Harrowing over what is a Hero

The label of hero for an individual is tossed around quite freely these days, but what exactly makes a person or character a hero?

“We need a hero, courageous sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero, people line up for 'em, cheer for them, scream their names, and years later tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who told them to HOLD ON a second longer. I believe there’s a hero in all of us that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble. And finally gets us to die with pride. Even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want most, even our dreams.”
- Aunt May: Spiderman 2

“The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by.”
- Felix Adler

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.”
- Joseph Campbell

According to Peter Parker’s Aunt May, from the movie, Spiderman 2, a hero is a person who simply sets a good morale example for everyone else to follow by. Felix Adler an author of several books interprets a hero slightly differently seeing a hero as a person who lights the way for all of man kind. Finally, Joseph Campbell another author says that a hero gives his or her life for a bigger cause. Just from these three examples, we can see that there is quite a large range of views on the exact definition of a hero, but rather than discount all of them, all these views help determine the grand picture of “What is a hero?”

Dating back to first recorded text, with “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, a character referred to as a “hero” was born. In texts ranging from Greek mythology to modern day literary pieces the use of hero has not waned. Literarily speaking, a “hero” is a strong protagonist who is confronted by either a large task or burden and eventually goes on an adventure to conquer or overcome it. Frodo Baggins, the protagonist, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s, “Lord of the Rings”, is just one example of what many consider to be a hero. Frodo’s travels take him across Middle Earth to dispose of a mythical ring which has brought evil forces upon all of its inhabitants. His conquering of dragons, wizards, and other black magic at the expense of himself are what define him as a hero.

The definition of a hero though goes further than just the literary sense of the word. A hero is an individual who encompasses all the moral values and characteristics desired by and individual or society. Therefore, the violent hero of Greek mythology such as Odysseus, one who is heroic because he defeats large beasts with swords and daggers is just as much a hero as the firefighters who saved lives on September 11th, 2001.

Looking at the gender tilt of whether females can indeed be “heroines”, the truth is that they can. Since a hero is determined by what a society treasures most, if the female character had the same qualities necessary to meet the requirements of the society then she in fact could be. In the case of Beowulf, The Odyssey, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Star Wars or even Indiana Jones, females were not the heroes simply because the society didn’t perceive them to be capable of saving a kingdom, nation, or even galaxy from the clutches of evil.

When trouble is afoot, why is that we always look to the skies, or toward the horizons. Do we need heroes in life? Looking back to the Aunt May quotation earlier in this blog, we look to the skies in search of that someone who can help us hang on in life for one second longer. Whether this person helps us hang on to our goals or more dramatically the ledge of a building which Aunt May is describing. Aunt May also helps answer the question further by explaining that there is a hero within each of us that keeps us moral. If this is indeed the case, then the answer is clear, we all need a hero in order to live happy and successful lives.

Bertold Brecht has a different opinion of whether a society needs a hero. He states, “Unhappy the land that needs heroes.” His reasoning is that a hero is determined upon a society’s desires not the other way around. A society can in fact accomplish its goals without a hero, so one needing one is simply unhappy because they do nothing for themselves to accomplish their goals, only waiting for another to accomplish them. While, both Aunt May’s and Brecht’s opinions are quite different, following our definition that a hero is the embodiment of a society’s morals and ideals, having no hero means there are no morals or ideals and chaos is allowed to wreak havoc. Thus, we do in fact need heroes, however, we may in fact be the heroes ourselves.