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Teachers & SchoolsDefeat
This one goes hand in hand with "Ambition." Before the heroes of Back to the Future can achieve their goals, they have to suffer some pretty oppressive defeats, and we get a front row seat to see if they're able to bounce back.
It would have been great for George, for example, if the knocking-Marty-out scheme had panned out, but what was really character building was his unexpected encounter with Biff instead: he suffers a (temporary) defeat before collecting previously unknown strength and delivering a wallop to his nemesis that would have garnered Chuck Norris' approval.
If Marty hadn't experienced defeat in his own life, he never would have been able to empathize with his father's plight.
It is possible to suffer a defeat without become defeated.