"No hero would treat a child the way she treated that boy."
I totally and completely disagree. Idealized heroes in comic books and fantasy stories are usually perfect in every way with no flaws and shortcomings of any kind. Real-life heroes are flawed individuals with real problems and real obstacles who make sometimes make mistakes and hurt the people they care about (and care about them), but yet in spite of all that, sacrifice of themselves and manage to still do good, even great things that make the lives of those they touch somehow better.
George Washington was a slave owner (as were most of the founding fathers), FDR, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy were philanderers, Winston Churchill was a drunk and philanderer and hated small children, but most would still call these men heroes despite those aspects of their lives which were less than admirable and hurt others. Caroline didn't love Noah, but she never really hurt him by refusing to be his surrogate mother (she had three children of her own at home to worry about). Frankly, by refusing to take the mother's place, she made it possible for Noah to begin bonding with Rose his stepmother as we see happening by the musical's end.
While most fictional maids would just bend over backwards to luuuuuv that little white boy, Caroline is a much more true to life character (based on the maid who helped raise Kushner and his brother, for whom he has real genuine affection for to this day and brought up to see the show opening night) -- in other words, she ain't Beulah and isn't trying to be anybody's Mammy. Perhaps, it would have been more comforting for the white folks in the audience if she were, but thank GOD in 2004, we've finally gotten to the point where she doesn't have to be, and we can have a domestic character who actually loves her own children more than the white children her job requires her to watch. Those are the children she's sacrificing her own life and happiness for and that's what makes her a hero.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 9/28/04 at 03:26 PM