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IN SEARCH OF . . . GAMMA GUY
A light-hearted take on the ABC's of romance novel heroes
by Nan Jacobs ©1997
Look closely. Beneath the gruff alpha male exterior and mellow beta man manner lurks . . .
***GAMMA GUY***
"Who *are* these guys?" said Butch to Sundance.
Imagine . . .
You're sitting in a passenger plane on a cross-country trip. The plane runs into a terrible storm. Rain, hail, wind and lightning pound the plane. The passengers are screaming. You're sure the plane is going to crash and you're all gonna *die*.
At the height of the storm, a young woman jumps up and exclaims, "I can't take this anymore! I can't just sit here strapped into a chair and die like an animal! If I'm going to die, let me die feeling like a woman! Is there anyone here man enough to make me feel like a woman?!"
A hand raises in the back, then a muscular hunk-of-a-guy saunters toward her seat. As he approaches her he peels off his shirt. Everyone leans forward . . .
He stands in front of the young woman, shirt in hand, and says to her, "I can make you feel like a woman. Are you interested?"
Mouths hang open, heads nod in the peanut gallery. Likewise the young woman nods, mouth ajar.
As the man hands her his shirt he says, "Here. Iron this."
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Okay. Whut's yer point, lady?
Ah! So glad you asked!
Now imagine what's going on inside our hero's (steel-trap) mind at this point.
ALPHA: He's annoyed with the woman's screaming hysteria and he's baiting her. Or he really wants his shirt ironed.
BETA: He's trying to save her from herself. And he's hoping she knows how to iron, but if she doesn't that's okay, too.
GAMMA: He takes everyone's mind off the horror of the situation with his special brand of humor (and fabulous chest) and whispers in the woman's ear that they can talk about it later, then sits down next to her and holds her hand. He doesn't care if his shirt is wrinkled or not and, if it *did* bother him, he'd iron it himself. Alphas and Betas on board stare, wondering, "Why didn't *I* think of that?"
Well, maybe next time, dude. Yes, there's hope for them within the pages of a romance novel. Deep in the heart of any hero lies hidden a repressed Gamma Guy. A guy with assertive so-called 'alpha' (aka leader-of-the-pack) traits who's not afraid to recognize his touchy-feely 'beta' side, or an easy-going laissez-faire guy who calls forth the strength to take charge (dare I call it "alpha-betize"?) under pressure.
Some heroes simply have to work harder than others to give rein to the Gamma within, and perhaps at great cost to self-image, but ultimately with even greater reward:
They get the girls, of course!
And isn't that the point?
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Author's note:
The airplane joke, no doubt originated by some pre-alphabet *guy*, is one of those "pass it along" stories we hear everyday. (I wouldn't claim it as my own even if it *was*!) I just buffed it up with romance-speak. This article was inspired a few years ago by a heated discussion of "hero archetypes" on a writers' listserv.
Addendum 1/29/02: Could gamma guy (above) be the "Real Bob Church"?????
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