a typical, unquestioning, brainwashed member of society. 是典型的盲目、被洗脑的社会一份子。

　　The anti-hero struggles to conform, all the while starting to object, 他们努力去顺应社会，然后开始反抗，

　　perhaps finding other outsiders with whom to voice his questions, 可能找到一个人，和他一起喊出了自己的质疑，

　　and naively, unwisely, sharing those questions with an authority figure. 天真、无知地向权威提 问。

　　The anti-hero openly challenges society, and tries to fight against the lies and tactics used to oppress the populace. 他们公开地挑战社会，奋力对抗压迫公众的谎言和手段。

　　This step, for the anti-hero, is seldom a matter of brave, wise and heroic opposition. 此时，反英雄通常还不是勇敢、智慧、英勇的对抗者。

　　Maybe the anti-hero fights and succeeds in destroying the oppressive government, with a lot of impossible luck. 他们可能有不可思议的好运气，反抗成功，推翻了镇压人民的政府。

　　Perhaps he or she runs away, escapes to fight another day. 也可能他或她逃跑了，等待时机再战。

　　All too often though, the anti-hero is killed, or brainwashed to return to conformity with the masses. 然而更常见的是，反英雄被杀了，或被洗脑了，重新回到顺从大众的队伍中。

　　No heroic triumph here, no brave individual standing up against impersonal institutions of a modern world, 没有英雄式的凯旋，没有挺身而出反抗不人道制度的勇士，

　　inspiring others to fight, or resourcefully outwitting and outgunning the massive army of the evil empire. 没有一呼百应，机智战胜邪恶帝国庞大军队的英雄。

　　Our storytelling ancestors calmed our fears of powerlessness by giving us Hercules and other heroes 我们的祖先以故事安抚我们对无力感的恐惧，想象出像赫居里斯和其他强壮的英雄，

　　strong enough to fight off the demons and monsters that we suspected haunted the night beyond our campfires. 他们能打败那些我们担心在夜晚出没在营火范围外的恶魔和怪物。

　　But eventually, we realized the monsters did not lie out there, they reside inside of us. 但最终，我们发现怪物不在外面，他们住在我们心里。

　　Beowulf's greatest enemy was mortality. Othello's, jealousy. Hiccup, self-doubt. 贝奥武夫最大的敌人是恐惧死亡。奥赛罗是嫉妒。希卡普则是自我怀疑。

　　And in the tales of the ineffectual anti-hero, in the stories of Guy Montag and Winston Smith 在功亏一篑的反英雄的传说里，在蒙塔格和温斯顿·史密斯的故事里，

　　lie the warnings of contemporary storytellers playing on very primitive fears: 藏着当代作者针对我们最原始恐惧的警告：

　　that we are not strong enough to defeat the monsters. 我们还没有强大到能够打败怪兽。

　　Only this time, not the monsters chased away by the campfire, 只是这次，怪兽不是被营火赶跑的那个，

　　but the very monsters who built the campfire in the first place. 怪兽正是最初生起营火的那一个。