honor

Honor

We generally accept honor as a positive trait. Honorable people put others before themselves and seek the greater good for its own sake, generally.

First of all, I should recognize that honor is not inherently an emotion, so therefore it shouldn’t fit into this analysis exercise. However, the more I brainstormed, the more I wanted to explore what this trait means.

Honor often appears in literature, movies and other genres of entertainment. It’s almost too easy to include because it’s such a conflicting trait, usually beginning positive but backfiring somehow.

Some cultures teach their youth to value honor above all else, but what happens when their honor requires them to enact vengeance upon the innocent? Some countries label their finest soldiers honorable but only in direct relation to the ruthlessness of their fighting. Meanwhile, those who refuse to fight are called cowards or traitors. As an even juicier plot line, those who have lost honor may go to unspeakable, deplorable lengths to regain it. It’s the perfect paradox.

Clearly, honor is a two-sided coin. One side shiny, pristine and the other mucked, usually with blood. This could be what makes honor such a desirable character trait for fiction, because the same admirable trait can quickly and easily become a deadly flaw.