Heroes

In the literary world, a hero is defined as someone who has completed the heroic cycle. In this cycle, the protagonist leaves his home, enters a new world, endures many challenges, and finally emerges a stronger person in the end. In The Odyssey, Beowulf, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonists fulfill all of these requirements and are thus all considered heroes.

However, most people colloquially define a hero as a role model, which is often times true of literary heroes. This means that all heroes have qualities of excellence that are very desirable for most people, and their actions within the heroic cycle demonstrate these characteristics. In the new world, the hero faces many obstacles that challenge his/her strength, morality, intelligence, and other qualities. These actions portray the quality of this person as a whole, which is why the general public admires heroes.

The category of hero includes a wide array of people depending on the culture. The three books mentioned earlier were all part of separated societies, ones in which men were viewed as superior to women, which is why the protagonists are all men. Can women be heroes? Yes, but the audience is important, and in the past, most people did not care to hear about a woman hero. However, times have changed, and now there are many examples in which there is a female protagonist who proves to be a hero. For example, the Disney movie Mulan tells the story of a Chinese girl who fights to bring her family honor. She takes her father’s place in the conscription for the war against the Huns, but she is forced to pass as a male to do so. She travels with the Chinese army and in the end saves her country from a devastating attack from the Huns, proving herself a hero. The reason she is the hero of such a story is because in America during the late twentieth century, people accepted men and women to be equal, which means a woman could be a hero just as easily a man could. In the movie, she demonstrated bravery, strength, and courage, all desirable qualities that make her a role model for the viewers.

However, whether or not we need these role models is a different story. Bertolt Brecht believes that, “Unhappy the land that needs heroes,” opposing our reliance on these superior beings. The quotation indicates that only those who feel self-conscious and unhappy about themselves would need to look up to someone else to feel better. Those who are truly happy do not need heroes to guide them or show them how to be as a person.

Contrarily, I believe that there is always room for improvement, and there is nothing wrong with aspiring to be someone. There is no such thing as perfection in humankind, and it is important that we acknowledge this fact. By having heroes, we admit there are characteristics we wish to change due to our innate flaws. The idea of striving for better is nothing to frown upon and trying to improve ourselves is commendable.