# Unsympathetic Protagonists (open spoilers for various topics) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681 "2011-03-23T02:57:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/1 "2011-03-23T02:57:15Z")
I was flipping channels earlier tonight, and I came upon the tail end of [Into the Wild](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/), and something occurred to me: I have absolutely NO sympathy for Christopher McCandless. Based on the true story of a kid from a well-to-do family who tries to go off the grid, tries to live off the land in Alaska (despite being very underprepared to do so) and ends up starving to death. Had McCandless actually spent time preparing himself for his undertaking, making sure that he had the correct gear (and actually read a map), his fate may very well have been different. He turned down attempts by different people to help equip him for his journey. Someone offered to buy him warmer clothes, and a tent, and various other items. He said no. If he’d have been properly outfitted, and a similar situation happened, I’d say it’s a tragedy. But he has no one to blame but himself for what happened (and, for anyone that cares, it’s possible that he succumbed to “[rabbit starvation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation)).” From his [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_McCandless): > [@](#): > > "The most charitable view among McCandless’s detractors is that his behavior showed a profound lack of common sense. He chose not to bring a compass (which most people in the same situation would have considered essential). McCandless was completely unaware that a hand-operated tram crossed the otherwise impassable river 1/4 mile from where he attempted to cross. Had McCandless known this, he could easily have saved his own life.[2] Additionally, there were cabins stocked with emergency supplies within a few miles of the bus, although they had been vandalized and all the supplies were spoiled. There has been some speculation (particularly in details given in the Lamothe documentary) that the vandalism may have been done by McCandless himself; however, Ken Kehrer, chief ranger for Denali National Park, denied that McCandless was considered a vandalism suspect by the National Park Service.[15] His venture into a wilderness area alone, without adequate planning, experience, preparation, or supplies, without notifying anyone and lacking emergency communication equipment, was contrary to every principle of outdoor survival and, in the eyes of many experienced outdoor enthusiasts, nearly certain to end in an undesirable way. That got me to thinking…there are a couple of other people that I feel the same way about: 1. Timothy Treadwell in [Grizzly Man](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427312/). I know what he was trying to do. I really do. But, still…you try to live among bears, don’t be surprised if you wake up one day as Bear Jerky. 2. In literature, I have _always_ wanted to smack the shit out of Holden Caufield in _Catcher in the Rye_. Maybe I read it too late. I was in my early 30’s when I read it, and Holden was just a spoiled fucking kid that I could cheerfully have strangled before breakfast. Then again, I’ve heard it said that you were SUPPOSED to feel like that about Holden. I’m sure there are others. Who stands out in your mind as the protagonist of a film/book/etc that you just _cannot_ sympathize with? I don’t mean a “hooker with a heart of gold” character. But those people you just can’t find ONE redeeming quality in. People that just do not garner your sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/2 "2011-03-23T04:52:45Z")
**The Player Bob Roberts** The **Flashman** series of books **Citizen Cohn** (and the corresponding **Angels In America** segment about Roy Cohn) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/3 "2011-03-23T04:54:25Z")
Actually, I forget why I’m rooting for Don Draper in **Mad Men** … ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/4 "2011-03-23T04:59:21Z")
Not a novel, but the memoir Lucky by Alice Sebold. (She also wrote the Lovely Bones.) I know a lot of people love it and think she’s a great person (the memoir is about her dealing with getting raped as a college student), but I just found her so hateful and rude and full of herself. I felt bad hating a rape victim but I guess being a victim doesn’t necessarily make one a good or pleasant person. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/5 "2011-03-23T05:48:52Z")
I think Thomas Covenant is pretty high up there for a lot of people. I’ve only ever read the first couple of books in that series, but he gets brought up a LOT when there’s a discussion of an unsympathetic protagonist. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/6 "2011-03-23T06:34:42Z")
[Peep Show](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peep_Show_(TV_series)) is a british show with thoroughly unlikable main characters. Greg House is, of course, a bully, an addict and a whiny jerk. I wouldn’t call him unsympathetic, though. Everybody in Seinfield. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/7 "2011-03-23T09:25:12Z")
