A Seeming Contradiction

I think that the author behind The Family of Max Desir is much more heroic than the characters in the novel. In my previous post I discussed how the characters of Max and Mark are lackluster heroes and take away from the story. How then, can I say that Ferro is heroic when this is an autobiographical piece? In real life, Ferro exhibits much more courage than his characters ever did. In the past, I’ve talked a lot about writers emphasizing the strong woman, or the dual-female protagonist, and how crazy that was. Well women have had rights for a long time. Gays are still fighting for theirs, so this issue is that much more sensitive right now. Ferro decided to jump right in and right about the most nontraditional subject matter of all time, and that requires a lot of courage. As a member of The Violet Quill, Ferro did have a small support group in his efforts. He didn’t undertake this homosexual discovery all by himself. But he didn't keep his work within this small, gay community. He knew his writing had to reach a larger audience. "Had it not been made clear that [he] must leave, [he] might have stayed with them" (201). Much more so than Henry James or Maxine Hong Kingston, Ferro focused on a hero (whose heroic qualities are debatable) that society is not ready to attach to. Some of the population will certain relate to Ferro’s protagonists, but it is not the kind of hero we are used to. Ferro, of course, would have known this. I can only imagine how many publishing houses turned him down because of the nature of his material. Publishers, record labels, and other vendors will put their name on something that will sell. Who looks at Max Desir and thinks that this young, gay individual will soon take over the world like Harry Potter did? But regardless, Ferro took the chance. He stepped out of the isolation he later wrote about, and began work on his own leadership vision in effort to make a change. "Max said he didn't think harmony was possible" (126). But maybe Ferro did.