The question "What makes a hero?" is so important to the structure of societal beliefs and values, that, a proper answer to this question is not only in demand, but necessary. The problem with this question is that the answer is not as simple as "someone with great bravery", as some media sources will tell you.
This question has been intertwined with the theme of heroic development over time, in my Grade 12 English course. As to understand a heroes development, we must first understand what it means to be a hero.
Enough questions. To the answers.
This video explains Joseph Campbell's formulaic description of a heroes journey that has been prevalent in countless literature pieces. If you see your favorite story fitting this formula perfectly, good, the video has done its job. This has been made purposely generalized as to fit a multitude of stories and acts as a way to unite literature to its most basic elements, allowing for mutual understanding and dialogue over these stories. By looking at the similarities in a heroes journey, we can gather a general image of what a hero is.
By the end of the video, a literary hero is a reflection on the human race, going out of their comfort zone, growing and learning from it, and then doing it again. This definition is so generalized, that anybody who has ever jumping into a pool would be qualified to have had their own "hero's journey". With that said, I cannot consider this to be what makes a hero, as if it were, a hero would not be special whatsoever in the grand scheme of things.
There are several definitions of what makes a hero in literature, and these different definitions are basically a way to categorize different types of heroes in stories. These different types of heroes are exactly what I will be explaining and expanding upon over the next few blogs I make. If you want to learn how heroes are shaped and formed in literature, keep checking this page, as I post blogs every few days.
Keep up to date, and you may learn a thing or two on heroic development in literature, and how you too can be heroic in your own life.
Comments