Heroes

Stanley Summers is Frank’s best friend and lives on Ford Island next door to Frank. Like Frank, Stanley’s father is a Navy officer, specifically an airfield crew chief. However, unlike Frank, Stanley has always lived in Hawaii. He is Japanese American: Though his father is white, his mother is Japanese and proudly displays many items of their Japanese heritage in their home. This becomes important during and after the Pearl Harbor bombing, as white Americans view Japanese Americans on the island as suspicious. Stanley’s experiences with racism prove eye-opening for Frank. They illustrate the toxic impact of othering and discrimination.

Stanley is a foil to Frank in other ways than race. Where Frank is afraid of everything, Stanley appears to be fearless and comfortable in his own skin in ways that Frank occasionally envies. Stanley leaps into action at the first signs of danger and often goes out of his way to help those around him, even at the risk of injury and death. His pronouncements about what a hero does inspire Frank to push past his fears.

During the course of the novel, the boys appear to trade places. Frank grows into his bravery while Stanley, in being detained and othered as a Japanese American, loses his spark. This again shows the impact of racism. In the end, it is Frank who is giving a pep talk to Stanley about retaining hope in the face of destruction.

The novel emphasizes that Stanley is American, despite what people at the time think.

Brooks Leonard is a seaman, second class on the USS Utah, stationed at Pearl Harbor. He is also Ginny’s boyfriend. He plays baseball for the Utah, in the base league, and has plans to play baseball (perhaps professionally) after his tour of duty is complete. Frank hopes that Brooks will marry his sister eventually. However, Brooks is killed during the attack. Frank believes he is to blame for Brooks’s death because he froze, forcing Brooks to return to save him.

Brooks’s death becomes a major turning point for Frank. Initially, Frank is filled with shame. However, he uses his guilt to spur him into action and to break out of fear and passivity. Both Frank and Ginny are fueled by Brooks’s loss to save other sailors. This leads the boys to save Joseph and Patrick. In this way, the novel shows how tragedy can lead to redemptive outcomes.

Ginny is Frank’s older sister. She has recently graduated from high school and works in the secretarial pool at the Dole Pineapple headquarters in Honolulu. She plans to marry Brooks one day. Ginny is a moral center in the novel and conveys its key messages, such as the importance of friendship. She urges Frank to fix whatever tension lies between him and Stanley, reminding him that as military kids they often have difficulty making and keeping friends, and that he should be thankful to have such a good friend living right next door.

She also conveys the importance of helping others. During the Pearl Harbor attack, when she learns that Brooks has been killed, Ginny becomes convinced that they must help other sailors in his stead. She urges Frank to take Joseph to the mainland hospital—this helps not just Joseph but Frank. In helping Joseph, he pushes past his fears and does the right thing. In this way, Ginny reminds Frank that it is important to do the right thing, even in the face of fear and danger.

Mr. and Mrs. McCoy are Frank and Ginny’s parents. Frank’s father is a white man and a Navy pilot, formerly stationed in Florida and now stationed at the Pearl Harbor Navy base in Hawaii. He works with Stanley’s father and is also friendly with Ginny’s boyfriend, Brooks. Frank lives in fear of disappointing his father, who reacts with frustration and annoyance to Frank’s anxieties. In this way, Frank’s father is a foil to Frank. His frustration may also exacerbate his son’s fears.

Mrs. McCoy, Frank’s mother, is a white woman who is known for taking charge in difficult situations, leading the other Navy families to call her “Commodore.” She takes charge when Stanley returns home with bruises and injuries after his fight with the school bullies. She also helps take charge during the bombing, when the civilians take cover in the WWI shelter known as the Dungeon. While some of the other white families immediately act racist and suspect Mrs. Summers and Stanley, Mrs. McCoy proves to be level-headed and fair-minded. Like her children, she has a good nature.