Good Men vs. Great Men

Episode 3.19, The Brig, has generated some of the most interesting reactions of any episode in the entire series. On the front page of this very website, we can read four fantastic recaps of The Brig, all of which have some unique insight into the deeper significance of the episode. Jeff Jensen’s recaps are humorous and always a joy to read; among other parts, I particularly enjoyed the Willy Wonka analogy, which suggests that the island is presenting a series of Survivor-like tests in which one last man will be left standing. Vozzek69 continued his series of dedicated, thorough recaps, with a particular focus on the ongoing head games between Locke and Ben. J.Wood once again illuminated many important references from literature, history, and philosophy and proposed a particularly provocative question: Why should a man be honest in the dark? This question seems to hold special significance on the island itself, which recalled Ben/Henry’s cryptic comments in season two: “God doesn’t know … God can’t see this place”. Fishbiscuit decided to write from a character-focused perspective to analyze the fantastic work of Josh Holloway and Terry O’Quinn. Fishbiscuit’s recap also brings into view an important philosophical theme that has been gaining steam for a while, Neitzsche’s ubermensch construct. I would like to credit the writers, directors, and actors for generating a viewing experience that is so rich and layered that it sparks such creative minds towards other works of art.

I, for one, would also like to point out that the most thought-provoking element of season three has been the moral conflict that Locke and Sawyer dramatized in the Brig. On message boards throughout the Internet, people constantly obsess about conspiracy theories, purgatory theories, alternate universe theories, manifestation theories, smoke monster theories, etc. Those same viewers, ostensibly clamoring for answers, still react with unexpected delight to an episode like The Brig, without even being able to articulate exactly why. The Lost creators may have pulled off one of the most successful long cons of all. Within this sordid mess of science fiction red herrings, they managed to keep the audience’s attention long enough to convey one of the most poignant character dramas ever filmed. We watched Locke and Sawyer struggle with the most important question since the beginning of mankind: What does it mean to be human? Damon Lindelof once commented that Charlie was asking the wrong question in the Pilot episode; instead of asking “Where are we?”, he should have been asking, “Who are we?”.

The idea of the Nietzschean superman has been building underneath the surface for some time throughout the series, and now Ben’s nearly-explicit references have finally forced it to center stage. Nearly all of the male characters are struggling with the same conflict: would they prefer to become a great man or a good man? I propose to use this lens to analyze each of the island’s male inhabitants. Looking at each character, we see a complete spectrum of different responses to this question. To some degree, this analysis should help to illuminate some of the overall direction of the series. In particular, this thought experiment holds some striking implications for the next three episodes.

Hurley
Morality has never really been a question in the mind of Hugo Reyes. His childlike innocence and Catholic upbringing already provided him with all of the answers. He would respond that, of course it is more important to be a good man than a great man. Hurley’s main motivation, as always, is to protect the people about which he cares. He adheres to a set of strict moral rules that he would never even consider violating. He was willing to hand away his entire fortune if only it could end the curse and protect the people around him. In the season two finale, he discovers that Michael killed Libby, destroying perhaps his only chance at finding love and happiness. He once watched his best friend steal his girlfriend, but never retaliated against either. The concept of vengeance does not even register within Hurley’s heart, only sadness. When the series concludes, we may ultimately whether Hurley’s rigid moral stances make him a fool or the wisest man of all.

Boone
Boone’s character remains underdeveloped and literally short-lived, but we still see echoes of this same theme in his past. Boone’s system of morality operates similarly to Hurley’s code. Boone desperately wanted to be a good man, and the plane crash onto the island gave him that opportunity. From the first scenes until his death scene, we see Boone doing everything that he can to try to help everyone else in the group. Boone was never lacking in the will to be a good person, but he was always lacking in ability. He suffered a string of failed attempts at heroism (resuscitating Rose, saving a drowning woman, pursuing Charlie in the jungle, climbing to the beechcraft radio) until he ultimately suffered a meaningless death. Young Boone’s life reveals an important lesson: some men lack the ability to be either a good man or a great man. Perhaps Boone was never a man at all, but merely a boy.

