The Hero

    Hero's and Heroine's have been a part of our culture for century's. In almost all forms of art are hero's, be they noticed or not.
     Beowulf, The Odyssey, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, StarWars films, Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Lord of the Rings are just some of the many stories about Hero's. They are all alike yet different simultaneously. In all of these great works of fiction the hero discovers something about himself and throughout the story learns things about the world in general. They are called to a task, and eventually, while overcoming obstacles achieve that task.
        I would define a hero as somebody who would sacrifice something of importance to them, to help others in need. Be it a person, an event or even themselves, a hero would never look back on his or her decision to save another human beings life.
      Notice, though, how common the theme of there being no female heroine.Or one that we can notice firsthand. Traditionaly the role of the female is one that mainly focuses on home and child care, along with being a "good" wife. But as in the Star Wars films Princess Leia plays a major role of the hero. In these examples of hero's in fiction movies and books stated above, I believe the heroine is not directly mentioned and as played out as there male counterparts are. Seeing as this world we live in is mostly a male dominated world it is only logical that our art would express these views as well.
     I believe that the "hero conduct" could be defined as one where the person is generaly a kind and generous person. One who is not afraid to sacrifice something of importance to themselves to help the other in need. They do not show off there status in society nor their whatever ability's that they may posses. They are like a silent protector of humanity.
     We as a species created this ideal of the hero, I think, to basically make ourselves seem better than we are. We wanted to believe in something more, someone better than ourselves. A person that we could look up too and depend on. The hero serves as a silent warning to any that oppose the structure of society. It keeps civilization civilized and structure is kept. I do believe that we need the ideal hero in our lives. We need that image of someone that resembles us, that is not a god or some other entity, but does godlike deeds.
      Bertolt Brecht once said, "Unhappy the land that needs heroes."  I believe that what he is saying is that we are not ready yet as a whole people to survive without hero's. We have not matured fully yet; we have not grown up yet. As a small child is unhappy because of all the things he has yet to do, we as a society are unhappy. The hero, again, is like our support system.