finally get punishment because of delusion and hallucination. Gatsby also has to endure punishment for his deeds. As regards to fulfilling his ideal and illusion by gathering wealth, Gatsby is such a hero who can symbolically be called “a complete American experiment”. 

Gatsby has also been regarded as a criticism of the American dream, but even it has been said that he himself is American. There is a big difference between Gatsby’s own dream and the traditional dream of America and Americanism. The American dream grows in wealth and youthfulness whereas Gatsby’s dream is conditional with the fulfillment of desire of Daisy Buchanan. It is an abstract dream composed of beauty and purity. In the mythological system, the woman represents that totality which is based on the goal of awareness for which the hero adopts a journey. Joseph Campbell has written that a woman has the status of a helper to give a sense of greatness to the sensual or moral adventure of a mythical hero. It becomes evident through this reference that the outcome of the search by a mythical hero is a woman’s love. As a searcher, Gatsby’s mythological ideal is also this woman. From the initial stage, Gatsby’s journey moves forward on the path of a mythological hero and he maintains his ideal and transcendental state till his death and his character starts to appear as the composition of man and God. That is why Gatsby has been called a cultural hero of his own type and a new social character. In the discussion of the hero of Western novels, the novels of D. H. Lawrence are important because his heroes express their human nature and integrity in human connections with natural consciousness. In the novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”, the lover of Connie Chatterley, Oliver Mellors* is such a hero who is presented by Lawrence according to his concept of humans as a naked self, who is a profound being of blood and producer of continuity of life. The concept of the human receives strict criticism because of unveiling the layers of the hidden relations and he is given the title of the healer of dark gods* but the reality is that Lawrence wanted to manage his healing process by pulling the individual out of the fatal and sick atmosphere of daily life. Mellors represents this concept. According to Lawrence himself, Mellors “is the example of that natural man whom he wants to see roaming about in life.”   

    Mellors is such a hero who does not let the ancient flame of passion and feelings to be extinguished which is innately present in the inner selves of humans. Even though Mellors belongs to the labor class and he is not separate from the worries of the exploitation of the industrial system but he is such a man who has acquired enough freedom from the artificial, escapist and abstract pressure of society. The love affair of Mellors and Connie shows that Lawrence wanted to add respect and praise to life through sexual acts. He wanted to mould sex and beauty into one pertinent unit. According to Dr Mohammad Yaseen, he wanted to remove that impure cover which conceals the innocent relation of man and woman.  Lawrence knew that the structure of the human body cannot change therefore the body can never be deceiving in its touch. It was this understanding that he gave preference to the reality of body over mind and accepted its natural flow. It was his view that “minds can venture on wrong paths but blood always tells the truth.” According to this theory it is clear that Clifford is only a trading mind instead of a sensitive body who is suffering from leprosy of hollow superiority, whereas Mellors, despite being an “uncivilized man” and “representative of evil” from the lower class in the eyes of the elite, is full of desires and energies of life. It should be said that he is the declaration of the origin of growth and mysterious worlds of the body in the barren and infertile atmosphere of Victorian morality. It is said that Lawrence was in search of such an instinctive hero. Muzaffar Ali Syed said that Lawrence was searching for a great hero in his era and if a novel cannot express this strife and tragedy of this struggle, he did not like it. In these meanings, Mellors is a sensual hero that he is aware of the illness of his society and waiting to return to real happiness of life. 

(Part Six)

In the central and great characters of the twentieth century, heroes of Kafka have their effect in one way or another; this may be in reference to the dilemma of the self and transformation of being or spiritual punishment and penalty by death. In this regard, how can one forget Joseph K.* of “The Trial”? It is that character who as a banker thought of himself as safe and sound in the world of bureaucracy but one day early in the morning, two strangers come and without telling him the reason for his crime, announce the orders that he is under arrest. He never gets to know about the details of the allegations imposed on him, in the similar way as the hero of “Castle” could not know about his strength which remained an obstruction in the way of submitting particulars of a local fort and as a surveyor never let him fulfill his responsibility. The hero of “The Trial” also has no power over the proceedings of the court. His resistance could not rise beyond verbal protest. Every effort to reach higher authorities goes in vain. 

