“A&P,” Sammy, the supermarket cashier who tells
the story, abruptly quits his job when his manager
is disrespectful to three teenaged girls who enter
the store. In the grand scheme of things, this action
might not seem noteworthy. But in the world of
the A&P, it certainly is. To return to some of the
criteria discussed above, Sammy has respect for life
and respect for the present in that he does not want
to simply carry on as though nothing has happened.
He wants to acknowledge the girls’ worth as human
beings and not simply see them as “sheep” like the
other people in the store. Also, Sammy has vision.
He does not want the A&P to be his life; he is
thinking of the future and how he can contribute
toward it in a more meaningful way than he would
standing behind the cash register.
Heroic behavior can also come from those whom
we might not see as typically “good” people. Some-
times, the term antihero is used for these characters.
In John Gay’s The beGGar’s opera, Macheath is a
thief and a murderer. He “marries” several women
under false pretenses and exhibits little regard for
the laws of the city. However, Macheath is arguably
a hero because the system within which he oper-
ates is so corrupt and bereft of compassion itself
that the audience actually roots for him to beat that
system. He has his own moral code, and he sticks by
it. Looked at from this perspective, one can easily
see how Macheath’s daring actions might be seen
as heroic.
There is quite a leap from a character such as
Macheath to a character such as Sammy the checker.
And again, there is another great leap from Sammy
to characters such as Jane Eyre and Antigone. How-
ever, all of these characters exhibit behavior that is
inspirational, courageous, and extraordinary, and in
doing so all of them exemplify the theme of heroism.
See also Achebe, Chinua: thinGs FaLL apart;^
Allende, Isabel: house oF the spirits, the;
Atwood, Margaret: handMaid’s taLe, the;
Behn, Aphra: oroonoko; or, the royaL sLave;
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: hound oF the
baskerviLLes, the; Conrad, Joseph: Lord JiM;
Dickens, Charles: taLe oF two cities, a; Doug-
lass, Frederick: narrative oF the LiFe oF Fred-
erick douGLass, an aMerican sLave; Fielding,
Henry: toM Jones; Heller, Joseph: catch-22;
Hersey, John: hiroshiMa; Homer: odyssey, the;
Hinton S. E.: outsiders, the; Kesey, Ken: one
FLew over the cuckoo’s nest; Lewis, C. S.: Lion,
the witch, and the wardrobe, the; Malamud,
Bernard: naturaL, the; McMurtry, Larry:
LonesoMe dove; Orwell, George: nineteen
eiGhty-Four; Rand, Ayn: antheM; Sophocles:
oedipus the kinG; Stevenson, Robert Louis:
treasure isLand; Synge, John Millington:
pLayboy oF the western worLd, the; Tolkien,
J. R. R.: hobbit, the; Lord oF the rinGs, the;
Virgil: aeneid, the.FURTHER READING
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1949,
1968.
Carlyle, Thomas. On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the
Heroic in History. 1908. Reprint, London and
Toronto: J. M. Dent, 1924.
Polster, Miriam F. Eve’s Daughters. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1992.
Jennifer McClinton-Templehope
Hope is closely related to desire, faith, and pos-
sibility. Stories about hope are central not only to
the study of literature but also to psychology, social
movements, and religious studies. In literature, hope
tends to center on the belief that positive change—
either individual or societal change—can or will
occur.
Hope is an exceptionally common theme in
literary works for several reasons. The theme of
hope directly addresses one of the foremost char-
acteristics of human experiences: anxiety about the
uncertainty of the future. Furthermore, many literary
works have plot events spurred on by characters that
pursue something they want. Hope of attaining a
goal is thus a central part of almost any traditionally
structured novel or play. Holding onto hope when
confronting seemingly impossible odds is another
important theme in many texts; hope in these cases
may be closely related to faith in human nature, faith
in oneself, or religious or spiritual faith. Additionally,
hope can be both an emotional state and also a per-
spective on reality; as the latter, hope is an examplehope 49