What is a hero? Or rather what makes a hero? There are many definitions of the word “hero”. Everyone’s definition of hero is unique. There is no universal truth of the word “hero”. It could be a soldier, a firefighter, a writer, a businessman, a sports star. A person can perceive the word hero in an infinite number of ways. But for concrete purposes, heroes are people that overcome significant dilemmas and ultimately become a better person. Huck Finn is a hero in the sense that he breaks away from society in order to help Jim obtain his freedom. Luke Skywalker is a hero as he overcomes his fear of the dark side in order to save the universe. But what makes a hero unique from an ordinary person is his ability to appeal to the reader emotions and moral values. In that sense, I consider Darth Vader to be a hero too, as he overcomes the dark side and stops the emperor from killing Luke. George Lucas is appealing to the reader’s sense of family with Vader’s inner conflict. The concept of family has been ingrained in our minds with words such as trust, love, and dependence. Lucas uses these basic values to appeal to the reader both morally and emotionally. Vader has the responsibility of being a father and the responsibility of serving his master. Ultimately as his responsibility as a father wins out, the good versus evil conflict is resolved.
Women can certainly be heroes. I would consider Joan of Arc to be a hero as she rises up against the British to help her country. Perhaps the definition of a hero can also include some martyr like traits. A hero should be willing to die for his or her cause in order to achieve a greater good. Yet, there are significantly less female heroes in literature when compared to the male heroes. Society’s stereotypical image of females contributes to the lack of women heroes in literature. For the most part, the man has been viewed as the protector of the family while the woman has been the homemaker. In many cultures the male is looked upon with much more respect than the female. China, for example, has a disproportionate male to female ratio ever since the enactment of the One Child law. The male child is looked upon with more respect because he continues the family and inherits the land. Even in developed countries such as the United States, many women change their last names upon marriage. Therefore signifying that the male has the more important last name and continues the family line. Women can be heroic, but the image that comes up with the word “hero” is a well-built, muscular man. This image has been ingrained in our minds through popular culture such as movies like Indiana Jones.
Heroes by my definition all show moral conduct. They are essentially glorified role models that take an epic adventure. Take Frodo for instance, he suffers from the dilemma of desire versus responsibility. Ultimately he succeeds, choosing the better moral decision of saving the whole rather than pursuing his own individual selfish needs. To be a hero, a person has to sacrifice their individual ambition for the greater social good. The person has to be able demonstrate his ability to display the goods morals of society such as selflessness and charity.
Humans do need heroes because heroes bring out the positive aspects of society. In a society where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, where the politician is almost certainly a liar; it is necessary to have heroes to show people that man can be morally good. As Bertolt Brecht once said, “Unhappy the land that needs heroes.” Heroes provide happiness to humans because they are perceived as the ultimate human goodness. Even though they might have had a significant flaw, they overcame the flaw, put their life on the line for the greater good. They are what most people would like to be remembered as but rarely are.