In the fake and estranged society in which Joseph lives, his own nature was also like that society. For his release, neither the society felt the need of any collective struggle, nor did he ask for any help from the society. As an individual, there is no force in his own resistance. Therefore when his punishment is implemented which was already decided, then the secret of the disgusting character of bureaucracy and violence of the judicial system is disclosed to him. The death of Joseph cannot be resembled with anything other than the death of a dog. The analysis of Joseph on his own death proves his own self as unrespectable. Marx has said that the real self is treated as regards to its bureaucratic self. The same happened with Joseph. The question arises on his death that why he was given life and why he had to die. 

On the basis of the closed and dark haunted atmosphere in which Joseph remains imprisoned, between arrest and death, he cannot be given a better name other than Kafka’s hero. For Kafka, the death of the hero has the status of such substitute power which becomes the declaration of salvation by overcoming every material and immaterial agony. 

    Also in the dirty and cruel environment of rejuvenation, terror and disgrace that is shown in “The Metamorphosis*”, the death of the hero arrives as a message of peace and satisfaction for him and his family. The transformation of Gregor Samsa into a cockroach and the wretched and humiliated death of Joseph by court show the misfortune and helplessness of human beings within the imperialistic system of any level, from earthly till heavenly. As an artist Kafka had absorbed himself in the negativity and concealment of his era. His heroes are also an example of the fruitlessness hidden in this negativity and concealment on a larger temporal level. If we look at the fruitless life of Joseph, he is a hollow being, devoid of human relations and human attributes and who has the curtain of separation between his real and working personalities. The unexpected incident of being taken into custody was very strange for Joseph. This incident shakes him and brings him out of the shell of his estrangement which he has knitted around his true individuality. Joseph always stayed alert in the bank. He had helpers there. Telephones were placed in front of him. Clients and clerks came for the sake of work but despite preoccupation, his mind stayed alert. 

    If this situation had presented itself in the bank, he could have gotten it under control but this incident happened outside the life of the bank and he had to find its solution outside as well. The world outside was alien to him for which he was not ready at all. As if his being came face to face with an alarming truth which finally made him embrace a meaningless death. What was Joseph’s crime, which was the court where his case was in trial and what was the law under which he was killed? This whole trial is meaningless. 

    To understand the court where the trial was held, the crux of different interpretations presented by critics of different schools of thought is given below;

1. According to the critics of psychological point of view, the court is an index of Kafka’s superego and in one way it is also an abstract symbol of his violent father.
2. For the critics of theological mind, the court is the symbol of a greater divinity. A human can never bring into understanding its reference and context.
3. For the critics of existential school of thought, the court is derived from maliciousness and cruelty and is actually the symbol of the meaninglessness of directionless life.

Joseph clearly seems like an existential hero in his concept of hero, such an existential hero from whom if the debris of incidents is removed, one can find the essential and basic concept of human and the destiny of the individual between life and death becomes visible.

As regards to the demotion and absurdity of the internal and external, the study of the heroes of Camus along with Kafka gives more help to understand the spiritual vacuum of a human. The great character, Merusault*, from “The Outsider*” has the concept of such absurd hero who does not have any consciousness of his self because of his detached conduct in internal and external life but when he is imprisoned after unintentionally committing a murder, gradually his sleeping senses are awaken. 

    During the judicial process, the system of life and absurdity of human acts reveals on him in such a way that instead of evading it or becoming frightened, he accepts it whole-heartedly and like a brave man, he fills the hollowness of his being with self-created meanings by being hanged. This effort makes Meursault almost an absurd hero*. 

If we view in the light of Albert Camus’s book “Myth of Sisyphus”*, the absurd hero is a stranger in the eyes of the world. He is neither moral nor immoral but beyond morality and is leading a motionless and sad life by being uncaring of the divide of good and evil. As though he is like Sisyphus who is forced to carry a heavy stone on his back to the top of the mountain. His tragedy starts at the time when he comes to the level of consciousness and revolts to change the determinism and uniformity of the present and takes this rebellion to the stage of search for self or quest for being and then he is called the absurd hero or the irrational hero.  

