The title of this post is from a humanities class I took. This class was a colossal waste of time. However, most things are not entirely good or entirely bad and there was one discussion that has stuck with me. This was our discussion of heroes. Our teacher told us that one of the defining characteristics of a hero is what he called a "divine wound". This was an injury that made the hero both stronger and weaker and was also the impetus for the classic hero's journey of self-discovery. Initially I was skeptical but consider superman, batman, and Spiderman. Superman's wound was the loss of his parents and life among his people. Additionally, kryptonite from the heart of krypton is Superman’s one real weakness. However, it was this loss that made Superman super. Living on earth and absorbing rays of yellow sun is what gives him his power. I'll let you think about batman and Spiderman but trust me it works. So it seems that some heroes are heroes because of the way they deal with personal tragedy; growing stronger because of it rather than letting it weaken them. Guess it is that whole lemons to lemonade deal on a more dramatic scale.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
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3 comments:
A colossal waste of time!!! That class was great! I got to write a paper about Harry Potter and give a presentation about Batman. What more do you need?
I was just thinking about this topic of heroes and what makes them heroes...heroes are most often regular people who must overcome some great tragedy thus leading them to rise above the ordinary and become extraordinary! Heroes (the non-superpower ones) are often the underdog who decides to fight against injustice or whatnot...the determined ones who just don't quit no matter the traumas or the odds.
I actually just took that class and some days it was a colossal waste of time but it got me thinking about some really interesting things too so it wasn't completely a waste of time.
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