Jin
Two opposite father figures dominate Jin’s past in Korea. Mr. Kwon is perhaps the purest example of a good man in all of Lost. As a simple fisherman, he only demands from the earth exactly what he needs to survive. In a selfless act, he takes on Jin as his son, who may not be his biological child, merely because no one else would take care of the baby. Mr. Paik, on the other hand, represents a great and powerful man. Paik cares most about the honor and reputation of his business empire, which also carries his family name. He has no qualms about getting blood on his hands, particularly as retribution against anyone who might bring shame to his great name. In Korea, Jin chose to shun his father’s entire existence and attempted to work his way up to become a great man like Mr. Paik. However, Jin found that he would not sacrifice his moral virtue for the promise of greatness. With the freedom that the island provides, Jin ultimately develops into a more evolved version of Mr. Kwon, a simple and honest fisherman with a loving wife who completes him.

Charlie
Off the island, we know that Charlie once took a stab at greatness. He was pressured by his mother and brother, both of whom wished to exploit his musical gifts for their own benefit. His father, on the other hand, encouraged him to become a simple butcher rather than to chase someone else’s dream. For a brief period of time, Charlie did become a bloody rock god, but the lifestyle was incompatible with his desires. From his first flashback scene, we see him in confession trying to return to the right path, but the promise of greatness is too seductive. In a cruel reversal, his brother Liam manages to reform his life as a good man, while leaving Charlie’s life in ruins. The island offers Charlie a chance at redemption through his relationship with Claire and Aaron (and a role model in Jin). Charlie specifically expresses his desire to be a good, respectable family man, but we still watch him fall and stumble throughout the series. The lesson is clear: once you have chosen greatness, the path back to becoming a good man can be long and arduous.

Desmond
Desmond’s extraordinary flashback scenes in season three’s Flashes Before Your Eyes make the most direct reference to the moral choice between being a good man and a great man. In Desmond’s job interview, master of the universe Charles Widmore declares, to devastating effect, that Desmond Hume does not have the capacity to ever achieve greatness. Immediately after his interview, Penelope Widmore reveals that she loves Desmond precisely because he is a good man. From Penny’s perspective, finding a man as good as Desmond is a more extraordinary feat than finding a man as great as her father. Desmond, however, chooses to embark upon a quest to earn the father’s respect rather than the daughter’s love. He joins the military in a failed attempt to achieve greatness (perhaps hoping to become the next General McCutcheon), and them signs up for a race around the world for the same reason. On the island, Desmond’s good nature continues to prevent him from sacrificing Charlie, even as Charlie’s death offers the promise of rescue. Desmond remains unable to reconcile his desire for greatness with his penchant for doing the right thing. Whatever eventual reason we learn for his dishonorable discharge, I expect that his actions resulted from a choice between moral goodness and military greatness.

Michael
In Michael’s past life, he tried his utmost to be a good man and a good father. Way back in the season one episode Special, Michael made an unequivocal choice to sacrifice any chance at greatness in order to become a good father. Michael was once a talented, promising artist, but the experience of fatherhood changed his priorities. He sacrificed whatever potential career he could have led as an artist and instead took on jobs in construction so that he could support his son. Even though Michael and Desmond made opposite choices in the same situation, neither man achieves his goal. In a cruel twist of fate, though, his beloved Susan then rejects the noble Michael in favor of her boss, a more powerful and successful man. Michael continues to suffer from the fallout of those events on the island, as his son Walt remains unable to understand what Michael sacrificed. After losing Walt again, though, Michael commits murder and thus sacrifices his soul. Michael once gave up a chance at greatness in order to be with Walt, and later gave up his moral goodness to be with Walt once again. I hope that we have not heard the last from Michael, but that the writers give him a chance to redeem at least one part of his destroyed soul.