    The main characters of fiction by Camus are either seen fighting over the issue of belief and faith or do not believe at all in divinity. Sisyphus became Camus’s ideal because he denied the gods. Meursault is such a character who denies the being of god but does not lie and this attitude saves him from religious and social hypocrisy. Camus himself says about Meursault:

For me he is a naked man who loves that sun which does not leave shadows. He is such a man who never asks questions but answers questions and all his answers are so alarming that society cannot bear to face them.

    There is no doubt that when society becomes speechless in front of an individual then it exercises determinism. Meursault is definitely subdued by determinism but he does not give it any importance. The absurd hero does not entangle with logical arguments. His mind is one step ahead of the rationalist. 

    In the absurdity of Camus, this is an important point that gives the ability to Meursault to reject the set standards, even religious beliefs of society. For Camus, the individual life of humans does not have any rational meaning. This is the reason that they are in a continuous struggle so that a positive meaning can be created in their life or some rational structure can be formed. 

    The philosophy of absurdity explains such vain and fruitless effort which is done to achieve some rational order even though it might not have any existence at all. When we ponder on the heroic essence of Meursault then we can see both happiness and absurdity, like two fountainheads, blending with each other in his character.

    At this point, it is essential to talk about Roquentin, the hero of Nausea. He is such a hero who struggles to discover the meaning of his being in the paralyzed and disabled atmosphere of society and unveils that hidden power which is arrayed to dispose an individual in an ambiguous manner. Roquentin is accepted as a character declaring the priority of essence over existence. He is that hero whose thoughts and actions were found by Camus to be aptly aligned with his philosophy.  Similarity in the characters of Meursault and Roquentin is that they both accept the absurdity of life and that is why they could not separate themselves from the consciousness of self. 

    Nevertheless when seen from the metaphysical angel, there is a lack of happiness and warmth in the character of Roquentin, in comparison with Meursault. Existentialism rejects the being of god and Sartre admits that this makes an individual more responsible in his actions. Camus had the same theory. For Sartre, there is no reason* behind being except nothingness*. Human being is free to create his individual essence but he has to face this feeling at every step that his being is uncertain i.e. ‘existence is contingent*.’

    When the consciousness of probability arises in any individual, then the desire of nausea is born in himself because of disgust and hatred which Sartre has expressed with the term nausea*. Roquentin considers nausea as an eternal part of his being. His basic problem is to come face to face with the repletion of self. It is such a mysterious condition which keeps clutching a human till the last breath of life. Human self is nauseous. For Sartre, we feel nauseous because of its existence so we cannot have the perception of being and things without fighting this condition.  

Roquentin acquires the proof of his existence in this state. He puts a question mark on his presence in Indo-China and is startled that what is he doing here for so many years? When this moment of epiphany attacks in the form of nausea, he stops working on the biography of Rollebon. He feels that he is extracting such meanings from the events of Rollebon’s life which are completely lacking in his personality. Whether it is Stephen Dedalus of Joyce or Meursault of Camus or Joseph K. of Kafka, all have to pass through this stage. 

    When Roquentin and Joseph K. are compared, the “action” of Joseph K. and the “mind” of Roquentin appear as similar. One character appears in the authority of the body and the other in the authority of the mind. The conflict that is between Joseph and the court, is the same dispute that is between the body and mind of Roquentin, though Sartre admits the artistic creativity as a dynamic dimension of being in nausea and has determined it as the final cure of Roquentin. 

    In the discussion of the concept of hero, it seems very important to mention Code hero of American novelist Earnest Hemingway. In the beginning when his novels were published, a specific kind of man appeared in them as hero who participates in activities like drinking, different kind of sexual relations, hunting and bull fighting. As Hemingway’s novels kept on being published, the fame of that man increased and critics felt that through the specific kind of conduct and manners through which his hero acts, a code can be formed by it. 

    Hemingway’s hero does not tell himself about his code because he believes in action instead of theory. If we analyze his action then we know that he can bear physical and emotional pain silently and he can keep the individuality of self and freedom of will. He also has this quality that he does not become emotional, does not become weak in front of a woman and does not bow his head in front of rituals. Despite this perception that mortality is the fate of a human and Nada* i.e. nothing* is reality and that no origin can make human life meaningful and purposeful externally. He proceeds by estimating the obstacles in the way with honesty, tolerance and courage and fights against death with dignity. 

