The Red Badge of Courage and A Farewell to Arms: The Main Characters Many great literary novels have the protagonist, the main character of the novel, being portrayed as the "hero". There are many different deeds and actions that can characterize a person as a hero such as saving someone from a burning house at the risk of one's own life. The main distinguishing characteristic of a true hero is self-sacrifice, whether it be scarifice of your own personal desires or ideals or sacrifice of physical well being to help others. There are a few novels in which the main character