Mr. Eko
In The 23rd Psalm, we learn that Mr. Eko was once a Nigerian warlord so ruthless that men whispered that he was born without a soul. Earlier still, of course, Eko was once a virtuous young Catholic boy, until circumstance forced him to sacrifice his soul to save his brother’s life. Mr. Eko’s decision to kill as a child mirrors Michael’s decision to commit murder on the island. Eko felt an insurmountable duty to protect his younger brother Yemi at all costs. The young Eko realized that he could save his brother’s life, but only at the cost of his own soul. His actions show that had the capacity to be a great leader, but he felt no real desire to be a man of greatness. Even though he lived as a powerful warlord, he did so halfheartedly and always desired a return to the right path. Only after his brother’s death did Eko reclaim his soul and achieve his destiny as a priest and a good man. After Eko’s death, we see the two brothers reunited, restored to their original innocence as children on the soccer field.

Sayid
Flashbacks for this Iraqi soldier mention that Sayid Jarrah was born the son of a great military hero. In his earliest scenes, Sayid seems earnest in his desire to follow in his father’s footsteps. Perhaps working for a different cause other than the authoritarian Iraqi military, Sayid could have fulfilled his promise as a great military hero. However, an order to torture his childhood love Nadia puts Sayid’s loyalties to the ultimate test. Kelvin Inman put it best: Sayid possesses loyalty, but never unquestioning loyalty. Sayid discovers that he cannot continue on his path if it means violating the most purely good part of his world. However, his choice back to the good path came too late. Sayid had already committed such atrocities as a torturer that his psyche will forever be tainted. The conflicts on the island have urged Sayid again and again to use his torture skills for the greater good. In Enter 77, Sayid’s refusal to murder Mikhail might be an indication that he will correct his past ways permanently.

Sawyer
James Ford suffered such a traumatic childhood that he was never given much of a chance to develop as either a good man or as a great man. We can look at his life much in the same way as Mr. Eko’s life. Both characters were thrust alone into horrible, violent circumstances at a young age, and then proceeded to lead a life of considerable evil. James’ self-image was so tarnished by his father’s murder-suicide that he chose total nihilism. As Sawyer, he refused to even accept the possibility of either achieving anything good or great in his life, and also denied their existence in others. At the end of The Long Con, Sawyer outwardly tells Charlie that he’s “not a good person” and that he has never done a good deed in his entire life. Looking more deeply, though, we find that Sawyer projects an outward posture of nihilism only as a defense mechanism to protect himself from being hurt again. We have seen Sawyer commit selfless actions on occasion, and we also know that he secretly gave away a fortune to his biological daughter. With the original Sawyer now dead, perhaps the younger Sawyer will perish as well. Let us hope that his soul has not been damaged so much that he cannot resume his life as James Ford that was interrupted as a small child. Mr. Eko found peace on the island, but James might lack Eko’s courage.

Locke
The old John Locke before the island was no doubt a good man, as honest and selfless as Hurley or Mr. Kwon. Despite being abandoned and unloved, Locke had no difficulty in developing a sense of morality. However, this same innocence carried with it a major problem. As the undercover police officer Eddie once told him, his psychological profile made him susceptible to coercion. This underlying weakness, the desire to be loved by family members, cost Locke his kidney, his spine, his surrogate family, and his chance for happiness with Helen. The most crucial event in John’s life, however, occurred when his father pushed him out of an eighth floor window, leaving him paralyzed.
In the aftermath of his paralysis, John found new meaning to his life that did not require the love of others. He decided that it was his destiny to complete an aboriginal walkabout even without the ability to walk, to become a great man like Norman Croucher. Locke managed to achieve that destiny in a roundabout way, only after his plane crashed on the island and repaired his spine. For a while, Locke continued to pursue his old ways, as he looked for ways to assist Walt, Charlie, Boone, and Claire. After Boone’s death, though, he stopped looking to others and started to fulfill his destiny on the island. As a final gesture of his rebirth on the island, Locke moved beyond good and evil when he conned Sawyer into eliminating Cooper. In his own words, Locke has moved on to his own journey now. This action put the final nail in the coffin for the old Locke, a good man limited by his own insecurities, and the island Locke, a great man of limitless potential.

