Homework 9/10

What is a hero? This question was recently asked of me and at first I thought I had a concrete answer, but as I began to ponder the answer to the question, I realized there was nothing concrete about the word hero. At first, I began to think of people that are heroes to me. People like Bill Clinton, my parents or even Batman are all heroes to me, albeit one is a fictional 'superhero,' but nonetheless a hero to me. I then began to think that although these people are huge inspirations to me, are they considered to be heroes by all people? And if they are not considered to be heroes by all, does that make them not heroes? Well, Bill Clinton certainly is not a hero to many people on the righter side of the political spectrum. Obviously, my parents are not heroes to the man or woman idling next to me, waiting for the light to change because, well, I doubt they even know my parents exist. Then there is Batman. Fictional character to is a hero to most people in Gotham city, but I bet I could name a few characters who probably do not think he is a hero. I would venture to say that the Joker, Penguin or any other character that the Batman has put in jail would probably not consider him a hero. So, since I could not clearly come up with what a hero was by thinking of personal examples of heroes, I decided to see what the dictionary said was a hero. The dictionary defines a hero as "A man of distinguished ability, admired for his brave deeds and distinguished qualities." So by this definition I guess we can rule out all woman since the dictionary says a hero is a man of distinguished ability. I guess then that Justice Sotomayor can no longer be a hero to Mexican Americans and/or women since she herself is a woman and the dictionary says men only please. The dictionary also defines a hero as "A person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal." I like this definition more. It excludes no gender. This definition makes more sense to me because it is saying that a hero is in the eye of the beholder. That a hero to one is not necessarily a hero to all, but could just be a hero to one. Does being a hero to one instead of hundreds or thousands make any difference at all? Not in the eyes of that one and if that one person was me, I would of course say no because they are my hero and not necessarily your hero. Now, would I consider Sammy, a character from John Updike's A & P, to be a hero? In my opinion, he is not a hero. He quit his job for no noble reason, but only to get the attention of some girls, which he was not even successful in. Not only was he not successful, but his parents were obviously counting on him to bring in money and now he can not even do that. I can, however, see how some people might see him as a hero. I could see a grocery employee seeing him as a hero because he stood up to the boss and quit. I am sure there are lots of grocery store employees or just people in general who would love to stand up to their annoying bosses and tell them that they quit and walk out. Sammy could be a hero, but he is not my hero.