Essential to overcoming adversity is the ability to cause change in yourself and others. In the book, The Lost Years of Merlin by T.A. Barron, Merlin has to learn to be selfless. This helps him to be a better person because he was brave and true to his friends. Ultimately, T. A. Barron teaches us that if people are selfless and help others, it benefits not only them but the people they are helping.
You have to be humble to be great. In the beginning, Emrys arrives at Fincayra accidentally while searching for his memories. He meets a girl named Rhia and a midget giant named Shim. Rhia gets kidnapped by trolls while trying to save Emry’s. He is starting to be more considerate to the people around him and want to save Fincayra and not just find his past. He also has not been bragging about what he has done but talking about what he could do. He has Shim following him to save Rhia. Emrys was being humble when he said, “Well I certainly did not feel very courageous as Caipre said, ‘This will not be the first time you have shown bravery.’” (Barron 195). This shows he is humble even though Caipre was talking about him being great.
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They can achieve this by being humble, realizing that you have to give up things to achieve selflessness, and knowing that when you put others before yourself it can come with great rewards. This vital lesson is not just important to Merlin in The Lost Years of Merlin. Malala used this lesson as she fought for women's rights in Pakistan . It can also be applied to how Iqbal Masih helped everyone else escape child enslavement with him instead of going on his own. Finally, it can be applied to our lives because we can help someone in need instead of helping ourselves, by doing things like donating to the poor. If you are selfless and help other people, it will benefit you, the person you are helping, and it will benefit the
Films are necessary in our time period because the human eye can articulate the message intended through sight allowing visual imagination to occur. In the book, world 2 by Max Brooks, he creates a character by the name Roy Elliot who was a former movie director. Roy Elliot manages to make a movie titled “Victory at Avalon: The Battle of the Five Colleges” and some how it goes viral. Similarly, Frank Capra’s film, “Why we Fight” expresses a sense of understanding the meaning of wars. Films do not inevitably portray truth because they display what the film director views as important and beneficial for people to know.
The Other Wes Moore is a novel that shows the different paths of two different men, one successful and the other not so fortunate. We discovered their different identities and how their choices and role models effect their lives. Wes 1 was led by his brave, hard working mother and the great military men. He didn't make incredibly great decisions but the people in his life helped him turn into the successful man he is today.However, Wes 2 had a brother who dealt drugs. The novel guides you through the 8 crazy years that led to Wes Moore 1's success and Wes Moore 2's life sentence for prison.
In T.H. White's Once and Future King, fate plays a very important role in Arthur's life when he meets Merlyn and Merlyn becomes his mentor. When they first met, Arthur was confused as to why Merlyn was going all the way home with him until Merlyn said, "Why not? How else can I be your tutor?" (37) Arthur realizes he had been on a quest to find his tutor. This quote is important to the theme because it was Arthur's first quest on his journey towards king. This reason this quote is so important is because Merlyn is preparing Arthur to become a great leader. After all of Arthur's training with Merlyn, Merlyn tells Arthur that he might not know it yet but he will be, "Hic jacet Arthutus Rex quandum Rexque futurus... The Once and Future King." (287) This quote foreshadows that Arthur, will in fact, become the great leader. If it were not for training with Merlyn, he would not be the great leader he developed into throughout the book.
In the short story, “Until Gwen” by Dennis Lehane, it starts off with the main character named Bobby who is getting picked up by his father from prison with a stolen Dodge Neon. His father wasn’t alone, he brought himself a company and it was a hooker named Mandy. We got a sense of who his father was, a “professional thief, a consummate con man” (647). We don’t know why he was in prison until the rest of the story slowly reveals the flashbacks he has with his girlfriend Gwen and the incident prior of going to jail. Bobby has no sense of who he is or where he is from because there no proof of record of him such as a birth certificate. After meeting Gwen, his life has changed and felt the sense of belonging into the world he is living in. Bobby’s
In “What Makes a Hero?” researcher Philip Zimbardo discusses the fact that selflessness is a heroic quality. He discuss how people who do heroic acts tend to be more selfless than people who don’t. Mark also does not require material
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin is a complex novel filled with an equally complex and diverse set of characters. Martin explores and questions many aspects of humanity, society, and morality by creating three-dimensional, imperfect characters. For many of these characters, it is difficult to determine whether they should be considered good or evil due to the fact that they are so human and realistic. Some characters are easy to love, and others, like Joffrey Baratheon, are incredibly easy to hate. It can be difficult to talk about Joffrey without immediately wanting to write him off as one of the cruelest and worst characters ever created. Not many people stop to ask why he is the way he is. What caused him to become so mean and sadistic?
