How does the main character/protagonist show resiliency, courage, or hope in the circumstances they face?

I think Myer's life, especially after high school was a testament to resilience.

White collar jobs were not available to him and by the time Myers was in high school the family was seriously struggling financially. There was no money or opportunity for Myers to go to college. He began to drop out, and get involved in petty crime, even befriending a murderer and realizing that he would need to get out of town pretty soon for his own safety and wellbeing. This is why he joined the military.

On returning from his tour of duty, Myers fell into one dead-end blue collar job after another and was never really happy. He missed writing, he missed education, and he wanted to try to find a way to have them both. This is when the central irony of his life occurred; in his youth he had considered his race to be the barrier to writing for a living, but now, in drawing on his experiences as a young man, he was able to make his race the thing that enabled him to become a full-time writer.