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Q&A Likeable characters with deplorable professions?

I'm planning out an idea for a short story. In the story, slavery didn't abruptly end but instead continued to modern day and beyond. The structure of the story will be similar to The Last Question...

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by TheJohnMajor01‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:38:27Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/35582
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar TheJohnMajor01‭ · 2019-12-08T08:38:27Z (over 4 years ago)
I'm planning out an idea for a short story. In the story, slavery didn't abruptly end but instead continued to modern day and beyond. The structure of the story will be similar to The Last Question by Issac Asimov where the theme is explored by multiple characters over multiple time periods.

The protagonist of the first story, let's call him Nathan, is the son of a plantation owner where slaves perform only manual labour. Shortly into the short story his father dies. Unlike his father, Nathan thinks highly of the slaves and believes that with some education they could be doing taxes, engineering or general scientific research. Crucially, the slaves would remain in bondage. This idea isn't liked at first but ultimately makes Nathan rich... blah blah the rest of the story.

I'd like the reader to like Nathan despite the fact that he is still a slaver. To generalise:

**Do you have any tips for keeping a protagonist likeable despite being on the wrong side of history?**

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-04-26T22:44:57Z (about 6 years ago)
Original score: 7