ADVERSITY

Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain. — 
Vivian Greene

Adversity builds character.

 In a show that was "all about the characters," did they truly handle adversity head on and defeat it?

Jack may have been the most complex character. He was a skilled spinal surgeon so he had to overcome many different human barriers such as intelligence (to get through med school) and pressure (life and death surgery on patients). Despite what his father told him as a child that Jack did not have the make-up to make life and death decisions, or be a leader, Jack was a leader of his team in the operating room. He turned out to a be miracle worker on gravely injured patients like Sarah. So Jack's journey to the Island was not about any discovery or challenge to meet the adversity of leadership or life and death decisions.

Kate may have been the least complex character. She was a single minded, self-absorbed person. She was reckless and sought the easy way out of her problems. She used her cuteness to get people to cover for her mistakes. She never had to account for her damages. Her single minded solution to any stressful issue was to run away from the problem. She ran away from her mother after destroying her home. She ran away from her bank robbery gang after using them to access a safety deposit box. She ran away from her Florida husband when the marshal tracked her down. She ran away from Jack, including after her final battle against Flocke. Kate could have gone back to Jack once she got Claire to the Ajira plane, but she did not. She feared any sort of commitment - -  that is why Jack died alone on the island.

Sayid may have been the most pigeon-holed character. From an early age, Sayid was not afraid of pleasing authority. He would kill a chicken at a snap of a finger. His life embraced the dark side including death. As such, he did not fear it. Instead, he manipulated it and projected it towards others, including his torture victims. As a result, Sayid was constricted into a set of twisted, personal honor (almost Klingon in stubbornness). As a result, Sayid isolated himself from the normal world. He kept friends at a distance; he could not make lasting relationships. He repressed his emotions to the state of being a hollow man, a soldier of misfortune. On the island, Sayid's purpose did not change. He did the dirty work for the group. He was the good soldier. He was never comfortable being part of the inner circle. He was never seen as a leader, but more as a ticking time bomb or a threat. He kept his distance in all matters, including relationships. Sayid's character did not change when he sacrificed himself with the submarine bomb; it was not a moment of redemption but a grave error in judgment (he could have isolated the bomb blast by closing the section blast doors).

Sawyer may have been the most cursed character. When Cooper the con man takes his parents for their life savings, his father kills Sawyer's mother and himself. As a bitter orphan, Sawyer vows revenge against Cooper. He is told by his uncle to move on with his life, but Sawyer does not (with the slightest help by Jacob giving him the pen to write his angry note of revenge). So Sawyer became the man he hated; a criminal who used people, toyed with their emotions, and left their lives in shambles. He was no different on the island. He was the smooth talker con man who used his devious skills to make his life better by hoarding valuable resources. When confronted with his lifelong evil, Sawyer does not change his behavior but strangles Cooper to death. Afterward, for a short pause, Sawyer did actually change. First, subconsciously he must have felt that he could have a better life if he was on the side of the law (i.e. his creation in the fantasy sideways world.) Second, consciously he must have felt the same way because the Island granted him his "wish" by transporting him back to 1974 to become the Dharma sheriff. Sawyer would not have wanted or needed to leave this fantasy world, but it was disrupted and destroyed when the O6 people returned to the island. So, indeed Sawyer did change to have a normal job and home life (something missing in his real life), but as a pure fantasy can anyone say that was true character development?

In certain respects, the Island merely reinforced the deep personality traits of the main characters. Their personal survival actually depended upon each of them enhancing their prior motivational behavior in a self-serving manner. The adversity of the island life did not significantly alter the main characters perspective, values, or behavior.