I made a reference yesterday to my MC in my second novel, THE VASE. I said he wasn't really a hero. Well, maybe he is a hero in that story. What makes a hero? Does he have to fight insurmountable odds and achieve something that no one else had achieved? Or does he have to give his/her life for a cause that makes everything better for everyone else? Surely, those are things that define a hero.
But there's more to it, right? A hero might be something else. Maybe, like, a different kind of hero. Isn't a father who works his butt off to support his family through thick and thin, despite constant setbacks, and recurring disasters, also a hero? I think he is. A father who doesn't give up and throw in the towel when life deals him repeated bad cards? A father who provides for his son no matter what else happens?
This is a hero, imo. And that's the kind of hero my protagonist, Muhsin Muhabi is in THE VASE. He is a Palestinian, living in Israel, and he is a Ceramic Potter. It's a hard job, really. He depends on tourism to get by. That means he has to sell his vases, his pots, cisterns, and anything else he can spin on his throwing wheel.
But throughout his life, he has to deal with recurring wars, rebellions, uprisings, fanaticism, demonstrations, extremism, and all on both fronts...from the Israelis to the Palestinians, to the religious fundamentalists on both sides. And through it all...all he wants to do is support his family.
His eldest son is killed in one rebellion. His wife leaves him shortly thereafter, and he is a single father trying to make a life for himself and his younger son, who is now fourteen. The problem is that his first son was fourteen when he got involved with extremists and killed by the IDF. Will it happen again?
Yes, a father who is committed to his family...to his children, to his livelihood...this is a hero. Maybe not to you...or to me, personally. Maybe not to his country. But to the people who depend on him, he is a hero. And that applies to all fathers...and mothers...who stick by their kids...through thick and thin....no matter the circumstances...to be there...for keeps.
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