Comparison Of Heroism In El Dorado

All heroes around the world go through a journey of their own. Those journeys can be a physical, , mental, emotional journey, and lots more. These types of personal journeys are demonstrated in an epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, an interview, The Hero’s adventure by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, a short poem, Courage by Anne Sexton, a graphic novel, The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds. They all show how journeys can be transformative and show a person’s strengths and/or weaknesses.

From the words of C.S. Lewis, “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny”. Facing hardships and breaking free from their normal world allows the hero inside of people to come out. Many stories document this journey of a hero through the Hero’s Journey Archetype. In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, a man named Rainsford stumbles upon an island where humans are hunted by a crazed man. The hero’s journey archetype is implemented throughout Rainsford’s experiences in the story. Richard Connell used the Hero’s Journey Archetype to structure the plot and develop the theme that with clever thinking and lots of hope, one can succeed at anything.

Heroes have achieved many feats that support the belief of a greater good and expressing valor and selflessness through the ages. There are fictional or real life accounts that have recognized these men and women for their vigor and marked them as heroes due to their events of success and motives of committing the heroic deeds. Yet there are copious amounts of people who have sacrifice themselves for a greater good but they have been lost through time even if their actions were prosperous or doomed in the end with a valiant purpose. They are unsung heroes who committed the actions based on their inner fire of what is right or honorable or rather than the fame they hope to achieve from those acts. The world or a populous may not know of their actions, but the actions and beliefs of an individual or group can entitle them of being hero-like without the necessity of recognition and success. They have lost their lives or a part of themselves to a cause based on righteousness rather than self-gain. They presented selfless heroism rather than the the intention to receive praise from the victories. Sacrifice contributes more to Heroism because the individual invested his or her own determination, valor and accepting the opportunity to risk their self-health (physical or psychological) based on great intentions rather than reaping the accolades of committing good deeds.

Life is a precious gift, as you only get one chance to become your best self. In life everyone has hopes and dreams to find their calling to potentially make a difference in the world. In literature we are presented with an abundance of epic hero stories, referring to fictional or non-fictional characters that have made a difference in their world. These characters grant the reader with entertaining stories pertaining to historical or fictional events that reflect the hero’s journey to making a triumphant change. Joseph Campbell’s theory that every hero has a similar journey to becoming their best self commences with a call to an adventure. The call to adventure is the first and most important step in Joseph Campbell’s hero monomyth, “A hero with a Thousand Faces.”

The “hero’s journey”, coined by Joseph Campbell, is a pattern in the plot structure of literature, myths, and oral tradition in which the hero is consistently faced with similar obstacles and achieves many of the same goals. The first part of the hero’s journey is “The Call.” The hero is usually living a very comfortable and easy life, unaware of the journey ahead. The hero is then faced with a situation or dilemma which eventually causes them to seek change. The hero, at this point, tends to refuse the call to adventure in fear of the unknown. Once the hero has been given the strength to push past the unknown, they have entered the threshold. The hero will experience many challenges and temptations where the hero is tested, eventually reaching “The Abyss,” the most difficult challenge. The hero is then transformed by these trials and returns home to every-day life and begins to contribute to their society. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist, Janie, experiences the hero’s journey first-hand through overcoming obstacles and transforming herself. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the heroine Janie overcomes many obstacles and is therefore transformed into a self reliant woman.

A Closer Look A tale of a hero is truly thrilling. They take on the risk of their unseen journey, with challenges, and transformations, in hopes of return. The life of a hero is exhilarating. Each story provides different incite, meaning, and purpose, but yet every hero’s journey manages to apply the same concepts.

Reading through Beowulf I began to compare it to the last great epic I read, Homer’s Odyssey. While the Odyssey and Beowulf are each examples of both historic and modern ideas of heroism, the acts of Beowulf’s hero seem to fit better within its context.

In the speech, “Heroes” by Tim O’Brien, he discusses what a true hero is; likewise, he elaborates his story about how he met him. O’Brien’s message on heroism is a true hero is not someone who wins a lot of games; however, it is the ones who sit in silence as we succeed or fail and is always there for us. He advocates this message through his flashback and imagery.

The “Hero’s Journey” is a common template in stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, wins a victory in a decisive crisis, and then comes home changed or transformed. This template has been used in tales throughout history to convey the journey that a protagonist goes on. The universality of the struggles and conflicts these heroes overcome allows this template to become as popular as it is today. Many of the stages that exist within the “Hero’s Journey” can be applied to my journey as well as yours. The stage of my grandfather’s death in my journey is comparable to “The Ordeal” in the “Hero’s Journey.”

in order to be heroic. The actions an individual takes dictates the kind of person they are and the

The characteristic of heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits, and starts of generosity. But when you have chosen your part, abide by it, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be the common, nor the common the heroic.

Throughout history it becomes apparent that all the great stories: The Odyssey, Great Expectations, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are all founded on a similar theme. The same plot line, a hero, most often the protagonist, faces danger and adversity to the highest extreme but always comes out on top. He is depicted as the pinnacle of human triumph and in essence, demonstrates a fundamental strength that all men should strive to achieve. These stories were, “ full of darkness and danger. And sometimes one did not want to know the end; How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? In the end, it is only a passing thing. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out even clearer. Those

Heroism in poems makes it possible to visualize what the interpretation of a hero is. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain was the hero, as for Lost Paradise, Milton’s Satan was the hero. Norton and Milton were able to interpret two different characters as a hero in their poems. Both heroes had different qualities that distinguished and many the readers question what the true meaning of a hero was.

Zeno Franco and Philip Zimbardo offer the idea that heroism can be adopted by every individual, and how we can implement this embodiment into everyday life. Franco and Zimbardo explain the "banality of evil" is when an ordinary person under a certain condition or social pressure can commit inhumane acts, and this could be proven through behavioral science. Nevertheless, Franco and Zimbardo suggest that just like evil there could be a "banality of heroism"; furthermore, this suggests that one could nurture heroism through the heroic imagination. Franco and Zimbardo emphasize the importance of the heroic imagination; furthermore, the heroic imagination grants individuals the ability to imagine themselves as heroes. In addition, allowing individuals

Heroism Throughout literature, there have been examples written of heroic tales and the heroes that they are written about. In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway demonstrates several characteristics of a hero through the protagonist, the fisherman Santiago. Hemingway defines courage as “grace under pressure.” Throughout the novel, there are examples of conventional heroism, unusual forms of heroism, and Santiago’s own beliefs about heroes.