One For No Face
I’ll be honest: I was introduced to Junot Diaz because I was assigned to read his short story collection Drown for a class. I had heard of Diaz before that a bit, but not much. Mostly, I had heard about what he’s most famous for: his Pulitzer Prize winning book: The Brief And Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao.
I think like everyone who reads Junot Diaz, I liked his stuff basically right away. Which is great because as I’m sure yo you know, the stereotype with assigned readings is that they usually suck.
There’s a charisma and a sense of “realness” to Diaz’s writing that makes it acsessable and also profound. But, this post’s purpose isn’t just to talk up Junot Diaz. This is World Heroes, damn it! We talk about…well heroes. And in Drown, there is a real hero I want to talk about. And I mean he’s a real superhero type hero: No Face.
Before I started reading Drown I was talking with my friend Rex about it, and he told me something like: “Yeah, I think you’ll really like the No Face part. He’s a super hero”. And, Rex was right of course. Super Heroes are something I’ve always loved (and, if you’ve been reading my blog here, then you know that maybe too well). I think No Face’s story in Drown is both an awesome super hero story, and a successful examination of what a super hero, or any hero is.
No Face’s story begins in Drown‘s first short “Ysrael” where we hear his origin story. In “Ysrael”, No Face (Ysrael is his real name) is beat up by Junior, the story’s narrator, and Junior’s friend Rafa. No Face is beat up because of how he looks. Which is also where the name “No Face” comes from.
At a young age, Ysrael was mauled by a wild pig. It ate his face. So now, Ysreal is quite : “His left ear was a nub and you could see the thick veined slab of his tongue through a hole in his cheek. He had no lips”. He’s gross. And, that’s why he wears a mask. And a mask is really the first step to being a superhero isn’t it? They all basically wear masks (some of which are very flimsy-looking masks that somehow manage to stay on a superhero’s face no matter what happens). No Face has the “masked” part of superheroism already covered. The other major part of superheroism No Face gets down is his identity.
After he’s beat up and unmasked by Junior and Rafa, we don’t see Ysrael again until the book’s 2nd to last story “No Face”. Like most superheroes, Ysreal reinvents himself by taking on the name No Face. Like how Bruce Wayne becomes “Batman” or how Matt Murdoc becomes “Daredevil“. And, like superheroes (and this has been explored much more in the superhero movies than in the comics, actually) the name “No Face” isn’t created by Ysrael himself. It’s what other people call him to make fun of him. But, Like Iron Man in the end of the film that came out last summer (with the “I am Iron Man” line) Ysrael embraces a new identity. And, Ysareal embracing his identity as the superpowerful No Face is crucial to his heroism.
Unlike Iron Man, No Face really isn’t seen as a hero. He’s more like Spider-Man this way. Both No Face and Spider-man aren’t very popular. Actually, No Face probably the lest popular super hero of all time. Both for his hideousness and since he doesn’t save many people. But, No Face does save himself. And that’s important. In fact, that might be the whole point of this post. Beyond just the cosmetic ways he’s a superhero (mask and cool name/identity) No Face is a superhero because of how he triumphs in the face of all the adversity he faces. After all, (and this is about to be the corniest of corny) it’s what’s inside that counts. Right? I mean, plenty of villains have those “cosmetic” things I mentioned. Spider-Man’s nemesis The Green Goblin both has a name for himself and an identity, and a mask. But, he’s certainly not a hero. The Green Goblin is an insane, sadistic, murderer.
Junior and Rafa were probably not the first people to pick on Ysrael, and they definitely weren’t the last guys to. In No Face’s story in Drown, we see him being attacked again. Being bullied and attacked for his appearance is basically the norm for Ysrael. But, there is a huge difference between the bullying in the “Ysrael” story and the “No Face” story. In “No Face”, he fights back. By “No Face”, Ysrael is now a superhero. By embracing the identity of No Face, and becoming a hero, he can fight against his oppressors. Ysreal actually gains superpowers from this. No Face is incredibly strong and is able to toss attackers right off him. He’s very fast and can flee them when he has to. He can even “turn invisible”. Of course, this isn’t science fiction. None of No Face’s powers are actually superhuman. But, No Face is physically stronger, faster and smarter than the guys who try to beat him up.
Diaz’s narration for “No Face” story tells us about No Face’s powers in a very comic booky way: “He has the POWER OF STRENGTH”. And a way that suggests No Face actually does have superhuman abilities. The reason I think this is only a storytelling technique and not true superpowers is (well besides the fact that there are no other sci fi elements in Drown) that I think all that “POWER OF SPEED!” stuff is inside No Face’s head. Possibly, that stuff is showing us readers how much he believes in himself. No Face is a hero because he isn’t a victim. And, he easily could be one.
He is picked on by so many people, and he is so ugly, it would be easy for No Face to feel sorry for himself. Feeling like a victim is really a natural human reaction to being in a situation like No Face’s. I think I would feel that way. But, maybe No Face’s true superhuman power is being able to move above that. Instead of being passive and feeling like a victim, No Face takes action and fights the guys who beat him up. And, he (to use this phrase I don’t like so much once more) believes in himself. He doesn’t give up hope.
I think every hero who exists is just like No Face in that way. When they could be a victim, they chose to actively rise up above that.
