We’ve begun a discussion on Villains, dear readers, so it only stands to reason that we pay a little attention to the heroes, as well.  Today, I wanted to share a few thoughts with you on a very particular kind of hero–one who shows up most often in romance novels and about whom I (and, I suspect, many of you) have many, many thoughts: The Alpha Male.

First of all–what is an Alpha Male?

Very basically speaking, an alpha male is the top-ranking male in a mammalian social group.   Some animals, like dogs, monkeys, horses, and lions, live in a social structure in the wild where survival isn’t guaranteed.  Thus, in order for their group to survive, they have to identify the strongest, the fiercest, and the smartest within their group–those animals get the best food and breeding rights, in order to ensure the survival of the group as a whole.  It is important to note that there are Alpha Females, and, in species that mate for life, Alpha Pairs.  There is no hard-and-fast rule that says that all Alphas must be male, or that all males are alphas (if they were, no group would survive long, because they’d all be fighting all the time).  Whether the Alpha is male or female, they are responsible for, and representative of the group as a whole.

Because we’re humans, this concept, like so many others, get super-complicated.  We’re not pack animals in the same way that lions or wolves are, and our methods of communication, courtship, and interactions are specific to our human species, so this concept is a bit different for us, both in life, and in the stories we tell about that life.  One of the specifics of our society is that we live in a patriarchy (defined as a system of society in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line).  Therefore, when we talk about heroes, we are not just talking about an individual person (even if we are, and even if that person is physical).  We are talking about our society as a whole.  Our heroes are representatives of our society–as it is, as it might be, as we want it to be.*

So what?  You might be heard to ask.

So…

Romance novels, as we’ve said plenty of times before, are a place where we can talk about people finding their place–in their own lives, with others, and in their world, and they do that through their relationship with another person.  In traditional romances, it is a woman finding her place with a man.  The reason that romance novels so often center around an Alpha Male is because he is supposed to represent what a society values most (which is why we don’t have Alpha Heroines), in the same way, say, an alpha lion, has all the biological qualities that its pride values.

Romance novel heroes don’t have majestic manes (usually…unless they are, like, shape-shifters, or something…not that there’s anything wrong with that….).  So we need to look a little closer at what qualities our heroes do have, and what that means.  And we also have the right, as readers, to decide if we are willing to accept those qualities.  It’s as radical a social statement as any I can imagine!

American romance novels, specifically, are filled with self-made men, who are all incongruously good-looking, absurdly young, and insanely, illogically wealthy.  In fact, I find it really interesting to see how the genre has gone from making “The Millionaire” into “The Billionaire” as capitalism continues to raise the stakes.  What is important here (for me, at least) is which is more important–the hero’s work ethic, or his money?  If it’s the first, then I am definitely on this hero’s team.  Even if times are hard–if his obscure real estate/investment/architecture/tech firm goes into the red, he has the fortitude to survive, and to try again.  Captain Wentworth, from Jane Austen’s Persuasion is just such a man, who isn’t afraid of a lifetime of “honourable toil and just rewards”.  If it’s all about the money, then we have problems.  Because now we are glorifying privilege and not the person, and inherently not considering the ways in which he uses that privilege against others.  Heathcliff managed to acquire a fortune–and then proceeds to swindle a bunch of men out of their houses.  More recently, Cole, from J. Kenner’s Ignited, owns a strip-club, a career that is never properly interrogated in the story, because of his privileged status.

Does this mean that heroes can’t evolve?  Absolutely not.  Mr. Rochester is one of my all-time favorite heroes, in part because he goes from a rich-and-privileged hero to one who learns the value of what he has, and what he has lost.  So is Rhys WInterborne from Lisa Kleypas’ latest–he can buy his fiance any ring she wants, but it’s his willingness to work for her heart that really counts, in the end.

We’ve all seen plenty of buff gentlemen on the covers of books.  Which, again, shows a considerable work ethic and plenty of dedication (and a very good personal trainer).  But it’s what a hero does with that strength that is so important.  If he’s using it for a purpose, that’s great.  Rocky Balboa is always my favorite example of this kind of hero.  He’s got the brawn and the skills to pummel everyone.  But he doesn’t.  The closest he comes to fighting outside the ring is to defend Adrian…and still steps back when she realizes she’s strong enough to fight her own battles.  When that strength is used to manipulate…again, we have a problem.  In Collleen Hoover’s Hopeless, the female protagonist states, upon meeting the hero, “My instinct is telling me to run and scream, but my body wants to wrap itself around his glistening, sweaty arms.”  This is especially important not only of the physical danger this can pose, but because it’s also an indication of plenty of other forms of manipulation that can be used to coerce another person…and it’s critically important that we give our characters the ability to recognize that none of them are cool.

Again, this doesn’t mean heroes can learn, and can’t change.  But we need to realize that what the behavior that we sanction in our Alpha Males are the same behaviors that we sanction in real life.  And books give us a space to think about those behaviors and those traits, and, especially, to understand how we think about them.

A final note, I noted about that we are talking about “traditional” romances, which are those that feature a man and a woman.  We are really lucky to be reading at a time when there are a fast-growing number of romances that feature a range of identities–primarily gay and queer, but the genre is expanding day by day, and, in the process, reinventing our ideas of what it means to be a hero/heroine/protagonist.  And I, for one, think it is sensational.

*If you’re interested in learning more about this concept, I urge you to check out Catherine Roach’s splendid article “Getting a Good Man to Love: Popular Romance Fiction and the Problem of Patriarchy“.  My students got a kick out of it, and I hope you will, too!