The eyes are called the windows of the soul, for they reflect the unique qualities or shortcomings of the person they belong to. However, despite the distinct combination of various virtues and vices that exist within every living being, a certain gleam of selfishness is detected within the layers of most human eyes. Heroes are the rare exception to this; this selfish streak is replaced with the glowing embers of a perpetually burning fire that feeds on the desire to be selfless for other people. Unfortunately, over time, the quiet bearers of this undying flame such as Jefferson from Ernest J. Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, are often forgotten, or the misdeeds of cowards such as Victor Frankenstein from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are overlooked. Heroes are defined by their ability to go against selfish human instincts in trying circumstances, which makes all the difference between the heroic Jefferson and Victor Frankenstein. The ability to defeat obstacles to achieve a goal that benefits society, unwavering courage and being responsible go against selfish impulses and therefore, these traits define a hero.
Jefferson is a hero for the black community, for he musters enough determination to go through the difficult ordeal of making a stand for them in his final moments. While Victor Frankenstein yields to his selfish mind and abandons the creature he slaved over for years, due to its appearance. Jefferson must have at desired to go to his dreadful fate in peace, without any trouble. However, he realizes that dying with dignity effectively discards the label of a ‘hog’thrust on him by a white lawyer which will provide hope for the black community. If he, the lowest of the low can discard the fetters cast upon him by...
... middle of paper ...
...e white community, while Victor Frankenstein’s weak will causes him to immediately abandon his creature after seeing its grotesque features. Furthermore, Jefferson’s remarkable courage helps him defeat the natural fear of death and Victor’s cowardly nature causes him act too late, which causes several deaths. Most importantly, Jefferson’s responsible nature allows him fight the selfish impulse to forgo responsibility in his trying situation, whereas Victor shamelessly blames his fatal foray into galvanism on his curious nature and his father. Therefore, true heroism is rare for it goes against the desire to give way to one’s selfish instincts, which is the very embodiment of a human being.
Works Cited
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein.New York: Signet Classics, 1963. Print.
Gaines, J., Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1993. Print
Jefferson is trapped in a racist and ignorant place, this is shown countless times throughout the book, for example when Jefferson's defendant said ”A cornered animal to strike quickly in fear a trait inherited by his ancestors in the deepest jungles of blackest Africa...What you see here is a thing that acts on command. A thing to hold the handle of a plow, a thing to load your bales of cotton”(Gaines 7) .
In Ernest J. Gaines novel A Lesson Before Dying, a young African-American man named Jefferson is caught in the middle of a liquor shootout, and, as the only survivor, is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. During Jefferson’s trial, the defense attorney had called him an uneducated hog as an effort to have him released, but the jury ignored this and sentenced him to death by electrocution anyways. Appalled by this, Jefferson’s godmother, Miss Emma, asks the sheriff if visitations by her and the local school teacher, Grant Wiggins, would be possible to help Jefferson become a man before he dies. The sheriff agrees, and Miss Emma and Mr. Wiggins begin visiting Jefferson in his jail cell. Throughout the book, Jefferson has two seemingly opposite choices in front of him; become a man, and make his godmother and other relatives proud by dying with dignity, or, remain in the state of a hog with the mentality that nothing matters because he will die regardless of his actions. The choices Jefferson is faced with, and the choice he makes, highlights the book’s idea of having dignity ...
Gaines’ novel is centered on a massive injustice, which is a young man who is falsely convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution. When Jefferson was brought into a trial for the murders of the three white men in the bar, most of the jury quickly assumed that he was guilty due to his skin color, because, at that time, the assumption of innocence does not
In Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” the matter of courage is heavily emphasized through the text. One could assume, using the text as a reference, that some are simply more courageous than others. To assume that some are simply more courageous than others is to ignore how courage is displayed and the many shapes that courage takes. In “Franknestein” the character Walton possess a very traditional form of courage. Walton is brave in the face of danger and willing to take risks. Walton possess physical courage whilst Victor posses a more unusual form of courage.
Heroes in literature and history, more often than not, meet tragic ends, unless they were created by Walt Disney. These particular people are often seen as someone who is apart from the masses in morals and attempt to accomplish a higher calling for the common good. The problem with this type of hero is that they are destined for suffering.Two such characters exist in classic literature, Winston Smith of George Orwell’s 1984 and Hamlet of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.” Hamlet is the true classic tragic hero, though, because he is of noble birth, possesses high moral standards, completes the task he is given to better the world, and causes tragedy in both his life and the lives of others.
