Identifying a hero in "The Great Gatsby" The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Small Island".

Just like in The Great Gatsby, Coleridge also places the main protagonist into the title. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner gives the readers the immediate knowledge of what the poem is going to be about the Mariner. Having the word ‘ancient’ gives the sense that there is something mystical about the Mariner, as well as being old. The fact that Coleridge decides to use the word “rime” instead of the modern writing of “rhyme” also adds to this effect. Despite hearing numerous voices throughout the poem, such as the Wedding Guest, 'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!', it is the Mariner’s tale we are hearing and therefore him who we relate back to. This tale of morality with its numerous religious connotations, “Heaven's Mother send us grace!” is told by the Mariner to the Wedding Guest and in some aspects, Coleridge may be encouraging us to put ourselves in the place of the Wedding Guest. It often feels that the Mariner is talking directly at the reader when putting oneself in such a position, “And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe”. Being a morality tale, it takes us through the process of redemption and the idea of free will. Coleridge makes it clear that the Mariner does the wrongful deed for no apparent reason, “I shot the Albatross”, only because of the God given idea of free will. Because of his actions, there were horrible consequences “Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,” and the Mariner had to redeem himself. This tale of morality is highlighted as it is said that the Mariner only chooses certain people to stop and tell the tale to, “And he stoppeth one of three.”  which is an interesting concept as it perhaps demonstrates how he only chooses people who would potentially make the same mistake as he did. Having the Mariner’s character as the main protagonist enables the readers to relate back to his story and learn from his tale of morality.

In Small Island, a main hero/heroine is not clearly distinguished. Having different first person narratives throughout the novel, there is not just one character that we as readers are endeared to. It could be disputed that we are drawn to all four voices, Hortense, Queenie, Gilbert and Bernard’s, and therefore it is important to define what is meant by the title of this essay. If there were several options as heros/heroines, I would consider all four of these leading characters to be the protagonists. By hearing their point of views on the matters, Levy enables us to understand where they are coming from, especially with character’s like Gilbert’s character who has an informal manner of writing to the reader “Now I am telling you this so you might better understand”. This manner of talking as if directly to the reader encourages us to sympathise with his character. Other characters use other ways to endear the readers to them, such as pity in Hortense’s case, “ She then shut the door in my face.”.

On the other hand, if I were to chose a main hero for the text, I would nominate Hortense’s character. I feel that this novel is very much a struggle between the two races, of black mixing with white people, and we as readers appear to be following Hortense’s struggle to adapt herself in the Mother Country. The other characters only seem to be included within the story in order to reflect upon Hortense; Gilbert is her husband, Queenie her landlady and Bernard an outsider with similar views as Mr Todd in his ideas of “darkies”. Gilbert is also adapting himself to the ways of the English, Queenie accepts the coloured people as who they are yet Bernard is portrayed as the stereotypical individual who is against the coming together of two nations. Having Hortense as the heroine of the novel draws all the other characters together and gives the readers someone to rest their interests upon.