perhaps even more so in books that aren't classics, because they're more of their time.

Yes, I think this is true.

I wonder, about the protagonists, whether the authors are trying to make characters that the readers would look up to/want to be like? I can sort of understand that--both the impulse as a writer and, in fact, as a reader. But it can be ridiculous, when the protagonist is always winning at *everything*.

Kate Arden was way, way cooler than Elva Barrett. *sigh*