Heroes

Heroes are necessary in our society. Without them we would not strive for the betterment of society but for the betterment of ourselves. A hero is usually known as a person or character that sacrifices something to help or aid another. Virtuous qualities, such as courage, honesty and humility are also typical of heroes. Most heroes have strong beliefs about what is correct to do in society and what is inappropriate. These beliefs commonly reflect those of the people the story is directed to.

A hero’s worthiness is dependent upon the reader’s connection to the hero’s actions. For example, if a woman who cares about animals a lot reads a story about a man who rescues a cat from a river, the reader will have more of a positive attitude towards the man than say, a hunter reading the story would. Heroes are very contextual, and each appeals to a society’s view on what a person should do to be revered.

In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo is battling throughout much of the story with his internal desires for power versus keeping it out of the hands of power-hungry Saruman. Frodo is a hero in that he volunteered to destroy the ring to keep more fighting from occurring between his supporters, or the “good” side, and Saruman’s Orks. Frodo knows how much trouble he could get himself into if he submits to the ring’s force. Besides nearly controlling his mind, the ring exerts tremendous force over his mind. Many movie watchers, such as people who enjoy LOTR, have been inducted into our society’s view on heroes. This usually includes courage or bravery, honesty, and domination of inner feelings.

Most of these works have a very literal good versus evil plot. Usually one abnormally strong or brave male character saves something or someone from evil. This idea of male power stems from primitive family roles. The male protects the wife and children from harm and hunts for food. The woman rears the children and cooks food. The overcoming of oppressive powers to save the family intertwines with the male protecting his family and life from evil. Evil may take any form, mental, physical, emotional or imaginary.

In the Odyssey and in Beowulf, arrogance comes from their acts of heroism. They both save their towns from destruction. They receive praise for their contribution to the community, but Beowulf and Odysseus soak up all the attention from their actions for themselves. A true hero would modestly accept praise and not bask in it. A true hero would do something solely for their belief in what is right, not to receive recognition for their amazing feats.

“Unhappy the land that needs heroes," said Bertold Brecht

This quote refers to society’s need to look upon one heroic figure for support. People rely on heroes to give them hope and courage to face daily problems. Mesopotamian beliefs are centralized upon the fears and beliefs of the people. Society collectively believes that fear should be eliminated, weather that be an enemy defeated or a husband’s honesty. Different societies have different views on what a hero should do to make the people safe from fear. Two societies with conflicting beliefs will have conflicting ideals of what a hero should do, therefore creating tension between them. This primitive idea might evolve into a war, creating unhappy people once again.