    In the actions of Hemingway’s main heroes, the authority of the concept of death is visible. If we look at Santiago*, the hero of “The Old Man and the Sea”, he seems like that man who shows courage and softness in stressful conditions. Critics have given him the name of ‘the idea of grace under pressure*’. 

    The tragedy of Santiago is not like William Faulkner’s* “The Beer”* or Herman Melville’s* “Moby Dick”. Though in comparison with an oceanic hero like Ahab, he seems like the hero of a small stream but there is no doubt that he is a great hero. His tragedy is an inducement and desire of its own kind instead of some gruesome or complicated revelation. Its simplicity is such as if some alarm would ring at night.

    Santiago is the seeker of human freedom. He is a lonely man fighting against nature, tied to the eternal law of ‘kill or to be killed’ like Marlin. In this regard he appears to be parallel to those classic heroes whose downfall is because of some tragic mistake or ignorance or because of that quality which is praised a lot. If it is said that sense of pride is Santiago’s ignorance of fate, then it is not correct because he is well aware of this. When sharks eat up Marlin, the old man asks for forgiveness again and again from the “ruling powers” of the universe.

Actually Santiago is a symbolic or code hero. This discipline includes his qualities such as bravery, knowledge of fishing, desire to fight till death, patience, belief in victory, positive understanding, disregard for lust and sensuality, love with other creatures, decency, honesty, awareness of superior powers and conviction in prayer. According to the helper boy Manolin, he is the best fisherman. 

    If we see the imagery of Christian belief then the crucified is the hero. Just as Jesus Christ suffered from grieves and injuries, in the same manner Santiago carried the crucifix of life with happiness and courage and made himself immortal. 

    The stage of existentialism that was acquired by the heroes of Sartre and Camus and the novelists who extracted new angles with objections on it, the heroes of Gunter Grass and Saul Bellow are important amongst them. It is also said about Saul Bellow that he filled the gap left by William Falkner and Hemingway. 

The hero of Gunter Grass’s novel “The Tin Drum”, Oscar, is a hesitant character as regards to his individuality who wants to understand the misbehavior done with humans in the absurd and valueless environment of society. He wants a healthy presence of human relations by overcoming the noise of hypocrisy and absurdity. He wants revival of freedom of life and spontaneity of soul and evolution of mind.

When he is three years old, then after listening to the conversation of his parents and their fellow shopkeepers, he feels that the upbringing of his body is not for himself but for others. For the growth of being, a pursuit or a quest* is important which is conditional to the will of the human being instead of time. That is why this concept becomes firm in his mind that his height can never increase. 

Therefore he decides to maintain his small body forever and refuses to talk. He plays the drum to communicate his desire and the unique and protesting beat of the drum attracts people towards itself. When it was tried to snatch the drum from him then such a protest arose in his powerful screams due to which the glasses of surrounding building break. 

This method of expression or communication can be linked with the German society which refuses to accept Nazism and its inner complexities as a reality. The decision of Oscar to stop his age at a certain point has a symbolic connotation and to the mind of an individual, it gives the feeling of attachment with childhood at an intellectual level. 

Because of this feeling, a wonderfulness and amazement is found in Oscar’s character. From infanthood till the third birthday and from the third birthday till being taken to mental hospital, he maintains his grotesque level. In the insane and ridiculous society, he was declared as mad by alleging with a murder he did not commit, and that same society itself is also grotesque which cannot beer the supernatural intelligence of any individual.  Oscar thinks of himself as safe inside the mental institution because its environment is healthier as compared to the normal life of the outer world. Although the guard keeps an eye on him but here he addresses his reader and starts writing his story. He says about himself and his keeper that; 

But as far as I and Bruno my keeper are concerned, I beg leave to say we are both heroes, very different heroes…he on his side of the peephole, and I on my side and even, when he opens the door, the two of us, with all our friendship and loneliness, are still far from being a nameless, hero-less mass.

The reason behind the concept of hero of “The Tin Drum” is that the relation of an individual with its society is like seed and soil. If this relation gets barren due to the religion, nationality and so called traditions of civilizations and exploitative theories then the society does not remain capable of the mental and spiritual growth of an individual and this tragedy separates and deviates an individual from the society. 