Jack
Like many of the other father figures, Dr. Christian Shephard represents another great man who could never be called a good man. Christian was never afraid to make the tough choices that might hurt people’s feelings or end people’s lives, as long as he could serve the greater good. He was a sometimes cruel father, but nonetheless raised his son Jack to become a great man as well. Jack managed to surpass his father’s expectations, however, to become a much better man than Christian ever was. Whereas Christian saw a choice to be made between morality and excellence, Jack decided that he could become a great man without sacrificing his soul. In order to follow that path, Jack needed to make a different sacrifice, however, by forgoing all of his relationships (his father, his wife, etc.). Jack is still the most important character on Lost, because he is the only one stubborn enough to continue to pursue greatness without abandoning good and evil. In an almost Kantian sense, he will obey his own moral code even while surrendering his own happiness.
Jack Shephard was once the moral center of the show, but he has since moved to the background of season three. Many viewers have responded angrily against Jack’s latest character developments. Quite frankly, Stranger in a Strange Land flat out sucked, and Juliet seemingly has been keeping Jack’s balls locked up ever since. Stranger in a Strange Land exemplified exactly the type of bad writing that Lost had thus far managed to avoid; the flashbacks simply told us that Jack was “a great leader” who “walks among us but is not one of us”. None of Jack’s behavior in the episode backed up Achara’s bold proclamation. Bad writing merely tells the audience about the characters in words, while good writing shows their audience through actions (For further illustration of this phenomena compare Empire Strikes Back against Attack of the Clones.). However, I still have faith in both the writers’ talent and in Matthew Fox’s acting ability. As recently as Enter 77, people were making similar complaints about Locke’s character, but he has returned better than ever. Quite simply, the show would not dedicate the two-hour season finale to Jack flashbacks unless there was a great tale to be told. Locke foiled Jack’s most recent plan, but I’m sure the good doctor has another one brewing. The show has boasted about Jack’s greatness, but Through the Looking Glass will finally be the time to demonstrate that greatness.

Ben
To borrow J. Wood’s terminology, Benjamin Linus represents a mirror-twin of Hurley. While Hurley has committed himself fully to being a good man, Ben has committed himself fully to being a great man. The name Ben itself (with the connotation of good, like Ben Kenobi) is as painfully ironic as his famous declaration to Michael that, “we’re the good guys”. A long time ago, Ben decided to move beyond good and evil in order to achieve a greater purpose. Lies, deceit, torture, enslavement, and murder are all fair game in his playbook as long as he meets the desired end. Most people are eagerly anticipating The Man behind the Curtain in hopes that it will provide answers to the island’s mysteries. However, I, for one, hope that something different comes from Ben’s flashbacks. Specifically, I want to learn how and why Ben arrived at his current Machiavellian ubermensch state. I can accept Ben as a static character only up to a certain threshold. Like any other of the characters, mentioned here, good men and great men alike are not born, but they must be created through a struggle.

Is it better to be a good man or a great man? Two years from now, the eventual outcome of the will to power conflicts on the island will reveal which side of the question the artists prefer (if any). In the meantime, this spectrum of characters also serves as a scale to judge the audience member. When a fan lists Hurley, Charlie, Jin, and Desmond among their favorite male characters, one can assume that the person values moral goodness most highly. When a viewer lists Locke and Ben among their favorites, we can judge that the person would prefer to be great rather than good. This conflict rests at the very core of human morality, and it represents a decision that every man must make in his life. Neither path is very easy, and neither destination can be assured. Every man’s struggle with this question ultimately defines his own humanity.

May 7, 2007