The Lost Characters and Their Symbolic Emotions

Lost is one of TV's biggest hits because its fans are obsessed with finding clues to the show's big mysteries. Still, Lost would be nowhere without the characters themselves. And the Lost characters would not appeal to us if they weren't a reminder of humanity's deepest feelings and desires. Indeed, Lost has a range of characters who all represent at least one of the most common human emotions. In that way, Lost is like a giant social experiment, though not like the kind of experiments by the DHARMA Initiative. Combined together, these characters and feelings make up the emotional spectrum of an entire human being. For the Lost characters, they represent each human emotion at it's best and worst.

The most obvious emotions on Lost belong to the two lead characters. Jack Shephard obviously represents heroism, as he tries to save everyone he meets and do whatever it takes to secure their safety. Lost has shown that Jack's desire to always "find something to fix" leads him to the point of obsession. In the past it cost Jack his marriage, plus it helped drive the final wedge between him and his dead father. In the future, we know that Jack's new obsession to get back to the island and fix the grave mistake that got him rescued is the only thing keeping him alive. Whatever happened, it obviously made Jack compromise the heroic part of himself. If he does get back, Jack will have a chance to be a hero once more.

John Locke is also someone who represents an obvious Lost emotion, that of faith. Being paralyzed did not shake Locke's belief that he had a grander destiny. After regaining the use of his legs on the island, Locke has been devoted to the island ever since. However, Lost has depicted Locke's faith as being very costly at times. Locke once believed his destiny was to open the island's hatch, which got a friend killed in the process. Yet when Locke finally ceased to believe in pushing the hatch button, it nearly resulted in disaster. His desire to find answers also made him destroy any means of leaving the island, earning the hatred of Jack and many other survivors. But Locke likely made the right call, since we know something horrible happens as a result of some characters leaving the island. Still, at this point in Lost's story, Locke knows he is right to defend the island, yet he really has no idea how to do it. Currently, Locke is acting more on blind faith than any other emotion.

Kate and Sawyer represent two less admirable emotions of Lost. Kate represents the part of us that always has to run away and is uncomfortable staying in one place. For Kate this is a necessary emotion, considering her past life as a fugitive. In the past, even when Kate had a chance to stop running after briefly getting married, she couldn't do it. Kate's lack of commitment certainly explains why she goes back and forth between Jack and Sawyer every week. As for Sawyer, he is often the symbol of pure selfishness. Always looking out for number one, Sawyer's life as a con man leaves him looking for the right opportunities to scam someone, even after the crash. Only when Kate's involved does Sawyer briefly think about anyone except himself. Even then, it is a close call.

Sayid represents both a light and dark side of humanity and of Lost. His skills as an Iraqi soldier were used for torture and information extraction, which he was good at getting. But Sayid is also a protector. He threw away his old life to save a childhood love and he is often the best person to lead the survivors during their many battles. However, the compassionate, protective side of Sayid is often at war with the less noble side of that emotion. They particularly go hand in hand in the future, as Sayid is killing people for a former arch enemy because, somehow, it will protect his friends. Clearly, the battle between Sayid's best and worst emotions is not over.

Hurley represents the lighter emotions, like humor and optimism. As the comic relief of Lost, Hurley is a much needed balance to all the dark mysteries on the island. However, his mental problems and belief that he is cursed often cuts into Hurley's happy go lucky side. Still, Hurley eventually manages to pick himself up with a smile. Because he isn't a brooding mess and can maintain a clear mind about everything, Hurley can do what needs to be done without a second thought.

Sun and Jin are a married couple that are not what they seem, even by Lost standards. Jin initially seemed to be a controlling husband in the first season. However, what Jin really represents is the emotions of shame and regret. In order to marry Sun, Jin had to do some unpleasant things for her wealthy, but corrupt father. Jin's overwhelming guilt led him to turn away from Sun and harden his heart towards her. Now, Jin's regret over the past has led him to become a better husband again. As for Sun, she appeared to be just another submissive wife at first. However, Sun really represents secrecy. She learned to speak English behind Jin's back, was planning to leave him right before the crash, and even had an affair as well. In fact, her actions had the unintentional consequence of making Jin her father's enforcer in the first place. Even among these survivors, Sun is more secretive than most.