Bruce Wayne’s parents were killed right in front of him when he was a child. Like the pig eating Ysrael’s face, Bruce Wayne could’ve let that break him for the rest of his life. But instead, he becomes Batman and resolves to fight the criminals like the one who killed his parents. Daredevil was blinded by chemicals flying into his eyes at a young age. That gives him super senses besides sight. But still, young Matt Murdoc doesn’t let his blinding defeat him. He learns martial arts and puts his new supersenses to work as a hero defending Hell’s Kitchen. Maybe The Fantastic Four are the only heroes who aren’t like this. I mean, they have a pretty good deal being loved and rich and then getting powers. But actually even Ben Grim, The Thing of The Fantastic Four could have succumbed to victimization. He was turned into a hideous rock-monster and I think Ben is always trying to cope with how people view him and judge him. Which really isn’t all that different from No Face.
I think the superhero (who may not be a superhero at all. He’s not a traditional one by any means) is the DC Comics character Swamp Thing. Like No Face, Swamp Thing is ugly. And he’s a monster by no fault of his own. Swamp Thing’s a murdered scientist who is resurrected in a swamp as a gigantic moss man-monster. Also like No Face, Swamp Thing isn’t liked be many people. Just about everyone attempts to kill him because he looks so scary. But, in reality, Swamp Thing is a good guy. He is constantly protecting the innocent and using his monster strength for good. But, even after witnessing him do a heroic act, people still can’t get past his appearance. Swamp Thing could easily be victimized and defeated by how misunderstood he is, but he isn’t. He just keeps on fighting the good fight. Swamp Thing’s only real friend is probably his girlfriend (who he has sex by kind of feeding her shrooms that grow on him and making her trip out). And actually, that is a difference between them. No Face doesn’t have that sort of “special friend” in his story.
Another thing to consider is that someone attempting to overcome being a victim could easily turn into a villain. Or at least not be as heroic as all the heroes I’ve mentioned. The Marvel Comics character Deadpool is similar to No Face, too. Deadpool is disfigured because of some form of terribly nasty cancer. He survived it by manifesting mutant powers of regeneration (and the assistance of the government expirimenting on him), but he is still quite ugly. Unlike Swamp Thing, but like No Face, Deadpool wears a mask to cover his deformities. In fact, Deadpool is ugly all over and has to wear a full body suit to conceeal that. But, Deadpool is not a hero. He can do heroic things, but he’s totally self-serving. And, Deadpool is completely insane. I think he has coped with his ugliness and his position in the world by essentially losing his mind. He’s very funny and always makes wisecracks. But Deadpool is not a good person. He is a sadist and really has no conscience to speak of.
This is similar to Faith from Buffy, who is similarly self-serving and cruel although not insane like Deadpool. But again, Faith and Deadpool aren’t straight-up villains. And Faith is definelty the way she is because its her method of rising up against her horrible childhood. I blogged about Faith in this earlier post, if you want to check that out. But, both Faith and Deadpool are both sort of in a gray area. They aren’t straight-up villains. But, plenty of actual villains are villains becuase they’re rising up against a sense of being victims. There are tons of examples of this, but Magento from X-Men is a really nice one. Magneto survived the holocaust when he was a child, and is very much reminded of the Nazi persecution of jews by the hatred people feel toward mutants. Unlike his friend Professor X, Magneto resorts to almost terrorist methods to stop anti-mutant acts. He even has a warped view of the world where he thinks mutants should be in control. This is opposed to Professor X who wants equality for mutants and normal humans. There’s no doubt that Magneto is a villain. But, his reasons for villainy are because he’s rising up. He easily could have been defeated by everything he’s been through, but instead, Magneto decides to take action. Albeit badguy action.
So, what makes a hero and what makes a villain if both take action instead of being victims? I’d argue its compassion. Back to Faith (and a point I was trying to make in my “Family Business” post) she doesn’t really have a family unit, and hasn’t really learned compassion for others. This is the same with Magneto. Or Deadpool even. But, Swamp Thing feels so much compassion for other humans that he might rival the Dalai Lama. Compassion for others might be the one thing that sepparates heroes from villains. Superman is similar to Swamp Thing on this front. Superman loves planet earth. He’s so powerful that he could probably rule it (like he does in Red Son), but Superman stories constantly make the point that his compassion for us mortals is what keeps him our defender and not our conqueror.
Speaking of conquerors, (and going back to points from my “Villains” post) I think the conquistadors like Magellan chose to take over/convert the Philippines and further imperialism was his lack of compassion for non-Christians. Magellan was indoctrinated into hardcore Christianity, hardcore imperialism, and hardcore militarism. All these things made him not really give a shit about who he killed if he didn’t like them. And it is important to note that most Europeans at the time had the same values. But, is this an excuse? Since, isn’t it up to all of us to fight that kind of ignorance no matter what time we live in? I mean, if we don’t, how will we ever move forward with anything? All the other conquistadors had the same lack of compassion but they were all so damn motivated. If they had wanted to help people instead of conquer them (like truly help them, not do what they thought was helping them) those guys would have been capable of being real heroes.
I think No Face has that kind of compassion for humanity. There is a gentleness about him. And, I think the compassion he shows for himself is important. Sure No Face beats people who try to beat him up. But, for No Face especially, the bullies and the assholes he beats up with his POWER OF STRENGTH represent him overcoming victimization. No Face isn’t defeated by everyone who hates him. He rises above it.
But, I think more so than the physical beat down he lays on bad guys, is how No Face shrugs off all the hate mentally (or maybe “spirtually”?). In an earlier story in Drown, Junior talks about how bad he feels about what he and Rafa did to Ysrael. But, in the “No Face” story, we learn that hasn’t traumatized Ysrael at all. No Face has risen above it along with all the other hate he faces. To me, the most important point of the “No Face” story is that Junior is more traumatized about what he did to No Face than No Face is.
The victim has risen above his victimization while the man who hurt him can’t. I think that’s the way it should be.
