Carle's 'And Of Clay We Are Created'

The Greeks created some of the most influential pieces of literature in history. Their stories and heroes appear many times in popular culture, like Hercules with his amazing strength and ability to take down the most formidable beasts. However, heroes in reality do not have superhuman strength or the ability to kill giant beasts. They are usually people who help others and push towards a better future. These people would have qualities such as determination, humbleness, and selflessness.
In the short story “And of Clay We are Created,” by Isabel Allende, Rolf Carle was heroic for his determination to save Azucena. He tried many methods in order to save her, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He tried to pull Azucena out of the mud using a
rope.“[Carle] took the rope beneath her arms, so [he and the workers] could pull her out . . . but they could move her no further; she was trapped” (Allende 42). This was first thing he tried to do and one of the first things he did when he arrived at the mud pit, which meant that Carle was determined to get Azucena out immediately, even with the equipment he had to work with. He was determined to better the situation immediately, which was a heroic thing to do. He also attempted to get a water pump to drain the mud. “In the meanwhile, more television and movie teams arrived [to interview Azucena] . . . And all the while Rolf Carle kept pleading for a pump” (Allende 45-47). Rolf Carle was determined to get the pump in order to save Azucena, even though he could had been with the television and movie teams. He was heroic by deciding to try to get the pump instead of getting more famous.. Rolf Carle also kept her feeling secure through an entire night. “[H]e kept talking in the darkness, to assure her that he was still there and to overcome the menace of uncertainty. That was a long night” (Allende 44). He was determined to keep Azucena comforted, so through the night he made sure she did not spend the night alone and afraid. To reassure someone for an entire night was heroic of him to do, since it would have taken a lot of willpower to do that. Generally speaking, Rolf Carle was heroic due to his determination to help Azucena.
In the memoir An Ordinary Man Paul Rusesabagina was heroic through his humble actions.
He was doing his job as a hotel manager in a country that descended into anarchy, but also was keeping over a thousand people alive and unharmed. He said that his actions were not heroic. “I survived to tell my story . . . [t]here was nothing particularly heroic about it. My only pride is that I . . . continued to do my job as a manager when all other aspects of decent life vanished” (Rusesabagina 78). He considered his actions as anything but heroic when in reality they were heroic. Saving a thousand lives was a courageous act, but he did not think so. Rusesabagina also said the lives he saved were a significant amount compared to the deaths in the entire genocide. “[T]he best you can say is that my hotel saved about four hours worth of people. Take four hours away from one hundred days and you have an idea of how little I was able to accomplish against the grand design” (Rusesabagina 79). He did not think he saved many people compared to the total amount in the genocide, but a thousand lives was a lot of people saved. His humbleness showed he would not boast about how heroic he was, but instead would have acknowledged his actions and dismissed them as not being significant. Rusesabagina additionally said he was just a normal person and was neither higher or lower than that. “I am nothing more or less than a hotel manager” (Rusesabagina 84). He considered himself as a normal person, but
his actions demonstrated he was a hero. Saving a thousand people from getting slaughtered with what little equipment he had was heroic of him, but he still considered himself as a normal person who did his job. All things considered, Rusesabagina was heroic because he stayed humble and did not become arrogant about his actions.
In the short story “The Leap” the character, Anna Avalon, demonstrated heroism because she was selfless, putting other people’s lives before her own.
Anna had risked death throughout her life when she tried to save someone else's. She saved her unborn daughter during the Circus Incident. “[S]he managed to hang on to the braided metal, still hot from the lightning strike. Her palms were burned so terribly that once she healed they bore no lines, only the blank scar tissue of a quieter future” (Erdrich 342). She saved her unborn child from dying when she grabbed onto the metal bar nearby, which caused her to burn her hands. Saving someone else’s life but in the process getting injured is selfless and heroic. Anna Avalon also risked her life when she went into her burning house to save her daughter. “[The mother] made her way up . . . she swung down, caught the ledge, and crawled through the opening . . . [the narrator and her mother] flew out the window, toward earth . . . as we skimmed toward the painted target of the fire fighter’s net” (Erdrich 345-346). She risked her life to save her daughter’s, which was selfless of her. Going into a burning house, let alone climbing into one, to save her daughter was heroic of her, when she took immediate action when nobody else did. In addition she also risked her life when she climbed up to her daughter’s window. “[S]he broke a branch falling so that it cracked in her hands . . . as she vaulted with it toward the edge of the roof,
and how it hurtled down” (Erdrich 345). She was selfless going up the house to save her daughter when that branch fell. She risked injuring herself again so she could heroically save her daughter. To sum up, Anna Avalon was heroic because of her selflessness, putting other lives before her own.
The qualities of a hero are important because people need to know that heroes are just as human as they are. Unlike heroes such as Hercules or Superman who have supernatural abilities, heroes in real life had their mind and whatever else they had. George Washington was like anyone else, but he led 13 colonies to independence from the world’s largest superpower of the time. Martin Luther King Jr. helped the African-Americans erase segregation in the US, and he also was a human like everyone else. Everyone can be determined, humble, or selfless, but the people who take those traits and use them to progress humanity for the good are called heroes.