 To accomplish this, he planned to drink two vodka martinis and hit the sack before ten.” (Franzen 229)
In Janet Fitch’s novel White Oleander, the protagonist Astrid exemplifies the struggle of the antihero in that she is constantly at the mercy of a brutal, uncaring world. Fitch’s work does not so much stress the need to be moral, but the need to keep one's sanity and dignity intact in the face of a worldly onslaught of oppression and strife. In itself this novel contains a far more pessimistic viewpoint than many earlier works. Hope lies not so much in Astrid’s attention to morality, but in her will to survive. Although the people around the main character Astrid are at times morally reprehensible, the author does not seek to judge the characters, she merely observes and comments on their actions:
“I believe a quality that serves us well in the real world is the ability to embrace the various emotional tones of experience. And to insist that reality reflects some ideal, I think, is a dangerous point of view. This is the basis of some of the philosophical arguments of mother and daughter [Astrid and Ingrid]: do you impose a view on the world, or do you look at the world and see what is there.” (Author Interview: Janet Fitch)
The preceding quote from the author helps illustrate what is presumably the intention of most modern writers in deciding to use an antihero as a protagonist. In a post 9/11 society where nothing seems certain, it would hardly be realistic to write about perfect people doing perfect things, let alone expect anyone to read such works. In an interview Janet Fitch mentioned that fiction “…reminds us that we are here to understand and care about the human condition, to become more human.” (Author Interview: Janet Fitch) Arguably, then, the antihero would be the ideal vehicle with which an author could express his or her views on the human condition and life in general. Everyone knows that humans are inherently flawed; therefore, the antihero is an ideal representation of the everyman, being inherently flawed as well.
At times the reader strongly feels like he or she can identify with the character of Astrid. A well-meaning girl with a kind heart, she tries to do the right thing, yet situations constantly seem to come up that work against her—much as with Chip Lambert. Although most people have not lived through such a harrowing foster care experience, at times all people can surely identify with the emotions that Astrid goes through, and her struggles to decipher what is right and wrong in the world around her:
	Some more evidence for moral ambiguity in the novel is the resolution of Ingrid’s murder trial. Throughout the novel as she waits in jail, Ingrid gradually develops of following of literate people who see her as a victim, even though she obviously murdered her boyfriend. 