Christopher Reeve Heroism

810 Words2 Pages

Christopher Reeve, a well known “heroic” actor, once said, “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” This quote means that to be a hero, one can have an ordinary personality, but when he or she encounters adversity the individual finds courage and steps up to unknowingly be the hero. I disagree with the statement, “Heroes are the result of the time and place of an event, rather than the personality traits of the hero” because heroes must have certain personality traits; then they must utilize them to make an impact on an event or place. However, if a person has heroic personality traits, but no opportunity to demonstrate those traits, no one will recognize him/her as …show more content…

Eldridge’s heroism was demonstrated by an event. She saved an elderly woman from getting hit by a train. Ms. Eldridge had heroic traits to make an impact in this situation. Her positive traits included: sympathy, empathy, courage, and wisdom. After the event, Ms. Eldridge said, “All I could think about was the lady’s face. She looked lost. She needed help, and she needed help right then.” Shellenbarger’s article quotes research that states that heroes have qualities and attitudes that distinguish them from the rest of us. Then she writes that a hero makes a very quick decision, at a certain time and place, and takes a heroic …show more content…

David Capuzzo recalled thinking, “If no one does anything, he’s going to die.” David pushed the homeless man up from the tracks, and others pulled him to safety. “I just jumped down,” he said. “I grabbed, like, his legs together and I stood up. This is a time-sensitive issue. I don’t know where the train is.” 3 minutes later, the train came, but everyone was safe. Everyone now looked up at David as a hero. I mean, he saved the homeless man’s life! This was very heroic of David at this time, to help the man, but David also had the personality. If David never had the right hero ethics, he would have never saved the homeless man. David wanted to help the homeless man free to safety, and David had the personality at the right time to go save

Show More
Related

  • How Atticus Finch and Elie Wiesel Demonstrate Heoric Actions Unintentionally

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Umberto Eco, “The real hero is always a hero by mistake….” In other words, one doesn’t act heroic as a lifestyle, but by surprise when the time comes to do so. To be heroic means to put others before you in a desperate time of someone else’s despair. Two works of literature that agree with the critical lens are the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee and the memoir, Night, by Elie Wiesel. Atticus Finch and Elie Wiesel both demonstrate heroic actions unintentionally.

    Read More

  • Epic Heroes Compared: Achilles, Sundiata and Rama

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    Who is a hero? In contemporary times, usage of the term has become somewhat of a cliché. Over the years, the term “hero” has become representative of a wide variety of individuals, each possessing differing traits. Some of the answers put forth by my colleagues (during our in-class discussion on heroism) as to whom they consider heroes pointed to celebrities, athletes, teachers and family members. Although the occupations differed, each of their heroes bore qualities that my classmates perceived as extraordinary, whether morally or physically. Nonetheless, Webster’s defines “hero” as “a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.” Thus, it is worth considering that individuals become heroes relative to the situation with which they’re faced.

    Read More

  • What is a Hero?- Enrique’s Journey

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... is not simply defined by his/her strength or looks; it is also their inner strength and beauty that is truly important. A hero can have many qualities but when they show true understanding for something even without proper education, they are accepting of those around them, and breaking rules when the time is at its most important. While there are true heroes, there are also anti-heroes which have the opposite qualities that of the true hero. Furthermore, there are many kinds of heroes but a true hero is defined by inner qualities that of outer qualities.

    Read More

  • Pat Tillman Heroism

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Christopher Reeve once said, “ A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” The difference between a hero and an average person is that, one will give up and the other will keep fighting. Heroes are willing to sacrifice themselves for others, they are brave when other others cower, and do not run away from the terror.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis: Why Heroes Are Important

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    He opens up the publication by discussing how having Henry David Thoreau as a hero has changed his life, and LaBarge proclaims that if for some reason the disaster of failing to earn tenure were to strike him, then he would find solace in following his hero's example (1). Continuing on into the article, it discusses the origin of the term “hero,” which comes from ancient Greece, and compares those heroes to the ones we have now – those who “are symbols for us of all the qualities we would like to possess and all the ambitions we would like to satisfy” (LaBarge 1). LaBarge also claims that everyone has a “vested interest in each person having heroes” (1). On the next page, he discusses how many people idolize the wrong heroes, and he explains why this is an important problem and how we could possibly fix it. LaBarge also goes into great detail on how many people who are considered heroes have faults by writing, “Washington and Jefferson held slaves, Martin Luther King is accused of philandering and plagiarizing, just about everybody had sex with someone they shouldn’t, and so on” (2). Then, LaBarge suggests that we should separate the things that make our heroes great from the things that damage their heroic perfection and forgive those shortcomings because nobody is perfect, and they are all humans like us, meaing that what was possible for them to accomplish is also possible for us to accomplish as

    Read More

  • Heroism in Beowolf and The Canterbury Tales

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    All in all, heroism is a vague word that could be defined as many of things. Such as bravery, courage, honesty, morality, trusts...etc. If Beowulf was defined as a hero then the knight should be defined as one also seeing as he gave the old women the choice to be old and good or pretty and bad. Or if the Author of The Art of Courtly love cannot be heroic and then write in a way of being heroic how can one decide what heroism is. All three of these studies show different forms and fashions of heroic people, feelings, and attitudes. Overall heroism is and always will be based on personal opinion, what one person defines as a hero can be completely different from what another person sees it as.

    Read More

  • Is Ulyses S. Grant a Hero?

