Thinking About the Hero

Epic works consist of a series of events in which there are adventures and struggles. Usually the struggle involves an evil. Whether that evil is Darth Vadar or racism, the protagonist in epic works usually thwarts this evil. Thus many people would make the assumption that a protagonist is a savior, a hero. When classifying a hero, one must take into considerations the intentions of the protagonist. When Huckleberry Finn lied to the bounty hunters, was that a heroic action? Did he protect Jim because he wanted a father figure, or did he see the humanitarian cause? As in most situations there are grey areas. It is up to the reader to decide who she wants to consider a hero based on her own values.

Still, most people will agree that Superman, Spiderman and Wonder Woman are all heroes because they dedicate their lives to fighting crime and villains. Most people will agree that 9/11 firefighters are heroes because they risked their lives trying to save people. But do most people consider a doctor who works in the Emergency Room a hero, or is he simply doing his job? Some may think that he is an average person. That he did not do anything extraordinary he just decided to earn his living by curing and helping others. But to those who were saved by that doctor he meets all standards as a hero. There must be different definitions of heroes. But all heroes share a common trait they put others before themselves and have a willingness to sacrifice their life or time for a better cause. In essence, anybody can be a hero. However, everybody cannot be a hero because then the definition of a hero would change to “an ordinary person”.

Becoming a hero requires a mixture of fate and fortune also known as “the right place at the right time.” Superman could not be considered a hero if he was not put in dangerous situations where he could help others. In addition, a hero has to first know the risks involved in helping that person, and then act accordinbly to help that person. But the presence of the media affects the average person’s interpretation of who deserves to be hero. The media defines what actions are heroic, often neglecting the people behind the scenes who produced the hero. In such a way, women, as heroines, have been forgotten throughout history. In the earliest literature, stories of war were the most common. In these stories, men often shouted, “save the women and the children” whenever men were attacked by an enemy. And rightly so, women were the link to maintaining the population and children were the future generation. In such a battle, the men courageously fought other men. By the end of the battle, a few men were considered heroes for killing the most enemy men and helping keep their families safe. Under old definitoins of a hero as a warrior, women had no chance to obtain such a title. Instead women would be home raising her children, educating them, and passing down traditions, while their husbands were away. Because of their absense from battle, they could never considered as heroines. One exception is Joan of Arc, who rode into battle disguised as a man. She was considered a heroine and was later deemed a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church, but she needed to alter her appearance to be considered on the same level as men. Traced back since the beginning of warfare, the belief that men are heroes has been engraved in modern society.

The definition of a “hero” has changed since World War Two. Up until that war heroes who courageously fought and died for their country disappeared with the emergence of technical warfare. If the idea that a hero had to kill the most amount of enemy people for the security of his country, then the nuclear physicist who developed the atomic bomb or the person with the most powerful machine gun would be a hero. However those people are not necessarily heroes. In their place a new line of heroes emerged. Now people who save the most amount of lives, such as the firefighters on 9/11 and the doctor in the Emergency Room are considered heroes.

The perception of a hero has changed relatively recently, as more people are beginning to consider peace-keepers and teachers in Third World countires as heroes. The new type of heroes are a product of the current environment. In a society full of injustice and struggle over material goods, heroes conduct themselves in ways to be just and caring. Whether that hero is Spiderman or Al Gore, everybody needs a hero to keep in check their virtues and to aspire to become a better person. Heroes encourage others to overcome their obstacles and persevere. Without heroes, there would be little incentive to do good in the world. Most people would stop and stare in a crisis; they would not take the initiative to take action. But there will never be a world without heroes, because humans will always need to have somebody to look up to. As Bertold Brecht said, “Unhappy the land that needs heroes,” humans will find a hero in all the crevices of the earth. To some people a dictator who brought order to a country can be considered a hero, while to others that dictator limited freedoms; therefore, he is a tyrant. The debate between the definition of a terrorist and a martyr perfectly parallels a villain and a hero.