Construction of the Hero in a Piece of Writing The construction of the “Hero” is something every writer should consider. The hero or protagonist is designed to keep the narrative moving and whose actions create progress in the plot (Morrow et al, 1997). Pearson (2001, p. 101) defines heroes as “fearless protagonists who realize their special power and take great personal risks to change their reality. In everyday life, these powerful archetypes provide a structure that can unleash the ability of ordinary people to face challenges, take risks, break rules and transform their lives.” There are many ways to define what a hero is and what a protagonist is. Usually the protagonist is a hero but this is not always the case and vice versa. For clarification purposes within this analysis, a protagonist or hero is a character who drives the narrative and plot and who goes on a learning journey that changes them. A writer's construction of the hero will be analyzed using examples from Kate Grenville's Lilian's Story, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Stephen King's Carrie compared to Joseph Campbell's “every man's destiny” (1949, p. 36), illuminating first of all who the hero is. and the protagonist, how the hero character was portrayed and how their journey compares. The construction of the hero in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is nowhere near as clear as Lilian's Story. There are three main characters, Jacques Saunière, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu. Jacques is a protagonist, despite being dead for most of the novel, his puzzles and codes left to his granddaughter drive the narrative. However, Robert and Sophia's actions on these also drive the narrative. Jacques could be seen as an earlier hero, as he indeed faces self-sacrifice on his journey, but the narrative focuses on Robert as the hero as he is ultimately the one who experiences the journey of learning and is transformed. Sophie also goes on this journey, but her journey of self-discovery goes unnoticed as well as Langdon's journey for truth and personal development. Langdon's hero's journey, compared to Campbell's "Everyman's destiny", begins with his "call to adventure" in the form of searching for the Holy Grail, at first wanting nothing to do with this upheaval of his life "rejecting the call", until he "meets" Jacques who comes to his aid with clues.