Failed Heroes

Recently, I got into some trouble because I made the almost sacrilegious observation that Terry Fox's iconic status in Canada could be attributed to to the fact that he, tragically, never finished his Marathon of Hope. I argued that because he was unable to complete his mission, his place within the pantheon of Canadian idols had been assured. In this sense, he very much fit into a quintessentially Canadian archetype: that of the 'failed hero.'

The failed hero is a time-honoured tradition in Canada; I suppose it began with the Jesuit martyrs (who strove to convert les sauvages and died trying), but it includes the Franklin Expedition (who strove to find the Northwest Passage and died trying), Laura Secord (who strove, in vain, to alert the British of an impending American attack that they already knew about), the Avro Arrow (which was poised to be the apex of aerospace achievement before being scrapped under pressure of American influence), and, of course, Terry Fox, who strove to run across the country and raise money for cancer research, only to die trying.

The acclaimed nationalist intellectual John Ralston Saul has suggested that Canadians shy away from celebrating the hero because we are, fundamentally, a collectivist society that values team-work and cooperation over individual accomplishment. Perhaps this is true; but many Canadians nonetheless celebrate heroes especially failed heroes. Perhaps Canadians take comfort in our failed heroes because they reflect, in an uncannily familiar way, our failed nation-state...a state that has striven (unsuccessfully) to be autonomous from imperial (British and US) influence, to be (unsuccessfully) internally unified and to be (unsuccessfully) respected and acknowledged on the world stage. Like the Franklin Expedition or Fox's Marathon of Hope, this failed nation-state will never reach its desired destination.

Who knows? Maybe the archetype was cast by the Jesuit martyrs whose heroic status was conferred through their trying and dying, not in the achievement of their goals...unless the goal itself was trying and dying.

Recently, I conducted a straw poll in my class. I asked how many of my students knew who Terry Fox was - everyone knew, of course. I then asked how many students had heard of Rick Hansen - two students of 16 raised their hands. Rick Hansen, a paraplegic, made his goal the circumnavigation of the globe in his wheelchair. He did so, and raised tens of millions of dollars for spinal cord research in the process. Would more of my students have recognized his name if he had died in the process?

My point is not to diminish the legacy of Terry Fox. His efforts were, indeed, heroic. I can't say the same for the Franklin Expedition or, as our colonial history demonstrates, the Jesuit missionaries. Their efforts were, to say the least troubling, or woefully misguided. That being said, I believe that they laid the foundations for a failed hero myth that continues to be perpetuated into the present day; failed heroes for a failed nation...Canadians: I await your vociferous posts...