Ana Lucia Cortez.  Ana was a very different character.  She almost reminds you of a female Sawyer in many ways.  Her death, by Michael’s hands, was very unexpected.  She is very headstrong, and likes to do things her way or the highway.  When I saw her meeting with Jack in the airport, I somehow had a feeling that we would see that character come back later in the show, and to my surprise, I was right.

She struggles day by day with the guilt of killing someone.  She killed someone in vengeance.  She had the opportunity to turn her in, while at a police lineup, but instead, she let him go, and murdered him.  The reason being is the fact he shot her and killed her baby while she was still pregnant, and she couldn’t let it go.  It seems like we can see a pattern here with almost every main character of this show, even if they were only a temporary character.  Everyone has something that they can or at least couldn’t in their past, let go of.  Jack couldn’t let go of Sarah, Hurley couldn’t let go of his eating disorder, Sawyer couldn’t let go of what the con-artist did to him when he was a child, among all the other characters that have issues.  Perhaps the island is some kind of second chance to make things right in life?  At this point we really don’t know.

Back to the character though, Ana Lucia wished to be a loner.  We saw her character begin to come around more and more, just before Michael killed her.  Her running to Sydney with Jack’s dad, Christian, shows us precisely what kind of person she is.  She wanted to run from her problems, instead of facing them, which isn’t always the best idea in life.  We have to confront our issues, just like we have to confront our fears.  Running doesn’t always solve something, it just leaves it behind.  We see Ana appear in one of Eko’s visions, when Eko was told to help John, and find the “question mark.”

What can we derive from Ana’s personality?  That running from problems in life isn’t always the right answer.  I think that we can also learn that forgiveness is a very important thing.  I think we’ve all had times in our life that we knew we needed to forgive someone for something they had done, but either we are to prideful, or hold a grudge.  We can also see in Ana, that we have to be more caring, because being hostile in life toward people won’t get you anywhere.

Desmond Hume.  Desmond is my second favorite character, second to Jack.  Desmond is great.  In many ways, he is the exact opposite of Jack.  Think about the situation in the stadium.  Desmond asked him what happens if you fix the woman?  Referring to Sarah, which was supposedly an impossible surgery.  Jack responded, “Well that would be a miracle, brother.”  And Desmond said, “And you don’t believe in miracles?”  And Jack responded negatively.  So that situation tells us that Desmond believes in miracles, at least a little bit.  Probably because of the call he felt he had on his life, to become a monk.  We see him indulge in alcohol a great deal, but this is due to the fact that he is stuck on the island, in a “bloody snow globe,” as he called it.  His ability to see the future is also very interesting.  We see him prevent Charlie’s death numerous times, until the unfortunate season three finale.

I think the island taught Desmond what was most important to him, which was Penelope.  We see that he left his life to enter this race around the world, to impress her father.  Well he gets stuck on this island as a result, and comes to realize what the important things in life are.  We see Desmond accidentally kill Kelvin, and you could tell he was upset that he had.  I’m sure that completely changes you, after killing someone.  He chased Kelvin outside and followed him to find that he was repairing Desmond’s boat, in an attempt to leave.  He let the countdown timer run down to zero, consequently building up an electromagnetic charge, causing Oceanic Flight 815 to crash.  That is so amazing to me.

If I had to describe Desmond with one word, it would be persistent.  We see him almost allow Charlie to die, simply because he believes he can find Penny.  That is pretty dedicated.  He is a very good guy though, and we see him help out a great deal.  He is very caring too.  If you remember the season three finale, he intended to go down to the looking glass in Charlie’s place.  That is a very courageous thing to do, simply because he knew Charlie was going to die.  It takes a very good person to do something like that.

I think we can learn from the character Desmond, to realize what is truly important in our lives.  Sometimes it’s hard to see the whole picture, and Desmond had a problem doing so with the Penny situation.  He was so hurt by what her father said, he couldn’t see clearly about what he needed to do with Penny.  But it’s also arguable that he didn’t marry her because he was afraid, as the old lady in the watch shop says.  In life, we have to go after what we want, regardless of what others say, and do what we believe is right.

Christian Shephard.  Very interesting name isn’t it?  You have to wonder if the writers did this intentionally.  Two connotations to Christianity in one name.  Christian is a great character.  The father of Jack, and we find out in season three that he is also the father of Claire.  You can tell that Christian pushed Jack so hard as a child.  I mean the first season showed us that.  We also saw in the first season, that Christian told Jack not to be a hero in certain situations, because “people will blame you when something goes wrong.”  This is true, and we even see this happen to Jack in the series a time or two.

As we all know, Christian is an alcoholic.  Christian and Jack actually get in an argument in one episode, referring to this.  Jack discovers that Christian had been calling his ex-wife, Sarah, and Jack goes off the deep end.  Jack couldn’t let Sarah go, and was dialing all the numbers on her cell phone.  Christian enters the room, to attempt to figure out what Jack is doing.  Jack calls one of the numbers, and it ends up being his fathers.  Christian claims, “I think I know a little about being obsessive,” and Jack responds with, “No, being a drunk is not being obsessive.”  The conversation ends with Christian telling Jack to, “Let it go.”  We see this referenced in a few episodes.

I believe that Christian feels as he is a failure in life, and that is part of the reason he is an alcoholic.  Many of us can relate to this, looking to alcohol or some other form of pleasure to ease pain in our life.  To pick one word to describe Christian, I would say critical.  We see this numerous times, especially toward Jack.  I believe that Christian knew that Jack was a better doctor than he was, but he wouldn’t admit, which in my opinion is a character flaw.  He even tells Sawyer, in Sydney, that he wished he had the courage to pick up the phone and call Jack and apologize for all that he’d done to him, and tell him he’s a “better doctor than he’ll ever be.”