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    If you watch modern movies you will find that these times it is quite easier to be a hero than it was fifty years ago. The world gives us multiple opportunities to proves ourselves and give us the self-satisfaction of being able to say you are a hero. But what is a hero? Grant says, “A hero is someone who does something for other people. He does something that other men don’t and can’t do. He is different from other men. He is above other men. No matter who those other men are, the hero, no matter who he is, is above them.” (193) Obviously Grant matches his own description of a hero. He proved himself a hero by counseling Jefferson while being a teacher with “more than enough” problems of his own.

    Read More

  • Hero Essay: A Hero In Real Life

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    An English proverb states, “ A hero is a man who is afraid to run away”. I agree with this proverb, because when you see a hero in a comic book, they have super cool back stories, are not afraid to fight, and stare danger in the face and not blink. They are not afraid of anything. That’s nice to look up to, but they are not real. Our definition of a hero is too much for one man to become, you can do something honorable, heroic, but you will never actually be a hero because it's too much, in real life. Heroes don’t just do it so they can get paid, or respect. What really determines whether someone is a hero is if they choose to do something about it in a bad situation. We have people that do heroic acts, for example, people putting their lives before others. Those people cannot be heroes because they get paid to do it, they are, firefighters, cops, and military, they get paid to help people, so they aren't considered a hero.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Heroism In A Lesson Before Dying

    919 Words  | 2 Pages

    Heroism has been a great theme in the literature throughout the decades. Many have differing, or different ways of expressing what a hero actually is. Ernest Gaines, the author of A Lesson Before Dying has a very accurate definition of heroism. Ernest Gaines views heroism as the act of sacrifice one makes for the interest of others’, as an innate illogical desire in all humans, and that, as humans, we all have the capability to be heroes.

    Read More

  • Essay On Heroism In Beowulf

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    The concept of heroism has been explored by every author in every generation of writing. The earliest heroes were “self” described heroes that existed within Greek mythology and gained the actual title “Hero” by completing feats that, while they were humanly possible, were only accomplishable by those at peak human form, both physically and mentally. For as long as heroism has been used in literature, and spoken word, they have all had the common theme of humanity. The most prominent heroes were all human, some were “underdog” heroes starting at a disadvantage, some were a manifestation, or reflection, of the average person of the time, and yet others were supposed to represent the peak of humanity. The hero embodies the ideals of the society but is often helpless at the hands of fate.

    Read More

  • The Hobbit: Thematic Analysis

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    Weber, Ann. "WHAT MAKES A HERO? Ordinary People Put Their Lives on the Line to Help Others." The Blade [Toledo] 19 Apr. 2009, City Final ed., Toledo Magazine sec. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2010.

    Read More

  • The Definition of a Hero

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is another type of hero that almost no one is aware of. In the poorest areas of the country, live mostly minorities and other ethic background. All their lives they’ve been expected to work harder and expected not succeed in life. Some individuals living in poverty with a determination to succeed work hard all of their lives to become what everybody doubted they could. Escaping the crime, drugs, and prostitution is enough to escape hell, even if they don’t go to college. Despite of their financial problems, drug and crime surroundings, or difficulties in the language skills, their desire to triumph fuels their persistence. Those who make it to success are the few living examples of the purest form of hero anyone can be. They are not only their own heroes but also the heroes of the poor children who dream of becoming like them someday.

    Read More

  • What is a Hero?

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    To better understand what a heroic quality is it may be easier to describe what a hero is not. Nearly everyday on television people talk of athletes and celebrities as being heroes, but are they? To put it mildly, they are not heroes at all. Possibly role models, but for the most part, not in possession of heroic qualities. When Michael Jordan and Bruce Willis, by risking their lives, save an abandoned child from a typhoon they will possess the qualities to be called heroes in my opinion. Policemen and firemen are at times classified as heroes. Until they prove themselves they are just ordinary people. The title heroic is not given by occupation, rather by achievement.

    Read More

  • What Is Heroism Essay

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    Heroism is defined as an act of courage and an act of selflessness. They reflect the highest levels of morality in society. Heroes have embodied the morality codes of civilizations throughout the ages. When heroes display courage, observers often identify with that courage. The refusal to take the easy way out and the ability to act in spite of fear, is what makes a person a hero. This is the way everyone wishes to react in the midst of a crisis. As witnessed in literature and real life, mankind needs heroes to provide an inspirational role model, an escape from the mundane, and a guide for morality.

    Read More

  • Heroism Essay: What Is Heroism?

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Heroism has no bias function, but through the situations that hits one, heroism can shine through or conceal itself from the false bearer. Is it the acts of kindness that leak out the functionality of heroism or a fantasy warrior who fights to charm others. Heroism works on many horizons and can be classified in many complex rubrics or classifications, for example, one might say a person who has impacted one person’s life is not a hero, but a person who has aided many is a hero. One example of a hero is in the poem, A Man, in the various examples of how soldier lives his life in handicap, but chooses to make his life as normal as possible and for others by going the extra mile. Another example might be in the movie, Mulan, where a young Chinese girl chooses to fight in her ill-stricken father’s place to restore her family’s honor. In the vast populations eyes, every special person sees a hero in a different way, for some these examples above might not be the type of heroes that a couple of people might not come face to face with or even think of; No one genuinely knows how heroism really functions, for there is 7.6 billion different variations of what heroism is. Heroism in another possible viewpoint could be a powerful force of righteousness in the embodiment of a pure soul and acts of kindness or acts of willing love. Another possible perspective of heroism could be the way how others want to benefit society in majorly positive ways.

    Read More

More about Christopher Reeve Heroism

Open Document