As regards to the concept of the hero, the most important novels of Saul Bellow are The Victim, Herzog, Dangling Man, The Adventures of Augie March and Seize the Day, whose heroes appear to be involved in matters like identity of self, captivity of perception, sacrifice of being, deviation and acceptance, external effects and reconciliation with society and non reconciliation, but finally open paths of existentialism as regards to choice and freedom of will. Destruction or failure, wait or crisis, boredom or doubt; in every state the movement and diversity of life pulls them towards it. Their relation does not break with society in any way. Especially Joseph, Augie March and Herzog meet this criterion. 

    

(Part Seven)

The basic issue of the hero of twentieth century is the quest for truth in the collision between individual and society, which is also related to the retrieval of the lost being of the human and the incompleteness of self, and it is also related to the racial disparity and that justice in the acquisition of which social evils are the obstruction. The hero of “B Lord” by Toni Morrison* is also bound in the cruelty of the system of slavery. He is that pawn of chess which is dragged from its place again and again. 

The heroes of Samuel Beckett’s* “Murphy”*, Graham Greene’s* “The Man Within”* and Sinclair Lewis’s “The Trial of the Hawk” and “Arrow Smith” also belong to the same perspective of the search for truth. The problem of filling the gulf of being and the vacuum of soul is also the part of this perspective. In Milan Kundera’s* Novels, “Life is Elsewhere* and “Unbearable Lightness of Being”*, the same issue brings forth the relation of woman and man. 

Woman and man have the extreme need of the nearness of each other whereas there is contradiction in human desires. Why does the man leave that woman whom he loves and in whose nearness he is completely happy? What does he unintentionally try to search for in the arms of prostitutes? And again the same man is ready to sacrifice his freedom, his social status, his work and even everything to acquire the same woman whom he left. What are the reasons for this contradiction and change? Does the distance from responsibilities and relations become the reason for growth of any awareness or lightness, and at some point in life it converts into a vacuum and becomes completely unbearable? It is so unbearable that this burden drags both parties back to earth. This tells how weak a human being is and how unhappy he becomes because of the contradiction of desire. 

Jerome* and Thomas*The heroes of Milan Kundera are victims of the same vacuum of happiness. Jerome becomes conscious of this vacuum when he has the physical experience of his beloved for the first time but this experience, despite its meaningfulness and joy, also could not bring his life to any varying path. In the same manner Thomas, despite the love of Tereza, continues the act of fornication with another girl. Tereza perceives love and sex as the same thing whereas for Thomas these are two different areas of action. This difference of understanding makes him bear the unbearable lightness of being. 

Gabrial Garcia Marquez has his own magical style of the quest for truth. His heroes emerge from the tradition of local cultures and reach the modern civilization from this path. The intensity of aloneness, the ailment of love and the revival of self are the basic tragedies of human civilization for them. For Colonel Aureliana Buendia* of “The Hundred Years of Solitude”* aloneness has the status of inherited interest whereas for Florentino of “Love in the Time of Cholera”*, love has the status of an old evil of self. 

Marquez has presented Florentino Areza* as such an interesting hero who reaches the extreme of madness in the love of a woman. Just one glimpse of Fermina Daza* leaves him smitten. In a very short duration in society he is unable to admit this reality that Fermina Daza has rejected him. He dedicates his life to her name in the hope that one day he will win her love. After fifty one years, nine months and four days with the death of Fermina Daza’s husband Doctor Juvenal Urbino*, the revolutionary era of his love ends, something that he believed like conviction. When the first night of widowhood comes for Fermina, he renews his promise. 

The passionate love of Fermina Daza always stays on the nerves of Florentino Areza. The interesting thing is that even in this state he has hundreds of affairs and sleep with innumerable women but even then considers himself a virgin. He keeps insisting that the love he has for Fermina, he cannot have with any other woman. Amjad Tufail has rightly written that time is producing deterioration and decay gradually. Young bodies are wearing the shroud of old age, and the world around characters is in the range of changes. Everything has changed but the love of Florentino Areza has not lessened. Actually Florentino Areza is a nymphomaniac* man. He is obsessed with intercourse and performs sex just as a drug addict uses drugs. 