I think that we can learn from Christian Shephard’s character that if we wait to long to do something in life, we may never have the chance.  Christian had unfinished business with Jack, but he never apologized; he never forgave Jack for turning him in, although it was the right thing to do.

Anthony Cooper. Well what more can you say about Anthony other than a scoundrel? Not much actually. I think he’s a pretty sorry human being. We saw the end of Anthony’s life at the end of season three, and I have to say, he had it coming. John Locke wanted nothing more than a father, and Anthony used this to his advantage. We see Anthony actually con his own son out of a kidney. If you don’t know the story, basically what happened was, John never had a father in his life, and lacked that father figure that most of us do have. John wanted it very badly though. Anthony knew this, and for the first time in his life, meets John. For a few weeks they hunt and do other activities together. Anthony then informs John that he is in need of a kidney from a willing donor, and tricks John into giving it to him, then leaves him. A very disturbed individual indeed. You can almost see a pattern of every single character having a messed up parent in their life. Coincidence, or purposefully done by the writers? Hopefully we’ll find out soon.

John, becoming obcessed with Anthony, stalks him at his home for a few years, subsequent to Anthony asking John to assist him in a con. He faked his death, to make some money that he stole, and splits the money with John. John tells him that he didn’t do it for the money. We never see a compassionate side of Anthony Cooper, because deep down he is evil. We see in Season three that Anthony Cooper is also the individual that conned James Ford’s (Sawyer’s) mother, consequently causing Sawyer’s father to kill his mother, then himself. We see the death of Anthony, by Sawyer’s hands. Anthony is also responsible for the paralyzation of John, by pushing him out of a window. I find it interesting to think that neither Locke or Sawyer would be on this island if it weren’t for Anthony.

Anthony referred to the island as “hell” when talking to Sawyer, on the same episode that he was killed. It seems like he accepted the fact, and almost knew that he would be going there. Character’s like Anthony will have an unknown past for the rest of the series, simply because he wasn’t a main character. However, it would be very interesting to know what drove Cooper to act how he acts, and commit the wrongs that he did.

Bernard Nadler. Bernard is a different character. If I had to use one adjective to describe him, it would be overbearing. It seems like he tries to hard sometimes. If you remember the SOS sign, it’s a perfect example of his character. It seems like he wants to get certain things done, but doesn’t quite have the ability or sense to do it sometimes. Bernard seems to have that heroic side that he tries to shine sometimes, but it really just doesn’t pan out. He made it a goal in life to cure Rose(his wife), of cancer. He didn’t give up until he believed she was cured. When in reality, she wasn’t cured; she simply lied to Bernard so he would stop trying. Ironically enough, the reason that they are on the island is because of the attempt. As previously stated, they traveled to a healer in Australia, which proved unsuccessful.

In my opinion, it was very brave of Bernard to marry Rose knowing that she only had a limited time to live. That take a lot of courage, and realizing that you will get attached to a person that is going to die. Bernard sometimes acts like he must prove himself, such as staying behind to blow the tents in the finale of Season three, but everyone wants to be a hero I guess.

I think that we can learn from Bernard, that in life, we have to be more accepting of what is to come, and enjoy time that we do have, instead of trying to change things. You’ll notice that Bernard, although he does love Rose, cannot accept the fact that she is going to die. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that we will do whatever in our power to save people, but he took it to the extreme. In life, we have to sometimes accept the inevitable, which may in reality, be our “fate,” and move on with life. If we can’t enjoy the present, how can we look forward to the future?

Rose Henderson.  I like Rose.  The coolest thing about her has to be her enormous amount of faith.  If you remember earlier in the series, everyone thought the tail section of the plane was destroyed and everyone on it was dead, but Rose did not accept this fact.  She believed by faith that her husband, Bernard, was still alive, and sure enough, he was.  Rose was told at one point in her life that she only had two years left to live, and just after discovering this information, she met her husband, Bernard.  After she informed him of this, he did not care, and proposed to her.  He tried everything in his power to heal her, even going as far as a faith healer.  In fact, this faith healer, Isaac, that she visited, was in Australia, and told her that she couldn’t be healed by him, because her healing was meant to happen somewhere else.  It’s definitely not coincidence that her healing did happen, on the very island that they crashed on their way back from Australia.

If you remember, Rose was in a state of shock when they first arrived on the island, not talking for about three days straight.  But subsequent to that event, she handles life on the island very well.  Probably better than most of the other survivors.

If you remember the episode where Charlie was hung by a rope, Rose approached him and discussed his behavior, which was very similar to how she was when they first arrived on the island.  Of course, this attitude was due to the fact that Claire was missing.  She encouraged him by telling him that he basically needed to pray, and she ends up praying with him.  On that same day, she tells him that there is a fine line between denial, and faith, which was referring to her faith in Bernard still being alive.

It almost seems like Rose takes a mother position on the island many times, encouraging people and almost guiding them, but not directly.  Hurley trusted her about his thoughts on blowing up the food in the bunker.  We also see many other characters put faith in her and trust her.

We can learn from Rose that in life, it’s a great thing to have a positive attitude.  Pessimism is a very, very bad quality.  We see that Rose, had enormous amounts of not only faith, but also optimism, which helped her get through each day.  That’s something that can inspire us all.  If we are having a bad day, or even a bad week, month, or year, it’s better to look to the future, about how it will turn out, other than looking at how bad of a situation that we are in.  I guess as far as the concept of destiny and fate, Rose reminds me of John Locke.