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The Importance Of Heroes In Literature

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Heroes are an essential part of literature they come in many shapes and sizes and are key to encouraging readers to pursue greatness. For children who feel neglected, forgotten, and powerless turning to literature can be their escape. To children a child hero is a representation of the things that may be possible to an ordinary child. In Neil gaiman's novel Coraline goes face to face with the beldam to rescue her parents adn to find her identity . While in JK Rowling's novel “harry potter and the philosopher's stone” harry and his friends band together in a fight of good vs evil. A true child hero stands in the face of adversity and overcomes the challenges thrown at them by adults, they serve as role models providing children an escape from a powerless adult world, both novels going beyond classical heroes; Coraline Jones and Harry potter are postmodern heroes.

Heroes like Harry and Coraline are role models to children who feel powerless and unimportant. Heroes give children an opportunity to feel more like an adult: mature, in control, and in power. Harry is an “orphan” child who has been pushed to believe he is less than ordinary and certainly not of any value of or importance, But once he is a wizard he becomes a positive role model to children as recognized by deborah duff who claims that child heroes demonstrate lessons for coping with bullies or how to approach social awkwardness. Harry displays that good choices can be made in tough situations (Duff, 25). This

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