Catcher In The Rye was a horribly dull book. We were forced to read that dreck in high school and I couldn’t stand all. the. WHINING! Bob Saget in How I Met Your Mother. The story has gone on WAY too long I don’t care anymore! ---
**Author:** ![wayward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wayward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wayward)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/8 "2011-03-23T10:11:04Z")
I’m currently reading **Between a Rock and a Hard Place** (the book that was filmed recently as **127 Hours** ) and man, Aron Ralston comes across as kind of a dick. The account of his ordeal in the canyon is interspersed with tales of his previous outdoor adventures and it seems like his whole deal is deliberately putting himself in dangerous situations just so he’ll have bad-ass survival stories. Guess it paid off big time in the end. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/9 "2011-03-23T11:45:12Z")
I’m currently watching all of “The Sopranos” I’m up to series 5 and, though I don’t know how it all ends (don’t spoil it for me) I suspect (and hope) it is a bloodbath. No one actually deserves to live. I am really pushed to think of a single likeable character in it. I am enjoying it though. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/10 "2011-03-23T11:50:25Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m up to series 5 and, though I don’t know how it all ends (don’t spoil it for me) I won’t, but I will say that it’s dark. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/11 "2011-03-23T12:17:23Z")
> [@wayward](#): > > I’m currently reading **Between a Rock and a Hard Place** (the book that was filmed recently as **127 Hours** ) and man, Aron Ralston comes across as kind of a dick. The account of his ordeal in the canyon is interspersed with tales of his previous outdoor adventures and it seems like his whole deal is deliberately putting himself in dangerous situations just so he’ll have bad-ass survival stories. Guess it paid off big time in the end. Ugh. Not seems like, that’s what he was doing. A few weeks before the Oscars, Ralston was interviewed by 60 Minutes (I think, it may have been 48 Hours). It was interesting, but he flat out said that he did the shit he did (and he’s still doing it even after cutting off his own arm) so he could say he survived it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/12 "2011-03-23T12:17:56Z")
The entire cast of **Glee**. They were likeable for a few episodes; now they’re all shallow, smug, insufferable gits. Or maybe it’s just the Autotune overdose making me all stabby. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/13 "2011-03-23T12:23:52Z")
Victor Frankenstein, of course ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/14 "2011-03-23T12:44:44Z")
Do games count? Squall Leonhart of Final Fantasy VIII always made me want to slap him. ---
**Author:** ![dawson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@dawson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dawson)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/15 "2011-03-23T13:12:46Z")
Miles in the movie Sideways. The guy steals from his mother. And is so self righteous about “not drinking fucking Merlot” yet his favourite wine, his most prized possesion, a bottle of 1961 Cheval Blanc, is made in large part with merlot. So even his pretention is incorrect! Just nothing redeeming about this character. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/16 "2011-03-23T13:56:23Z")
I pretty much hated every character in the cast of **Lost** , to the point where I wasn’t motivated to continue watching shortly after the second season started. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/17 "2011-03-23T14:05:07Z")
My first thought was Bigger Thomas from Native Son. Richard Wright gets so wrapped up in the racism motif that he forgets the guy is a rapist and double killer. And I despise Rhett Butler. Scarlett don’t love you, stop wasting your time. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/18 "2011-03-23T14:09:47Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > The entire cast of **Glee**. They were likeable for a few episodes; now they’re all shallow, smug, insufferable gits. Yes, thank you. I can honestly say that I do not like any of the characters in that show. > [@](#): > > Or maybe it’s just the Autotune overdose making me all stabby. That’s just icing on the cake for me. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/19 "2011-03-23T14:12:40Z")
Alden Dennis Weer from _Peace_ (by Gene Wolfe) is a pretty unpleasant character. But then, he’s supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681/20 "2011-03-23T14:13:48Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Victor Frankenstein, of course That’s FRONK-en-shteen. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsympathetic-protagonists-open-spoilers-for-various-topics/575681.md?page=2)