Character Successes and Failures

It is acceptable and possible to write character where there is no effort to hide the failures and weaknesses of characters meanwhile displaying their character development slowly? I am not planning long runner but still I always wondered if you could display character growth in a realistic growth as a step backward as well as forward?

... what? I don't understand the question.

I think he's asking if it's possible to write a balanced character that doesn't always excel but doesn't always fail either.

And while I'm not entirely sure if I am right here, but to answer his question... It's an emphatic YES!

Character growth does not have to be a positive thing. Many tragedies are built on people exacerbating their flaws instead of working to minimize them.

Not sure if I understand the post myself, but here goes.

You could make the case that people don't learn from success. A character in a story shouldn't learn anything about him/herself or the world around him when s/he succeeds. We learn from mistakes, our own and those of people around us. So characters move forward in one sense while moving backward in another.

This may be what the OP was asking. Italics are my editing.

Is it acceptable and possible to write a character where there is no effort to hide said character's failures and weaknesses, while displaying their character development slowly? I am not planning on writing a long series. Also I wonder, can a writer display character growth realistically as a step backward as well as forward?

For the first question it depends on the character. Usually it is a yes, but for some types of characters like the Magnificent Bastard you might not want to show as many of their weaknesses as say the protagonist.

For the second question I'm not sure, because I haven't tried that. I'm sure other tropers may be able to help you out.

For the second question I wanted to show how great the characters without minimizing or hiding their failures.

Pretty much any character development can be great if well-written, and a Wall Banger if poorly written.

The characters I create are often centered around their flaws. One is a coward, another is insane, another is misanthropic (hates people in general).

It works well since the focus on their negative traits is what makes them interesting and also makes development more effective.

Did I elaborate on the wrong thing? I am not sure since the question is still kind of vague.