The meaning that is derived from this is that he wants to forget this pain of heart or the desire of his beloved which is the source of all his agonies, but just as his intoxication wears off, horror attacks him. Fermina’s love agonizes him at both physical and psychological levels. Actually his love is equivalent to an ailment which sometimes appears similar to the plague of Cholera. Just as Florentino Areza is of old age, his disease is also chronic. This angle has the central status in the concept of the hero of Florentino and this angle informs what the anatomy of love is.

Florentino is such a hero who becomes mad in love and it overpowers him like a devil, a compulsion or an illusion, even to the extent that it starts touching criminal limits. Florentino stealthily chases Fermina. He takes rounds of her house. The storm of emotions keeps him inclined towards drinking. He cannot write a single business letter but his pen finally becomes fluent in expressing love. His pleasure is hidden in the sufferings that he encounters in the path of love. 

To win the heart of Fermina Daza, he plays violin in a traditional way and when he has to spend three nights in the prison cell for expressing love, then his emotions become like that of a sacrificing man who is martyred in the battlefield of love. When Fermina Daza’s father warns him to stay away from his daughter and threatens him to kill him by shooting then he accepts this threat by saying that what can be a grander incident then sacrificing life for love. Thomas Pynchon* has resembled Florentino’s love to the “eternal promise of love”. Eventually this promise teaches Florentino to overcome time.

Basically the roots of the hero of western novels are rooted in the varying grounds of quest for self and study of being. The twentieth century proves to be more favorable for the representation of this hero. A lot has changed in this century which is saved by the western hero by his character. Actually the twentieth century was synonymous to a torturous birth for the western human being. The effect of convictions and theories of the nineteenth century was fading. The spiritual concepts about the humans were being destroyed. The sketch that is drawn of the heaven on earth and prosperous life of the future, started to be exposed. The walls of the feeling of security were being collapsed. Inevitable development, autocracy and rationalism had scattered human conviction like mercury. Darwin had put a crack in the concept of human beings as the noblest of all creatures. On the ladder of evolution of life, the status of human beings is just one step ahead of animals.

Freud also had given a hard blow to the sacred concept of human beings. At the level of unconsciousness, a new form of self was arising. Nietzsche had announced the death of God. The monopoly of cause and effect was being established in human matters. The world war had exposed human society completely. Hopeful claims and loud theories started to be demolished. The advent of the twentieth century had uncovered this fact that neither any prediction can be made about the future of humanity, nor it can be improved without knowing the inner self of a human and its deep and vast complications. This feeling started a revolution in mind and the inner self of the human started to become the center of attention. As the perspectives of thought and perception changed, the method of looking at the truths of life and the facts of the universe also started to change. Change also came in the fields of art and literature and the desire of discovering the reality of human beings started to strengthen. The role that is played by the novel of the twentieth century in knowing the reality of the human, touching the soul of society and bringing the incidents and experiences of life in narration; no other genera of literature can compete with that role. Muhammad Hassan Askari writes:

The twentieth century novel remains ahead of even poetry in the concern for the issue of human destiny. The duty of the venture of the formation of human values and establishing the definition of the human is taken by novel in such a way that psychology and philosophy are still dragging behind it. It is the novelist of twentieth century fiction who accepted the responsibility of molding the “conscience” of his civilization in the “furnace of soul”. What is a human? What is the destiny of the human? The kind of thirst for finding the answers to these questions will be found in Marlow, Sartre, Camus and Son To Zobry, you will not find in any philosopher or sociologist. You can even become a mobile encyclopedia by studying psychology, philosophy and other sciences, but if you have not read these novels then you cannot understand the human being of the twentieth century and his spiritual demands. In short, the novel of the twentieth century has to perform two tasks; one is to narrate the reality of “individual” and second is to find the definition of “human being”.

As the hero is the main or greater individual of the novel, so in the dialectical process of the relation of human and individual, his self is definitely creating one or another concept which can perform the duty of the understanding of life. The concept can be objected on but this desire or quest* of the hero cannot be denied. Definitely the hero of the western novel is attributed with this quest and desire.