Summary: This story is about racism in the south and how it affects the people it concerns. It starts out with Jefferson being sentenced to death for a crime that he did not commit. He was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and because he was black, they assumed he did it. Grant Wiggins is told to go up to the jail and convince Jefferson that he is a man. At first he doesn’t know how to make Jefferson see that he is a man, but through visiting Jefferson, talking to Vivian and witnessing things around the community, he is able to reach Jefferson, convince him that he was a man.
In Grant Wiggin’s speech about heroes, Jefferson displays many of the qualities that, according to Grant, a hero must possess. Grant himself, for all the good he does Jefferson, is not a hero, following his own formula. However, we cannot simply say that one is a hero and the other is not. In comics and fairy tales, the divisions between heroes and average people might be clear, but in real life, the lines are blurred.
“What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?”-John Green, an American author of young adult fiction, such as The Fault in Our Stars, and the YouTube blogger of crash course history. The mythological character Prometheus and Victor from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, try to influence mankind in a positive way, but instead the result is detrimental to society. Victor and Prometheus both want to help mankind, regardless, both overstep their bounds, and are severely punished. Although their true characters are revealed through how they handle their suffering.
In this book, Ernest J. Gaines presents three views to determine manhood: law, education and religion. Jefferson has been convicted of a crime, and though he did not commit it, he is sentenced to death as a "hog" a word that denies any sense of worth or fragment of dignity he may have possessed in a world ruled by oppressive white bigots. Jefferson is at an even greater loss as he has no education and after the conviction he doubts that God can even exist in a world that would send an innocent man to his death. It is clear that Jefferson does not believe he has any value. " ‘I’m an old hog. Just an old hog they fattening up to kill for Christmas’ " (83).
Although “Frankenstein” is the story of Victor and his monster, Walton is the most reliable narrator throughout the novel. However, like most narrator’s, even his retelling of Victor’s story is skewed by prejudice and favoritism of the scientist’s point of view. Yet this could be attributed to the only view points he ever gets to truly hear are from Victor himself and not the monster that he only gets to meet after he comes to mourn his fallen master.
Prejudice against racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, and religious groups regarded as “out groups” forms a fundamental component of human social behavior, providing insight into the complex interactions between environmental, situational factors and neural processes, and how they dictate behavior. Through analysis of the anti-hero, natural human weakness and fault must be accounted for as a possible negative force influencing behavior and decision making, driving chaos and destruction. Therefore, by understanding the evolutionary roots and neurological causes of prejudice present in an anti-hero, a new level of comprehension of is revealed, their motivations uncovered. Although developed neurologically in the evolutionary process,
Pride and prejudice, isolating behaviors, create a path of unnecessary destruction through the life of Victor Frankenstein. All that remains for us the reader is to figure out where our sympathies lie. What lessons we can learn from this tragic tale of the ego driven scientist and his monstrous creation.
In Frankenstein, Shelley creates two very complex characters. They embody the moral dilemmas that arise from the corruption and disturbance of the natural order of the world. When Victor Frankenstein is attending school, he becomes infatuated with creating a living being and starts stealing body parts from morgues around the university. After many months of hard work, he finishes one stormy night bringing his creation to life. However, “now that [Victor] had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart” (Chambers). Right after Victor realizes what he has done, he falls into deep depression and must be nursed back to health by his friend. Victor spends the rest of the story facing consequences and moral problems from creating unnatural life. When he realizes that the ‘monster’ has killed his brother, even though no one believes him, he feels responsible for his brother’s murder because he was responsible for the existence of the ‘monster’. Also feeling responsible, Victor...
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.
For a time, the main characters in a story, poem, or narrative were easily classified as either being a hero or a villain. A hero would be easy to identify by the traits he'd possess, such as bravery, honesty, selflessness, trustworthiness, courage, leadership, and more. The villain would be easy to identify as well, possessing traits such as maliciousness, deceitfulness, immorality, dark, wishing harm upon others, and more. But what if the character lacked the natural heroic qualities but wasn't a villain either? What if the person displayed personality flaws that would traditionally be associated with a villain, but has heroic intentions? These questions were finally answered with the emergence of the anti-hero in literature.