Lee Knowles, the protagonist in Rene Steinke’s Friendswood, starts her journey with the death of her daughter, Jess, who died from a blood disease. Taft Properties’ illegal dumping of chemicals in Rosemont is what Lee believes caused Jess’s death. Lee, unlike her husband, Jack, will not find closure until she gets answers for the atrocities done to her daughter. She will do everything in her power to get justice for those affected. This journey will lead her on a perilous path; but in Lees mind she cannot lose anything more then what she already lost. The death of Lee’s daughter, Jess, takes Lee down a self-destructing path of emotional and physical danger that causes her unresolved grief.
Have you ever felt so much guilt and shame that you want to kill yourself? Francis Cassavant in Heroes, by Robert Cormier, is a realistic and relatable character who has suffered from this feeling ever since he was little. Even as a child, he has felt unusual and out of place compared to everyone else. Francis’s characteristics determine his actions throughout his story and motivate him to join the army, beginning his expedition as a so-called “hero”.
Sookan changes in 3 main ways throughout The Year Of Impossible Goodbyes: she starts maturing, gets over her fear of speaking with the Russians, and becomes more protective of her family. The war between the Koreans and Japanese had just ended and the Japanese are retreating, it is a joyous occasion for Sookan and her family. Sookan and Aunt Tiger go for a walk through the town and meet Unhi and her family. "Aunt Tiger and Unhi's mother sat by the little fish pond in the yard. Unhi and I talked in Korean all about the things we had always wanted to tell each other at school. Hours went by." (Choi 94) Because of the war Sookan wasn't able to make friends or even meet anybody new, but since the war is over she finally gets to make new friends like Unhi. Sookan is maturing into a young woman; she is meeting new
Merlin is more of an all-powerful, all-knowing magician in later tellings, he still stands behind the Kings of Britain but he is more powerful than them. In this telling of Merlin’s death, Merlin “is blind to his own fate,” and “loveth beauty above all things else in the world”, the author added these characteristics because it makes Merlin vulnerable s that he is not an unstoppable being. (Pyle, Chapter First) In this version of the legend Merlin has many magical powers so that he can bail the Kings ou Britain, and himself out of situations, the author did this in order to make Merlin a more relevant character in the legends and not just some background character that controls the succession of kings. When Merlin dies at the end of this story his dying wish is to have Vivien, the person who is killing him, go to a castle and help king Arthur, showing the theme that Merlin always does what is best for the Kingdom of Britain. Merlin is and all-powerful wizard but the author makes him unable to see his own future, and gives Merlin a weakness towards women in order to make Merlin more human, and the author shows the theme that Merlin just does what is right for
In Superman on the Couch by Danny Fingeroth, he writes that: “...Someone ... must always intervene in the domestic and global squabbles that comprise human existence. We can't do it on our own.” That is where our heroes come into place, fighting the fights that others lack the ability or the courage to fight. This kind of heroism can be found anywhere, even in ordinary people such as ourselves. People who become heroes in our eyes possess certain traits that allow them to point us in the right direction. One such characteristic is taking steps toward being the change that one wishes to see in the world. In order to do this, a person must possess traits that our society admires: traits like selflessness, kindness, generosity and forgiveness.
There are people who truly make an effort to do right for people and on occasion the deeds of the people who try to do right go unappreciated. If you read about Nick’s father in “Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemingway, Brently Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, and Mrs. Mitty from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber.
“Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary” (Gerard Way). In movies and comics, heroes are depicted as people who wear capes, have superpowers, and save the world. In the real world, heroes can be any person who chooses to be one. Heroes are not born, heroes make themselves. A hero is a common person who goes out of one’s way to make a difference, no matter the size. Although happy endings are not always guaranteed, a hero puts others before oneself, and refuses to quit even if they are setback.
To begin hero’s are not, in most situations, egoistic instead they are carrying. Zachary Dearing is the perfect example. After the chaotic storm in Texas, Hurricane Harvey, many people were stuck in storm shelters. When he took charge of the storm shelter, he was caring and made sure everything was done correctly. In a news article it reads “Dearing was elated that everyone at the shelter was finally getting what they needed.” This quote helps one realize that a hero like Zachary Dearing is not egoistic. Furthermore, another example is Frederick Douglass. In his Autobiography The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Adding an element of contrast to Arthur’s life is Arthur’s friend and mentor, Merlin. As a seer of the future and a man of great intelligence and wisdom, Merlin is everything Arthur is no. Arthur looks to Merlin for guidance. Through Merlin, the king’s many great possessions are put into perspective.