-THE HUNGER GAMES-HERO-
By: Robinson, Garath
Period 3
12/16/10
Book by: Suzanne Collins
Research
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself”.
Katniss was forced to make sacrifices, and hard choices. Among the many different
types of hero’s or heroines, Katniss can be categorized as a “reluctant hero.” In the book
“The Hunger Games”, the main character is a young girl by name of Katniss.
Throughout the story, she showed an enormous amount of heroism in her journey to
compete and survive the harsh game of life or death, betrayal and friendship, while
showing very little consideration for her own being.
Campbell, J. (2010, May 8).
A hero in Greek mythology folklore originally meant a demigod, their cult being one of
the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion. Later hero (male), and heroine
(female) came to refer to characters, that when faced with danger, adversity, or were
viewed from a position of weakness, display courage for self sacrifice. Heroism is shown
then, for some greater good for all humanity. This definition originally referred to martial
courage or excellence but extended to a more general code of moral excellence.
N/A. (2010, September 8).
Stories of heroism have served as moral examples through the ages. In classical antiquity,
hero cults venerated deified hero’s such as Hercules, Perseus, and Achilles, all of whom
played an important role in ancient Greek religion. Politicians, ancient or modern, have
employed hero worship for their own apotheosis (i.e. cult of personality).
Blog Posts. (2010, September 27.)
Brought into the English language in 1387, the word hero comes from the Greek “hero
warrior”, in literary terms “protector” or “defender”. The hero thought to be connected
with the name of the goddess Hera, the guardian of marriage; the original forms of these
words being related to “hero”. It is also thought to be a cognate of the Latin verb servo
(to preserve whole) and of the Avestan verb haurvaiti (to keep vigil over), although the
original Porto-Indo-European root is unclear.
Farlex Inc. (2010, December 30).
The philosopher Hegel gave a central role to the “hero” personalized by Napoleon, as the
incarnation of a particular culture Volksgeist, and thus of the general Zeitgeist. Thomas
Carlyle's 1841, On “Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History” also accorded
a key function to heroes and great men in history. Carlyle centered history on the
biography of a few central individuals, such as Fredrick the Great. His hero’s were
political figures, military figures, and the founders or topples of states. Carlyle’s history
of great men, of geniuses good and evil, sought to organize change in the advent of
greatness.
(William Tyndale. [Dec 18th 2008].)
The term hero or heroine is sometimes used to simply describe the protagonist of a story,
or the love interest, a usage which can conflict with the superhuman expectations of
heroism. William Makepeace Thackeray gave Vanity Fair a subtitle, “A novel without a
Hero”. The larger than life hero is a more commonly found in fantasy as opposed to
more realist works.
In modern movies, the hero is usually an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances,
who, despite the odds stacked against him or her typically prevails in the end. In some
movies (especially action movies) a hero may exhibit characteristics such as superhuman
strength, and endurance that sometimes makes him nearly invincible, for example
“Superman”. Often a hero in these situations usually has an adversary, the villain,
typically a charismatic evildoer who represents, leads, or he embodies the struggle the
hero is up against. For instance the movie “Spiderman”. Post-modern fictional works
have fermented the increased popularity of the antihero who does not follow the common
conceptions of heroism.
Blog Posts. (2010, September 27).
A hero, or more generally the protagonist is usually the first and foremost symbolic
representation of the person who is experiencing the story while reading, listening or
watching; thus the prevalence of the hero to the individual relies a great deal on how
much similarity there is between the two.
(Suzanne Williams. [August 3, 2010].)
The most compelling reason for the hero-as-self-interpretation of stories and myths are
the human’s inability to view the world from any perspective but a personal one. The
almost universal notion of the hero or protagonist, and its resulting hero identification
allows us to experience stories in the only way we know how; as ourselves. We live the
story.
When she was thrust into the extraordinary circumstances of her life, Katniss displayed
the characteristics of a reluctant hero. After losing her father in a mining accident, she
had to assume the primary role of providing for her family. Without hesitation or thought
for herself, she stepped forward and took her sisters place in the games. Her motivations
for taking on this role of being a reluctant hero appear to be motivated by love, and the
fear of losing loved ones. Her actions were those of a protector and defender. She
personified the term “hero.”
One major drawback of the importance of the hero is the identification meant by a hero
being often more of a combination of symbols than a representation of an actual person.
In order to appeal to a wide range of individuals, the author often regulates the hero to be
a “type” of person which everyone already is or wishes themselves to be: a “good”
person; a “brace person; a “self-sacrificing” person. The most difficult part for this sort of
design is the creation of a character that is so universal, that we can all identify it in some
way, but none can identify completely. In regards to the observer’s personal interactions
with the story can give it the feeling of being “mostly involved,” but never entirely.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the IndoEuropean root is “to protect”. According to Eric Partridge in Origin, the Greek word
Hērōs "is akin to" the Latin seruāre, meaning to safeguard. Partridge concludes, “the
basic sense of both Hera and hero would there for be “Protector”.
(Eric Partridge. [2005, December)
Bibliography
Blog Posts. (2010, September 27). hero (literary and cultural figure) -- Britannica Online
Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/263398/hero
Campbell, J. (2010, May 8). Heroism quotes. Retrieved from
http://thinkexist.com/quotations/heroism/
(Eric Partridge. [2005, December]. Go Inside. Retrieved from
http://goinside.com/05/12/hero.html)
Farlex Inc. (2010, December 30). Free online Dictionary. Retrieved from
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
(Glen Rock. [N/A]. Myths, archetypes, and characters. Retrieved from
http://www.svsoft.com/Archetypes,%20Myths%20and%20Characters.htm
N/A. (2010, September 8). About HERO. Retrieved from http://www.thehero.org/about/index.htm
(Suzane Williams. [N/A]. A mythological look at history. Retrieved from
http://www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/HomePages/022699/text/hansen.htm)
(William Tyndale. [Dec 18th 2008]. A hero for the information age. Retrieved from
http://www.economist.com/node/12792603)