Meursault is unlike any character I’ve met in my reading... so far.  Despite many dramatic differences, Meursault, from Albert Camus’ The Stranger, is a hero.  The interesting aspect of this character is that he is not even human, if we’re basing the judgment on social standards.  He doesn’t cry after his mother dies, he doesn’t care if he and his girlfriend get married, but the main difference between Meursault and other literary heroes is that he kills a man and doesn’t regret it.  

It seems silly to consider this man a hero if he kills other people.  That would be true if I was looking at him from the perspective of the rest of society.  But I’m not.  Throughout The Stranger, Meursault’s story is told through his own eyes.  It may seem that he is immoral but I think his moral compass is just misaligned; he prioritizes different values than what the rest of society expects.  Even though many people dislike him and disagree with him, Meursault is still able to hold his head high and stand sturdy in his beliefs.  After he is convicted of murder, a chaplain visits him and tries to convince him of the existence of God, claiming that “every man [he has] known in [Meursault’s] position has turned to Him” (117).  Meursault acknowledges this and responds that he “just didn’t have the time to interest [himself] in what didn’t interest [him]” (118).  While he is being tried and convicted for the murder he committed, he is asked if he regrets his actions and he claims that he is more annoyed than regretful.  

Yet Meursault is still a hero because he sticks up for his beliefs and as Camus wrote, “he agrees to die for the truth.”  Isn’t that what heroes are?  Heroes are people who stand up for what they believe in and they are willing to die for an idea.  We see this in media today with men and women in service, who are willing to die for justice and freedom, or in The Joker, who is willing to die to send the message that humans are corruptible animals.  Either way, sticking to our values, no matter what, is something we’d like to believe in.  Because Meursault is willing to die than lie, giving into dogma and therefore conforming to society’s expectations, he is a hero… a very complex hero, but a hero nonetheless.

Similar to Prince Hal and the eponymous narrator in The Invisible Man, Stephen, from James Joyce’s A Portrait of an Artist as A Young Man, is a hero to himself by the end of the novel.  Although Stephen is not a hero to other people, he rescues himself from his sinful self and from dogma to become an artist.

At the beginning of the novel, Stephen indulges in sinful thoughts and actions.  When his “eyes, opening from the darkness of desire,” realize that what he has been doing is wrong, soon repents and becomes very involved and aware of his faith.  However, this repentance hinders his imagination.  Stephen finally recognizes the path he has to take to become an individual who “will not serve” to conform to people’s expectations.  This rollercoaster of a road to self-discovery is part of what makes him a hero.  He is able to “encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience” and change his way of looking at the world and is able to use his words to express his individuality and his understanding of the world.

Another aspect of Stephen’s heroism is his fearlessness.  Stephen “[does] not fear to be alone...And [he is] not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake” because he acknowledges that every great artist makes mistakes.  He can’t experience the world without experiencing failures and mistakes.  He “will take the risk” of losing everything he knows to find beauty and create it.  He is able to look at the world and think he can change it with his art.
Stephen is a hero because he saved himself from conforming to society’s expectations of him.  However, Stephen is not a hero because he does not put other people’s needs above his own.  Although Stephen has many characteristics of a hero, like fearlessness and the ability to discover himself, he is not a hero to anyone else but himself.

The eponymous narrator in The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison could be a hero.  By the end of the novel, the narrator is a hero to himself but a could-have-been hero to everyone else.

            He is a hero to himself because he goes on a journey of self-discovery and ends up finding himself as an individual.  He is more than a stereotype because he learns to think, and act, for himself.  He starts off naïve and submissive but then grows to learn that he has to rescue himself from the downward spiral of giving into the stereotypes and prejudices of everyone around him.  He has moments when he only listens to what the Brotherhood tells him, not truly remembering what was important to him.  When he misses the chance to make a difference, he finds himself in a hole, literally, and at the end of the novel, he finally realizes that he has to come back up.  Because of his individuality and self-awareness, he is a hero.

