Last week I blogged about amoral protagonists. But what about protagonists who are unquestionably immoral?

Some general market books make their readers root for the bad guy. Think about accounts of bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde, written from their points of view. Or a book written primarily from the point of view of a courtesan, such as Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement. These books set the reader in a life where there is no Christ, yet the reader can’t help but feel sympathy for the protagonists by coming to an understanding of how circumstances combined by the moral failings of others set characters in one unhappy situation after another. 

Not everyone we meet will be a fellow Christian, and without God, people are more helpless in unfavorable circumstances. Rooting for the bad guy isn’t uplifting. Some may even feel it is wrong. But in helping us understand some of our fellow human beings who aren’t as blessed as we are by God’s presence in our lives, perhaps we can reach out with more compassion in the future.

Your turn:

Who is your favorite antihero? Why?