Qualifications of a Hero

"With great power there must also come great responsibility." These words from Peter Parker's uncle, along with spiders attributes, allow Peter to defeat the Green Goblin and successfully to become the hero of the story, Spiderman. Traditionally, characters who carry attributes such as strength and distinguished super-natural powers/abilities and are successful in the end are automatically known as the heroes of the stories. However, what requirements does a character literally need to be an absolute hero? In most novels today, heroes do not often hold such traditional qualities. Many have to put in effort, and pay the price to undergo this honour. In some instances, they may not even be appreciated as the heroes. Within those novels, we can identify that heroes are frequently victims of the society, victims of the immediate envies of others, which eventually lead to hostilities and cause crisis, and victims of their own isolation. These roles of heroes are apparent inside the texts of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

First of all, in many cases, the heroes play roles of being victims of the society. Surviving under undesirable lifestyles causes people to suffer. They may even face harassment. When enduring in places where their different attributes are obvious to the public and yet they stand out the most, that is when people around start to harass and make fun of them. The theory of harassment as a victim of a society can be seen in Of Mice and Men: "Curley stared levelly at him. 'Well, nex' time you answer when you're spoke to.' He turned toward the door and walked out, and his elbows were still bent out a little" (Steinbeck 26). As a small sized but hot-tempered boxer, Curley only likes little guys because they are who he can easily overpower. However, insecure of his size and is over-protective of his wife, Curley hates the big guys and is eager to fight anyone he perceives as a threat to his self-image. Since he is the