Antagonists

In Fiction

In fiction, an antagonist is usually a character that puts obstacles in the way of the main character’s goals.

One example of an antagonist is the nosy neighbor who tries to matchmake when the main character wants to focus on their career and not get married. The nosy neighbor is a widow who had a 56-year happy marriage, and wants her single neighbor to have the same joy in life.

Or the antagonist co-worker who undermines the main character because they are competing for the same job. The co-worker is more experienced, and is driven because he is still paying off student loans, has a pregnant wife, and needs to money to even cover bills.

The point is, the antagonist has reasons for acting as they do. And in the antagonist’s mind, their reasons are valid and logical.

NOTE: I won’t go into detail here, but setting can also be an antagonist (think of a plane crash in the mountains and the weather is what the character has to battle to survive). Also, an antagonist is usually considered to be different from a villain, who is almost always malevolent and intends harm. But in their twisted mind, the villain still feels they have good reasons for what they are doing.

In compelling, well-crafted fiction, the author creates antagonists and villains with logical, human-relatable reasons for their actions. (Even though not every human would act like they do.) The author then needs to convey the reasoning to their readers so the story makes sense.

In Life: My Antagonists

There are people in my life I consider to be antagonists. People who have put up roadblocks when I tried to accomplish my goals.

Sometimes, I’ve been able to figure out why the person is speaking or acting as they are. They might:

— Be thinking they know what is best for me, and are trying to help.

— Have goals of their own, and don’t want my goals to interfere with their efforts to get what they want. They may or may not really want to harm me, but their goal is their priority regardless of their impact on me.

— Want to teach me some kind of lesson because they feel I’ve wronged them or they just think I need to be taken down a peg or two.

— Truly be concerned, and try to block my efforts because they think it will lead to trouble for me.

Whatever their reasons, I need to determine how I want to handle the situations my antagonists present.

Most of the time, I work really hard to understand their reasons and find a way to let go of the pain they have caused.

And of course, that means I seek and ask for God’s help to act as He wants me to act, and to change me when I don’t handle it well.

In Life: When I’m the Antagonist

As I wrote this blog, I realized that I’m considered an antagonist in at least a few people’s lives. There have been instances that I:

— Think I know what is best for someone, and try to help them. Whether they ask for help, or even need it.

— Have my own goals, and don’t want their goals to interfere with my efforts to get what I want. I would like to claim that I never meant to harm others. But I know (especially when I was younger), there were times when my goal was more important than how the other person was impacted.

— Want to teach someone a lesson, so I rationalize they deserve it because of their behavior, or because I think they have wronged me. I believe most of the times I harmed someone in this way, it was subconscious on my part. But that doesn’t diminish the harm I caused, or my culpability.

— Am truly concerned for their welfare, and try to block their efforts because I have seen people get themselves into trouble in similar circumstances.

Whatever MY reasons, I need to determine how I want to handle situations when I act as the antagonist.

Most of the time, I work really hard to understand my reasons, apologize and try to make it up to the person I’ve harmed, and pray they find a way to let go of the pain I have caused.

And of course, that means I seek and ask for God’s help to act as He wants me to act, and to change me when I don’t handle it well.

What helps you gently deal with antagonists, or keeps you from being one?

Antagonists – What helps you gently deal with them, and keep from being one? Share on X

Joni Vance is an award-winning author of fiction, essay, and poetry. She loves mystery, history, and how God reveals Himself every day.

May God reveal the mystery of His love in your life story.