As we discussed Rosa Parks today in class, the word hero came up a lot. Rosa Parks is indeed a modern day hero, but what type of hero is she? The myth suggests she a quiet, simple, loving, innocence, and I think most importantly, passive person. In her myth, a story that resonated across the country and still touches hearts today, Rosa Parks was a hero that was op
pressed by people more powerful than her, and she rose up against them with non violence. We love this idea of a peaceful hero, and it seems that within the last decade or two, these are the ones that last. Rosa Parks, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, all non violent activists that spoke against injustice without a single violent act. But if you look farther back, it’s actually the opposite. Ancient heroes, the stuff of legends and folktales. I, for some reason, instantly think of Beowulf. He was written about as a hero, and in his tale, he was considered a hero by both his men and his followers, but Beowulf became a hero not through peace, but through bloody savage fighting. Even though Beowulf may be thought of today as a blood thirst warlord, this legend has lasted hundreds of hundreds of years, which means it obviously resonated when it was created (or it actually happened. It hard to prove if the stories of Beowulf are actually true).
pressed by people more powerful than her, and she rose up against them with non violence. We love this idea of a peaceful hero, and it seems that within the last decade or two, these are the ones that last. Rosa Parks, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, all non violent activists that spoke against injustice without a single violent act. But if you look farther back, it’s actually the opposite. Ancient heroes, the stuff of legends and folktales. I, for some reason, instantly think of Beowulf. He was written about as a hero, and in his tale, he was considered a hero by both his men and his followers, but Beowulf became a hero not through peace, but through bloody savage fighting. Even though Beowulf may be thought of today as a blood thirst warlord, this legend has lasted hundreds of hundreds of years, which means it obviously resonated when it was created (or it actually happened. It hard to prove if the stories of Beowulf are actually true). It’s bizarre to look at the bigger picture, and realize how the idea
of a hero has changed with history. People like Beowulf, physically strong, brave, noble, and violent, versus Gandhi, weak, oppressed, strong willed, brave, virtuous, and peaceful. So which is a hero and which isn’t? Or are they both heroes? Well, I think the hero is all in the eyes of the beholder, the situation, and the time period. So basically, there is not cookie cutter hero. But what then, makes a hero a hero, and not just another really good person? That’s another post for another day.
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