Heros Essay, Research Paper

A hero is a man noted for courage strength and honor. Heroes exist in many different forms throughout literature. Several heroes studied in class were Beowulf, William Wallace, John Savage, and Vincent Freeman. All of these are considered heroes for different reason through their different journeys.

Every journey begins with a call. For Beowulf it was his fate to fight off the terrible monster. During the time this was written, fate and destiny were strong elements in literature. William Wallace saw the problems all around him of the English oppression of Scotland. His call came when an English lord killed his wife. This started his quest. John Savage began thinking differently then the government created society in which he lived. However, due to impulses sent to the brain by the government he could not complete thoughts. All of the people in the society were constantly doped up in soma and had no real freedom or personalities. His quest was to free his peoples minds. Vincent Freeman was born from natural causes in a world where people were genetically created from the best genes of both parents. He always longed to go to space, but due to his genetic inferiority, he would never be able to. However, there were ways of using false identification, from I.D. cards right down to DNA helixes. When he learned of this he decided to try it as a last resort.

Another leg of a hero s journey is the challenge that the hero must over come. In Beowulf s case he needed to over come both Grendel and his mother in order to save Hrothgar s men from being attacked. He fought bravely to defeat Grendel, the used a magical sword to defeat the mother. William Wallace watched his own wife be killed. He rallied armies and fought bravely to free Scotland. His journey lived on in his death because he refused to beg mercy when he was finally apprehended. Do to his courageous actions, Scotland continued to fight and won its freedom. John Savage lived in a society in which the people minds were enslaved by the government. His challenge was to free his mind and the rest of his people and get them off soma. He had to leave society and go to a reservation in order to get the ability to pull off this feat. Vincent Freeman was born is a society in which people were perfect. Vincent was not made this way, and for his lack of genetic ability he was shut out of jobs and basically everything else successful. He pulled off and elaborate scheme in which he took on the identity of a genetically perfect person. Through hard work and clever tricks he excelled past people who were better then him and got to live his dream of going into space. At the same time as he fulfilled his dream, he gave hope to other naturally born people such as the doctors son.

All of these people have surmounted unbelievable odds to over come what conflicts lye before them. For Beowulf he fought bravely to fulfill his destiny. William Wallace won many battles in which the English had more money, men, and horses. One thing the English didn t have was the hearts of the Scottish. Wallace rallied their spirits before the battle with epic speeches and great planing. He never gave up. John Savage had a task that seemed impossible ahead of him. In a society that was so controlled, down to every aspect of life, Savage overcame his own slavery, and then summoned enough will to do the same for all. This was a truly heroic feat. Vincent Freeman lived in a world where people were prejudice to other right down to their genes. Jobs are only available to those with certain DNA structures and traits. Vincent knew he could never be able to go to space as himself. So he took on the identity of a genetically p [perfect human who was injured in a car accident. He practically became the other man, and excelled far past those better then him. He made it too space and accomplished his dream. In doing this he also gave hope to all those who weren t perfect and proved that a man’s determination can over come any physical impairment. All of these characters are heroes and all give hope, set examples, and serve as models for all of our lives.