I don't know about that. I think the title, and a lot of the MC's ruminations, are along the lines of "how the hell did I get myself into this?" His vocation as a fabulist leads him to carry this question as far as he can.
As to choosing to be heroic, but not knowing why:
A coworker of mine, a few years ago, was working the night shift. He was alone in the office. He heard some noise outside, and the sound of glass breaking. He ran to the door. Saw a couple of hoods breaking into his car with a crow bar. He went after them. They ran. Fortunately, he didn't catch them, as they might have hurt or killed him. When asked "What were you thinking?", he had no answer. He wasn't thinking, just reacting.
I think the MC in this piece did, more or less, the same thing. He acted on impulse, and didn't really have a chance to consider his situation until he was on the pirate air ship, at which point he acted quite a bit more rationally.