Stoner - a tragic hero?

It was obvious that Stoner's relationship with the English instructor Katherine Driscoll, which brought him a brief spell of happiness in his sad life, would come to no good end - and so it was, as Stoner's nemesis the vindictive and bitter department chair goes to the dean, Stoner's long-time friend but from all I can see an insipid, narcissistic wuss who's repeatedly calling Stoner into his office for a "conversation" and then telling him how he's being screwed by someone or other in the school - Stoner is now a 40-year-old assistant professor who's been consigned throughout his career to the worst possible course schedule - and telling him he wishes he could help but there's nothing he can do etc. - what a liar and what a phony and what a poor excuse for a friend - and Stone is a guy who really needs a friend - anyway, department chair spreads rumors that men have been seen going in and out of Miss Driscoll's apartment at all hours and he cannot have that among his faculty to he has to fire her. Both Stoner and Katherine saw this coming, and they have a sad scene of lamentation - Stoner says he wishes he could file for a divorce, wishes they could leave town together, and so forth - but guess what?, the ever-pliant Katherine packs her bags and moves out in the night and Stoner, apparently, never sees her again. Any reader of this novel wishes he would say the hell with you and stand by Katherine - either pursuing a painful and expensive divorce or leaving town with her, fate be damned. But of course it's the Depression, he would never find another job, and, more to the point, to wish that he would stand up against fate and opposition is to wish that he would be a different person, or character. He can't do it - even to protect someone he loves, who's bound, no doubt, for a much worse fate than his. What will become of her? We don't know - she's stepped outside of the plot of this novel. One of the many strengths of John Williams's writing is how he makes us feel sympathy and pity for Stoner - and makes us see him in all of his complexity, extremely weak in some ways but with a fortitude and commitment to his work and his fate that is almost heroic.