Why Good Stories Have Bad Examples
My seven-year-old son was having a rough day. Selfishness. Complaining. Grumpiness.
We had tried sitting down and having conversations with him, but nothing seemed to pull him out of it. He only clenched his fists tighter.
Finally, at the point of exasperation, I said, “Look—do you want to be like Eustace?”
He looked up. “What?”
I repeated the question. We had been reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader a second time, so he was well acquainted with Eustace’s Scrubb’s sour attitude. And he knew just how much trouble Eustace (especially pre-dragon) had been for the entire crew of the Dawn Treader.
“Oh,” my son said, his fists loosening. “No, I don’t.”
Warning: Negative Examples
It’s a blessing to live in an age where a quick look at our phone can tell us nearly everything there is to know about the content of a potential book for our kids.
But one category, “Negative Examples,” may require more digging.
To be sure, stories can be written in such a way that presents negative behaviors in a positive light. In such cases, wise parents will talk with their kids about the issue or choose to pass over the story in favor of others that more clearly illustrate the good, true, and beautiful.
And yet, let’s not be too quick to dismiss that a “negative example” equals a negative effect on your child. As we saw above, Lewis’s decision to include the “negative example” of Eustace opened the door for a conversation of repentance with my son.
Bad examples have their place in good stories because they function like mirrors and like shadows.
Bad Characters Are Mirrors
Just as my son saw his own behavior reflected in Eustace’s attitude, so can bad characters function as mirrors to help us see ourselves more objectively.
And just like looking in the mirror, we don’t always like what we see.
I flinch every time I read of the parent in Fahrenheit 451 who says raising kids is pretty easy because she has a room walled with TV screens. “It’s like washing clothes,” she says. “Stuff laundry in and slam the lid.” Despite being written in the 1950s, this reflection from Bradbury’s prophetic mirror only sharpens with time.
In a similar vein, Steinbeck’s portrayal of George Milton in Of Mice and Men is difficult to forget. Finding himself responsible for his big friend, Lennie, George’s resentment, spilling out in foul attitudes and careless words, turns a mirror on how I approach my God-given task of caretaking. Do I want to be like that?
In the hands of a good storyteller, negative examples don’t pull us toward them—they repel us as we see some semblance of ourselves in the mirror.
Bad Characters Are Shadows
Anyone who has at least dabbled in the world of graphic design knows the importance of contrast. Especially when dealing with text overlaying images, if you want the text to be readable, there has to be a clear distinction. For me, I’ve often found that most cases can be solved by using one little feature: a drop shadow.
In a similar way, storytellers who want their heroes to shine know that light is brighter in the dark.
We appreciate and value Digory’s loving restraint in The Magician’s Nephew because it so sharply contrasts with the selfish and greedy desires of his Uncle Andrew. And a generation later, it is Edmund’s compromise with the White Witch which serves as the shadow to clearly outline the responsibility and sacrifice undertaken by his older brother Peter.
Mirrors, Shadows, and the Brightest Light
While I could give many examples of how these mirrors and shadows function in stories, the ultimate reason why I believe good stories have bad examples is that the Greatest Story has many of the worst.
John told us explicitly, “We should not be like Cain” (1 John 3:12).
Hebrews warns that no one should be like Esau (Hebrews 12:16).
We could go on to talk about Balaam, Saul, Samson, Judas, and many others, but I think the point is clear: the Bible doesn’t present us with a bunch of sanitized saints for us to imitate.
We wrestle with the sinners of Scripture because we see ourselves reflected in their mirrors.
And even the best of the Bible’s characters only function as shadows to a greater substance, so that when the true Protagonist of the story enters the scene, we see him as he truly is: the long-awaited and perfect Light to a dark and broken world.
My talk with my son began with an honest look in the mirror. But it ended with a conversation about how a lion’s claws can pierce even the hardest of our dragon scales.
For both our kids and us, may the negative examples in the stories we read reveal more of our glorious Savior, even as they reflect our desperate need for Him.
Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash
- Why Good Stories Have Bad Examples - August 26, 2026
Great! Also, seems like there\’s a growing trend of treating bad characters as simply misunderstood. Or even worse, flipping narratives entirely (e.g. Wicked).
There are many reasons why this is poor storytelling. It might sound nice to be told bad guys are really just misunderstood, but it\’s really pretty hollow. Sin is ugly and dark. True, there can be many factors that predispose someone to make an evil choice, but just like Garten Longtreader, ultimately some choose to be bad. It\’s sad, but that\’s true to life. Now more than ever, there\’s a flood of horrible examples of evil out there (note to self to stop doom scrolling). But turning closer to home, I also know well how dark the sin of my own heart has been.
No, we don\’t need to be told badness isn\’t really all that bad. Or that it\’s actually good if you squint and look at it from just the right angle. We already know dark dragons are lurking. What we need are stories of heroes who have the courage to stand up to the dragons. What we need is to hear is the incredible, wondrous truth that there is a redeemer who can wash us and set us free from the sin inside our own dark hearts.