Maternal and paternal love are two of the strongest emotions a human being can have. On Lost, these emotions have had good and destructive consequences. Claire wanted to give her unborn baby up for adoption before the crash. But circumstances beyond her control, including her kidnapping by the Others, led her to face the responsibility of motherhood. After giving birth to baby Aaron, Claire has risen up to embrace her role as a mother, despite new clues that this bond will be severed somehow in the future. On the other side, Michael is a man who had no idea how to be a father to his estranged son Walt. Yet Michael slowly began to become a better dad over time. However, that fatherly love became his downfall after the Others kidnapped Walt. Michael became so obsessed with getting him back, he killed two survivors and lured his friends into a trap before the Others gave Walt back to him. Whereas the emotion of motherly love brought out the best in Claire, fatherly love brought out the worst kind of betrayal in Michael.

The emotion of love can still be a driving force for good, as it is for Desmond. He found true love with the wealthy Penelope Widmore, and was not deterred by her powerful father's disapproval. After his release from a military prison, Desmond entered a sailboat race sponsored by Mr. Widmore to prove himself. However, all he did was crash on the island, where he got himself dragged into the hatch. Despite spending three long years pressing the hatch button, Desmond's love for Penny got him through. It was also the inspiration he needed to prove himself a hero and destroy the hatch before it could destroy the world. With the prospect of rescue, Desmond is even more convinced that a reunion with Penny is close at hand. However, that love doesn't stop him from being suspicious of the new characters, especially after a friend's dying warning about them.

Juliet is a combination of many emotions shown by Lost characters. She has a bit of Sawyer's selfishness in how she usually looks out for herself. She has some of Desmond's love, as Juliet is motivated above all else to return home to her sister and her family. Juliet also has some of Sayid's darker side in the methods she uses to accomplish her goals. She has some of Jin's regret, regarding the choices she made that got her here. And as Juliet gets closer to Jack, some of his heroism is starting to rub off on her. Ultimately, Juliet represents the shades of grey that most people have in them. Humans aren't usually on one side or another and have their own reasons for doing what they do, even if they are used to justify some awful things. Even though she has renounced the Others, Juliet could just as easily turn on the survivors again if it would help her finally leave the island.

Even the new Lost characters this season represent common human emotions. Daniel Faraday is a genius, yet he represents the eccentric side of the mind. His mannerisms and twitches make him a bit off, but he is someone who holds the key to figuring out the island's unique powers. Miles Straume is a sarcastic, hot tempered man like Sawyer- if Sawyer could commune with the dead. For now, it seems to be greed that motivates Miles' emotions, as he has come to blackmail his target, not to capture him. Charlotte Staples Lewis is an adventurer, having traveled to all kinds of locations as an anthropologist. For her, the island is just another exciting place, which fits someone with the middle and last name of Narnia writer C.S Lewis. Frank Lapidus, the team pilot, is a suspicious sort. He knows that the wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815 that was shown to the world isn't real, and he knew Juliet wasn't on the island manifest right away. Frank has the kind of skepticism that can come in handy on an island like this.

Then there is Benjamin Linus. As Lost's current arch enemy, the survivors have battled Ben for some time and learned not to trust him. However, they keep getting fooled by Ben's mind games, even though they should know better by now. This may be because Ben's main emotion isn't an emotion at all. Every other survivor is ruled by their separate emotions, which often results in trouble. As for Ben, he is ruled by his mind and by a strange kind of rationality. Ben is so good at carrying out his plans because there is always a cold, rational logic to them. He said himself that he gets people to do things because he finds what they're emotionally invested in and then exploits it. No matter what the action, whether it is kidnapping, sabotage, murder, or plain old lies, Ben has a rational explanation for doing it. He just won't tell anyone what those motives are, for reasons that escape the survivors and the Lost audience. Considering the bleak future ahead, plus the very real chance that he's in a war with people far worse than he is, Ben may have been right all along.

In this context, Lost's main conflict about Ben and the survivors may be a battle between emotion and rationality. The survivors have suffered whenever their emotions get the best of them, which makes Ben able to take advantage of those feelings. Ben is not ruled by emotions, but by whatever plans his mind creates to do what needs to be done, which may in fact be for the greater good. Because emotions don't override logic, Ben is not bothered by the destructive costs of his actions. Still, Ben has a past that could be vulnerable to emotion. He's had visions of his dead mother, put up with a cold father that he had to kill, had a childhood friend named Annie whose fate hasn't been explained, clashed with the rebellious daughter he stole when she was a baby, and lived with the burden of fighting off what may be a great evil. Could Ben himself have deeper emotions beneath that calculating surface? Does he really represent rationality, or he is made vulnerable by other emotions just like the survivors are?

If Lost ever explains this unexplored part of Ben, it could answer so many questions and clear up much of the story. So don't expect a Lost episode like that until the final season in 2010.