The etymology of hero, although conventionally derived from the Greek heros, defines the word as a cognate to the Latin servo, to preserve the whole. Yet, a simple verb has millions of applications. What is the whole this individual titled the hero is preserving? Is this act of preservation selfless or one of necessity? Who has the ability of preservation? These are the questions cultures have sought to answer from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Harry Potter series.
The common ground found in any epic such as The Odyssey, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, or The Aeneid lies blatantly in a journey. The recurring idea within these novels lies within the main character’s necessity to take this journey, rather than original desire or willingness to do so. In classic epics such as The Odyssey and The Aeneid, Odysseus and Aeneas are forced by divine intervention to set off on a journey to reach their predestined homeland. In Huckleberry Finn, on the crust of the novel’s plot it appears that Huck is choosing to escape from his society and choosing to take this journey toward his rightful state of mind, or homeland. However, looking deeper into the core of the setting, we realize that Huck’s surrounding society has forced him into making the decision to seek happiness elsewhere. Huck realizes that neither he nor his society would benefit were he to remain in his current setting. Thus the decision to escape is essentially made for him by his surrounding elements. Likewise, while Odysseus and Aeneas appear to have the decision to give up their roles as leaders and to simply stay put, accepting life as it is, the surrounding pressures from enemies and the gods alert them to the fact that they will never find happiness if they choose to avoid the journey. Thus we find ourselves in a constant cycle of tension along with the protagonist as to whether he is making his own decisions or others are making them for him. This cycle of tension between protagonist and environment, reader and protagonist, and reader and protagonist combined with environment leads into the essence of the definition of the hero and the whole he must preserve.
Using the characters Aeneas, Odysseus, and Huck Finn as primary examples, we examine the hero in the context of his environment, factoring in the reader’s impression of the hero’s situation. These protagonists, I would say, do accentuate the essence of what a hero is. A hero is one who departs on a journey, not of his own will, but in response to environmental pressures. What makes a hero so unique is that the author of the novel leads the reader to assume the hero has a choice in departing on his journey. Aeneas of The Aeneid is forced by invading Greeks to leave Troy. However, once he reaches the gates of the city, the surviving Trojans immediately look to him to be their leader and to take them out of their homeland and into a new world. As the reader, we ask why Aeneas chose to take up this position of leadership. He certainly could have rejected the leadership role and cared solely for his family. Doing so, he might not have lost his father. Yet Aeneas looks back and ahead at his option. The divine hands of Mt. Olympus have only left one option for potential happiness for Aeneas, and that is to leave the city in search of a new land to populate with his ancestors and comrades. The gods and fate have made Aeneas’ decision for him by destroying all other options. That Aeneas chooses the “heroic” option does not make him a hero. That he chooses the “heroic” option and heads out on his journey without regretting his decision or questioning his lack of other options is what does.
Odysseus and Huck Finn act in the same manner as Aeneas. In Odysseus’ case the gods give him no other option but to journey far and wide to at last reach Ithaca. Odysseus at no time regrets his cause or leadership position, and chooses to learn from his mistakes to become a bigger and better leader. Likewise, Huck Finn’s society drives him away, forcing him to take a journey to find himself and look for happiness. Huck does at one point reflect upon his saving of Jim. However, he does not, in the end, regret doing so. Instead he realizes that he has started this journey, so he must finish it with vigor and purpose. Heroes are those who make the best of the situation their environment forces them into, preserving composure, and thus the whole of one’s essential character.
In light of this definition, I see no reason why women cannot be heroes. That women have not appeared in epic novels or classics in Western literature is no reason to suggest otherwise. Only within the past 100 years of human civilization have women become prominent figures in the political arena, gaining the right to vote in America less than a century ago. In the span of human writing and legend, this amount of time is miniscule. Women, until now, were never seen as important figures in society, and thus never made their way into literature as the protagonist hero of classic novels.
To us, these heroes symbolize overcoming the struggles we, as humans, face in our everyday lives. We must admit that our actions are controlled exclusively and essentially by our surroundings. That these heroes to whom we look for wisdom are able to make the most of their situations, even when they have no choice in the matter, gives us hope. Hope is what truly preserves the whole. We must look at civilization today and those of thousands of years ago with the mindset of Pandora’s Box. Humans are subject to mistakes of others and threats from the environment. They face bribery, betrayal, jealousy, and gluttony. However, even in this world of angst, enemies, and fear, the one constant in human nature is hope. Hope is something divine hands cannot take away. Hope is something a hurricane cannot destroy. These heroes preserve the good in human nature and the promise of a progressive tomorrow because they have hope. Hope completes the whole of humanity.
With this in mind, Bertolt Brecht’s statement "Unhappy the land that needs heroes” reflects upon the fact that in a land where humans must read about heroes to find hope, it is a sad fact that hope can be found in no other manner. That society needs to invent characters to spawn hope in its citizens, rather than using an actual citizen as an example, is the unhappy truth. However, the bright side remains that humans do find a way to experience the existence of hope, even though they cannot find it in their realistic world. It has taken over 5,000 years of characters such as Aeneas, Odysseus, and Huckleberry Finn to preserve the whole of humanity, thus preserving the lack of control balanced with a sense of optimism and endurance. These preservers of the whole have inspired a sense of continuity in all civilizations spawned from human nature. These are the heroes who allow humans to realize that night is simply the introduction to the dawn. To find the light we just need to run faster, reach farther, and climb higher, until we reach the peak of understanding. That is when the heroes will rise from the paper and present themselves to the public, and the real story of heroes of everyday life will replace those fabricated into a fictional masterpiece. We hope and wait for this day when the dawn comes, but until then we have the moon and stars to light our paths.
