Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Heroism and literature essay
Heroism and literature essay
Heroism and literature essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Heroism and literature essay
During this marking period, I have read seven amazing books. Through reading these books, I noticed prominent themes and character development. The first book I read was Percy Jackson and the Olympians : The Last Olympian. In this book, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and a camp of greek demigods from Camp Half-Blood is in dire need to defeat the evil Titan Kronos before he destroys New York, the Gods, and eventually the world with his evil ideas. Long before this book though, there was a prophecy given by an oracle that stated that upon their sixteenth birthday, a child of the Big-Three (Poseidon, Zeus and Hades) would decide that would preserve or destroy the Olympians and the world. As a child of the big
In movies, novels, and life, people are named as heroes. The heroes we establish and the heroes we recognize, however, may not meet the criteria for a mythic hero. A mythic hero ventures forth on his journey, and comes forth from the hero’s path to greatness. Joseph Campbell, a mythologist who studied many of the great human myths and religious tales, realized, in studying these myths and tales, that there were certain steps that every hero went through. Campbell called this “The Hero’s Journey”; it is based on Carl Jung's idea that all human beings have an archetype. After Campbell studied a lot of the great myths and realized this pattern, he published his findings in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Ever since then, authors have used “The Hero’s Journey” as an outline to tell their stories. “It is important to note that not all of these individual steps are present in every hero’s tale, nor is it important that they be in this exact order” (Vogler 20). The Hero with a Thousand Faces gives a sense of significance as it looks into the inner mind and soul. The author, Joseph Campbell, performs two extraordinary accomplishments: compelling his readers that myth and dream, those are the most effective and everlasting forces in life and a unification of mythology and psychoanalysis with a gripping narrative. One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby.
Percy Jackson is just another typical twelve year old kid, although he may seem like it at first being a troubled kid, and kicked out of several schools. But that’s until Percy’s life takes an extraordinary turn. It all starts when Percy discovers that he has ADHD and Dyslexia, meaning his bloodline is half descending from a Greek god. This secret was kept from him his entire life but was released through a series of events on a field trip. Mr. Brunner, Percy’s Latin teacher, brings him to Camp Half-Blood, where all the mythical beings and other half-bloods reside. During his stay at Camp Half-Blood, Percy finds out about the identity of his true father, who happened to be Poseidon, one of the big three, as some would say. To be the son of Poseidon
I started with Potter. Not since 1841, when New Yorkers swarmed the docks to ask incoming Brits whether Little Nell died in the latest installment of The Old Curiosity Shop (spoiler alert! She totally did), have readers been so simultaneously poised on the brink of a collective climax. My gut, along with the new book’s scary epigraphs, kept telling me that—like Little Nell—Harry had to go. For a children’s series, Potter has been unusually death-obsessed—Harry’s heroism, remember, sprang from the gruesome murder of his parents—and in recent books, the body count has risen quickly: In the previous book, even Harry’s untouchable mentor Dumbledore died. Also, in a larger narrative sense, Rowling owed us. Harry had been too outrageously lucky for too long: He lived for six books in a big bland protective bubble of innocence and nobility and love.
Honor is something men and women have fought for century after century. Even now, thousands of American and British men are fighting in Iraq, near to where the Trojan War was to have taken place. These men fight for the greater good. They fight for those in Iraq who are unable to fight for or otherwise defend themselves. They fight for honor. The characters in the Iliad are motivated by their own form of honor, or arete, known similarly as the Homeric Code. And it is because of this code that the Trojan War began. The characters in this story are shown to possess arete, but some have different ideas as to how vastly and to what rate it should be respected. And because of this, many a man’s honor is disturbed.
This man cares more about the wants and needs of the people around him then his own. Percy is brave in the toughest of situations, and stands up for what is right. Percy Jackson has even saved the world twice, by leading armies he organised on his own.
Throughout, J.J.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit, many themes come into place to give a better understanding of the novel. The underlying theme of the struggle between good vs. evil while Gandalf and the dwarves fight the evils during their journey through middle earth. The battle is manifested in the goblins, Trolls, and spiders where good always triumphs evil. Even though the journey is about stealing the gold back from the dragon there is still some moral clarity to this, the dragon stole the gold and torched the city. The dwarves want to make this right and get back what was rightfully theirs.
The approach to the hero’s journey in The Hunger Games, Star Wars, and A Wrinkle in Time has many similarities and variables. A few stages of comparison with the three books are during the call to adventure/refusal, the ordinary world, and crossing the threshold.
A hero is not only someone who succeeds a great feat or journey, being a hero is much more than that. By overcoming difficult obstacles in one’s inner self and their surroundings, one is created into an epic hero. Hence, the journeys, traveled by two epic heroes in books Life of Pi and The Odyssey, show similarities as well as differences in various incidents throughout the books. Protagonists, Pi and Odysseus, embark on journeys that strengthen their character and prove them to be great leaders and heroes. The guidance received—whether from Greek, Hindu, Christian, or Islamic gods—is truly ideal in the two heroes’ successes. Facing hardships that test their lives both physically and mentally, putting forth all efforts to fight temptations,
I knew the book had ended, yet I looked to see if the next page had another chapter. Suddenly, I shed an actual tear, which I thought silly at the time. I had never felt so strongly about an ending before. This summer, I read the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini again and, I found myself uncontrollably shedding another tear at the end of the last book, Inheritance. The first tear had been a tear of sorrow for the end of an epic. However, this last tear was one of joy. Just recently, the author had announced another book I the same chronology was coming soon. I was excited to meet all my favorite characters again.
William Golding’s book, The Lord of the Flies is a wonderful, fictional book about the struggle and survival of a group of boys trapped on an uninhabited island. This book kept me very interested and made me want to keep reading. The characters were very diverse and each had very appealing qualities in themselves. The setting is brilliantly described and the plot is surprisingly very well thought out. Many things like these make this book such a classic.
In the The Lord of the Rings, by J. Tolken, there are many things that make the story symbolic of a Christian influence. The constant emphasis of good vs. evil brings forth reason to suspect that this novel has a Christian basis. In this paper I will prove and backup my personal opinion through sighting specific examples of the influences from the book.
My original thought when comparing Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief the movie and Classical mythology was that there would be many more references to the myth of Perceus than any other myth throughout the movie in its entirety. That’s where I was wrong. After watching the movie again and researching the different hero myths my opinion has changed. My new thoughts are that the movie is not influenced by the myth of Perceus any more than other hero myths. The movie ties together many different heroes’ stories and mixes them together to make a wonderful story about a young boy. The movie was based on a book series written by Rick Riordan.
Riordan brings yet another exciting book full of action, adventure, and humour. “The House of Hades” is the fourth novel in the Hero’s of Olympus series and written by New York Times #1 selling author, Rick Riordan. Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series into this one was a brilliant idea. It continues the story about the demigods and introduce new characters making readers to want to read more.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is set in a fantasy world that has differences, as well as similarities, to our own world. The author has created the novel's world, Middle Earth, not only by using imagination, but by also adding details from the modern world.
The fact that Percy Jackson has friends is incredible. It is an unshakable fact that any friend of his within a ten-mile radius will be in a life or death situation with him by dinner, and they are not always as lucky as he is. However, that is getting ahead of ourselves. Over the course of the five-part contemporary young adult series, Percy Jackson & The Olympians, the titular character, Percy Jackson, must embrace his Greek God parentage and save Olympus with the help of his fellow demigods. The aim of this paper is to discuss his Hero’s Journey throughout the series, provide an in-depth character analysis, and draw parallels between Percy and the three classic Greek heroes of mythology: Perseus, Theseus, and Hercules.