A hero is someone who gives of himself, often putting his own life at great risk, for the greater good of others. Similarly, the 13-year-old protagonist, Crispin, in Avi’s novel Crispin: The Cross of Lead, is indeed heroic. Crispin decided to take multiple risks, that could’ve cost him his life, because of his care for others. According to How to Read Literature Like a Professor, a quest consists of 5 key things: a quester, a place, a reason, a challenge, and a real reason. Furthermore, Crispin’s quest truly matches up to these 5 points. The quester is a young boy, who just lost his mother, and is being forced out of his village. His journey starts in the village of Stamford, where Crispin has lived, and then follows him as he escapes across the countryside on foot. Crispin is enforced to leave his town after John Aycliffe, falsely, accuses him of stealing, and has ordered him to be killed.
A challenge that Crispin had to face on his quest was to find Bear, but not get caught at the same time. “Bear put a hand on my shoulder. ‘Crispin,’ he said softly, ‘try to show less worry. The worst disguise is fear.’”. Consequently, Crispin’s journey juxtaposes to the 5 key points in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Crispin truly portrayes a hero because even when times are difficult, he still manages to find God’s path for himself. The author, Avi, organizes religious imagery throughout his book that connects to Crispin or the other characters. For instance, Bear states in Chapter 24, “Crispin, as Jesus is my witness, churches, priests—they’re all unneeded. The only cross you need is the one in your heart.”. This quote that Bear states, connects to both religion and the book. In religion, the cross stands at a crossroad in between the dominant religious practices and resistance to the church’s priority. However, in the book, Crispin stands in between his own crossroad, struggling to make peace of his past to go forward.
Chapter 10, in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, follows the concept that of every main character needs a secondary character, to assist in improving the plot and protagonist. Thomas C. Foster explains that “characters [except the hero] are not people”, hence secondary characters only exist to develop the hero’s plot. Correlating to The Cross of Lead, the protagonist is clearly Crispin, and his sidekick is Bear, who becomes a father figure to Crispin. Bear truly developed Crispin as a character and made him have a new awareness as a bright person with a future. Moreover, this made Crispin braver to become a hero, and find Bear. Therefore, in every book, there is always a protagonist and an accompaniment that supports and helps the storyline. In final analysis, Crispin, from The Cross of Lead, develops from a property – stricken little boy to a knowledgeable hero. His journey truly is one that has many aspects that weren’t always the greatest. However, he did have a buddy that helped him throughout his quest and many obstacles.
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