Heroes

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2024

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2, Chapters 7-21

Part 2, Chapters 22-39

Part 3

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Meaning of Heroism

The title Heroes illustrates the importance of heroism in the novel. From the first page to the last, Frank and Stanley discuss what heroism means and what makes a person a hero. The idea of heroism evolves through the comic book references the boys share, the creation of their superhero Arsenal, and Frank’s character development.

The examination of heroism begins in the first chapter when the boys compare Superman and Captain America. Superman is thought to be too powerful, and therefore has an unfair advantage, while Captain America, with his singular ability, is more appealing and braver. Stanley prefers Captain America; this shows how he has more empathy for underdogs and those who are vulnerable. The novel implies that Captain America is braver because he did not know what effect the super serum would have on him when he took it, and because his singular ability puts him at more risk of injury and death than Superman. Because Superman has so many abilities as to be nearly invincible, he has less need of bravery and is therefore less heroic.

For Stanley, heroism is all about helping people. He argues that a “real hero steps in when they see people getting hurt, no matter what” (33). Frank emphasizes the nature of a hero’s sacrifice: A true hero helps and protects others even at the risk of personal injury and death, merely because it is the right thing to do. Neither boy argues that a hero is completely fearless. Rather, a hero faces their fears and fights past them when others need help. This is apparent in their own superhero character, Arsenal, who embodies this ideal. Frank also comes to embody heroic traits, when, over the course of the novel, he learns to push through his numerous fears to do the right thing and help those in need, particularly Joseph and Patrick.

In contrast to previous comic book superheroes, the boys’ idealized image is one of American diversity. Historically, comic book heroes were white and the villains they fought were often cartoonish and racist caricatures. While Frank and Stanley still envision a “true hero” as an American, they expand the image of what an American looks like with the Arsenal of Democracy, who is explicitly Japanese American.

Racism and American Identity

The novel explores the ways racism limits who counts as a “real” American, and the need to combat this formulation in favor of diversity. The realities of anti-Asian racism, particularly after the Pearl Harbor attack, are depicted through Mrs. Summers’s fears, confrontations with racists, and the policies established following the attack. In Part 2, the boys witness Mrs. Summers’s emotional tumult firsthand. Her fear of retaliation forces the boys to acknowledge the existence of racism for the first time, thrusting them out of the safety net of childhood. Frank is forced to face his own unconscious racism. Since Frank is a good character, his bias gestures toward the prevalence of unconscious racism in society. The boys must confront explicit and violent racism in the form of Arthur and Johnny, who use racial slurs, denying Stanley and his mother their identities as Americans.

This is a pivotal moment for both boys. They must consider for the first time how society decides who is American and who is not. Before this moment, they both believed that being born in America was the only requirement for being an American. Now, they understand that for many people, particularly white Americans, visual markers of whiteness are also required. This is made more apparent in Part 3 when they witness the unjust government policies that emerge after the Pearl Harbor attack. Fueled by racist paranoia, the American government arrests and detains Japanese American citizens and immigrants. Though Frank cannot imagine how much worse it will get, within months of the attack, Japanese Americans all along the West Coast are rounded up and placed in concentration camps under deplorable conditions, stripping them of their rights, identities, and freedom. Crucially, this is not merely a consequence of being at war with Japan. It is a result of racism that existed prior to Pearl Harbor. As Stanley remarks, German and Italian Americans did not face similar treatment, legally or socially, because they still looked white.

Heroes offers an alternate idea to anti-Asian racism and what American identity means. The novel’s moral core urges Frank and readers to confront their own unconscious biases and racist tendencies, and to speak out against the racism they witness in their lives. According to Frank, Stanley, and the novel, the real (and heroic) image of America is not white and racist; it’s diverse. Frank makes this clear when he defends his choice to keep the Arsenal’s Japanese American origins intact, stating that Arsenal looks like Stanley, who is American.

The bonus comic reinforces this message. It highlights a character who is visually and explicitly Asian. It declares: This is what a hero looks like; this is what an American looks like.

Loss of Innocence in War

The novel highlights the consequences and trauma that war inflicts on children. It suggests that though all people suffer during times of war, children often suffer in less visible, but just as profound ways. Frank and Stanley demonstrate this through their experiences over the course of the Pearl Harbor attack, culminating in a catalog of losses.

The boys witness death for the first time. They experience both the death of Brooks, whom they know, as well as many other sailors who are no less important for being nameless and faceless in the water. This is the earliest and most obvious blow to their childhood innocence in the novel. However, in some ways, it is the least personal and long-lasting. Loss becomes more personal in Chapter 22. Frank’s home is crushed, destroying his family’s belongings and writings. This is the moment the war arrives at his doorstep and demolishes his sense of safety and joy. Shortly after, the war also crushes Stanley’s sense of safety. It doesn’t stick to the boundaries of a physical abode. No matter where Stanley and his mother go, they are not safe from racist violence.

Though Frank and Stanley have survived the Pearl Harbor attack unharmed and have even been labeled heroes, Frank feels that their losses far outweigh their gains. He voices this feeling when stating that Stanley has lost his sense of hope, optimism, and identity: “Stanley [has] lost the belief that [is] just like everybody else” (209), and that he can do or become anything he wants to be, just like any other American. Meanwhile, Frank has lost his “giddy, joyful feeling of creating” (209). They also lose each other, forced apart by the consequences of the war.

The novel does not shy away from tragedy but ends on hope. In the final lines of Chapter 44, Frank retains hope for the future and the belief that the Arsenal of Democracy can save his and Stanley’s friendship and the “creative world” they built together. Specifically, he argues that creativity is a “kind of hero” (217), one that gives people hope and bridges the divides between them. The bonus comic functions to prove that Frank’s hope comes true. Though the reader is not privy to the details, the comic demonstrates that Frank and Stanley are able to heal from the trauma and loss of the war and rebuild their friendship and joy. Though they cannot literally return to childhood innocence, they regain some elements of that time.