In his essay entitled "The Two Traditions of Czech Literature," René Wellek argued that Czech literature contains within itself two competing and contrary impulses: one is idealist, imaginative, and poetic while the second is rational, empirical and prosaic. This paper is intended as an investigation into the treatment of characters, especially protagonists, who exhibit the characteristics of stereotypical "little" Czechs - social conformity, collaboration, plebian aspirations – by two 20th century authors who exemplify the divide between these impulses. As such, it will focus mostly on the portrayal of Ditie in Bohumil Hrabal’s I Served the King of England as representative of the former tradition in contrast to the depictions of Vanek’s interlocutors, and occasionally Vanek himself, in Vaclav Havel’s “Vanek” plays as representatives of the rational and empirical tradition, regardless of their absurdist style. From these works, it can be argued that the first strain of Czech literature lends itself to the transformation of “little” Czech characters into the mythological and even heroic, while the second is often more interested in viewing their behavior as symptomatic of a disordered and irrational social system which is then held up for more direct criticism.