Dragons in PARALLEL LIVES
Hercules slaying the dragon in the Garden of the Hesperides
By Pedro Pablo Rubens
Dragons! The word immediately captures the imagination and conjures in our mind’s eye powerful, ruthless, fire-breathing, winged mythical beasts likely to leave a broad swath of destruction in their wake. Dragons have recently become quite popular, thanks to Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. Dragons play a role in the novel “Parallel Lives” as well.
In the Prologue of “Parallel Lives,” “Fearless Hercules” is described as a “great hero poised to slay a murderous dragon,” thus establishing the standard for how a hero should deal with a dragon. When Alexander Eastgard first has to confront a dragon, it is only the Coffee Dragon, an unpleasant hospital employee. The Coffee Dragon cannot breathe fire, crush the life from her victims or terrify people around her. Victory for the Coffee Dragon constitutes serving cold coffee, while victory for Alexander consists of forcing her to pour him a cup of hot, fresh coffee. This battle for such low stakes is hardly a heroic endeavour, and a nemesis like the Coffee Dragon is not worthy of a real hero.
The next dragon Alexander encounters is painted on the side of the bus that he and Helen take to New York City. This dragon represents another unworthy opponent. In this scene, however, the real conflict is between Alexander and Helen. Helen has betrayed him, and although Alexander recognises that she is troubled, he does not suspect the cause, and continues in his belief that Helen is his bright angel, beautiful and flawless.
Dragons are next mentioned by Alexander when he arrives home after work and greets Helen: “Fair Guinevere! Your loyal Arthur has returned from his day of battling dragons and vanquishing wrongdoers.” The dragons that he refers to are just theoretical; his battles have been small and mundane. He addresses Helen as Guinevere, a noted adulteress, but the irony of this is completely lost on him, at least for the time being.
The last time Alexander talks about dragons is with Mark, when Mark is a little boy. Alex explains to Mark the sort of person a hero is:
“Let’s say a fire-breathing dragon came to our neighbourhood and started burning down people’s houses. Most people would do the sensible thing: get in their cars and drive away. A hero would go out and fight the dragon and kill it.”
But he advises Mark not to fight the dragon and become a hero because “You’d be a hero, but you’d be a dead hero.” Alexander thus actively makes the choice to avoid being a real hero.
Whenever dragons appear in “Parallel Lives,” they are a reminder that Alexander Eastgard is not fulfilling his heroic potential and is avoiding his true destiny.
