Thrilling characters who evolve with the plot are key to most novels. These characters could range from the protagonist Mary Sue to the chaotically evil antagonist. In A Lost Lady, Niel Herbert is a significant character along this spectrum. Although Willa Cather herself pointed out that he is merely a “peephole” and “subordinate” to the woman he truly cared about, Niel is central as he moves the story forward (132: 20). At the beginning of the novel, he is already portrayed as the classical hero as he injures himself trying to ease the woodpecker's pain. A more intense vision, however, is gleaned from him as the plot develops and matures. As a result, Niel discredits initial presumptions about him as he presents qualities and ideologies that make him harmful to Cather's fictional society, which can be seen as a microcosm of the real world. Consequently, due to the patriarchal ideals Niel espoused, the unfounded prejudices he held, and the ulterior motives he possessed, his heroic stature is undeserved. Since Niel Herbert is a bigot, he should not be esteemed as a hero. At first, while the boys are playing, Marian Forrester delivers cookies to the boys, and "[t]hey were all rather glad that Mrs. Forrester had come down herself, instead of sending Mary" (Cather 19). They may simply be enjoying Mrs. Forrester's company. However, the following lines indicate otherwise: “Even rough little Thad Grimes...knew that Mrs. Forrester was a very special kind of person. George and Niel were already old enough to see for themselves that she was different from the other women in the city, and to reflect on what made her so. The Blum brothers... realized, more than their companions, that such a lucky and... middle of paper... had a base reason. He reveals his arrogant nature at the end of the eighth chapter of the second part. He imagines "that the right man could save her, even now," and believes he is that man because immediately after dinner, he visits Marian. Forrester, but becomes frustrated when he finds Ivy Peters with her (166, 169). He believes in vain that he is a hero. Works Cited Cather, Willa. A lost lady. Vintage books ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1972. Print. Holmes, Catherine. “Lost in the Dollhouse: Space and Gender in A Lost Lady.” The Philological Association of the Carolinas. February 26, 2012. PDF file.Smith, Anneliese H. "Finding Marian Forrester: A Reparative Reading of Cather's A Lost Lady" Colby Quarterly 14.4 (1978): 5. PDF file. February 26, 2012.Witalec, Janet. "Cather." Literary criticism of the twentieth century. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 2003. 20. Print.