            However, he is not a traditional hero because he does not always put everyone else’s interests before his.  He judges other people, demonstrating the same racism and stereotypes that other people judge him by.  However, he also starts making a difference for the people in Harlem, getting them to think about “social responsibility” and cooperating with everyone, blacks and whites.  This brief moment of heroism, along with his presence in Harlem, vanishes when he starts listening solely to the Brotherhood.  When he comes back, everything is different and he gives in to the changes, until he realizes that he’s had enough of hiding at the end of the novel.  I view his solitude and isolation in the hole as a stage that most heroes go through when they try to understand what they are meant to do. Usually after heroes are through with isolation is when they start living up to their potential.
             Overall, the narrator is a hero to himself but not to other people.  He is a hero to himself because of his individuality.  He does not conform and his ability to think for himself and create his own opinions are what make him heroic

          A hero doesn’t have to be the protector of other people.  The best example of this is Prince Hal from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I.  Prince Hal is still a hero, even though he does not physically benefit another’s life.  He is a hero for himself because he thinks for himself.  He takes everything that others tell him with a grain of salt.  He listens to what they say but forms his own opinions about it first, doing what he believes is best.  

          For example, when Falstaff pretends to be kind in the tavern with Hal, Hal then takes the throne and banishes Falstaff, half pretending and half being serious.  He is tired of watching Falstaff, one of his only friends and mentors, waste his life being fat, drunk, and passive.  He desires to be unique.  He wants an individuality that is different than the expectations other people have for him.  This causes him to be in between the tavern and the court, in terms of who he models himself after.  At the court, he is expected to be a great prince but everyone known him as irresponsible.  Because of this lack of guidance, Hal is forced to think for himself and make his own decisions, which are neither court nor tavern.  This turns out well for him because this allows him to learn from the people before he becomes their king.  

          He is actively learning from and teaching those around him while he looks passive on the surface.  He desires to be a great man and he does so by thinking as a strong, individual leader.  Overall, Hal took control and changed his future and became the hero of himself.

          The main character, Okonkwo, is trapped by dogma, which is, according to Steve Jobs, living with the result of other people’s thinking.  Because of this, he cannot differentiate between what is right and what is wrong.  He bases all of his decisions on what would make him a better person in the eyes of the society, not in the eyes of himself.  He is so lost in other people’s expectations and lives by them that he turns selfish because he puts his image in front of anything else. 

          Ezinma, one of Okonkwo’s daughters, is the only person who is able to ground him.  Although she is a small part of the novel, she has the greatest influence over him.  Throughout the novel, he only loses focus on his image whenever she is at risk and this occasionally causes a break in his masculine appearance.  Ezinma has learned how to deal with and please her father and Okonkwo acknowledges this.  Because of their influence, her actions tend to be first-priority, over Okonkwo’s determination to move up in his social standing.  Ezinma resembles a return of logic to Okonkwo and causes him to rethink his actions.  Because of her profound effect on Okonkwo causing him to think separately from the tribe, she is a hero.

          Obierika, is another hero of this story.  Obierika is not afraid to stand apart from the rest of the crowd.  One of the most distinct examples is when the men of the tribe, including Okonkwo, go out to kill Ikemefuna, Okonkwo’s “adopted” son.  Obierika stays behind claiming that he had better things to do.  Constantly, Obierika tries to get Okonkwo to think about deeper issues, such as morality or universal truths, but Okonkwo is too focused on his reputation to listen to him.  But, even Okonkwo considers him “a man who thinks about things” (125).  Because of his thinking, he is a hero.  He is a man who, even though the rest of his tribe believed in other values, stood up to what he believed as a morally good individual.  His ideas make him another hero to Okonkwo and to the story.

          Overall, the people who embrace individuality and fuel their curiosity are the people who will save others from becoming too trivial or too “bad.”  These people are the heroes because they renew a focus on morals and doing what is right instead of doing what is best for a good reputation.

Many characters in Wuthering Heights are selfish and manipulative.  However, Nelly lies outside of these lines.  Nelly is the most heroic in the novel because she is able to remain standing when everything else is falling down.

She takes care of Heathcliff and Catherine and helps them through the problems they have.  The most prominent example is when Catherine was trying to decide between Heathcliff and Edgar and Nelly tries to help her choose, “And, though I’m hardly a judge, I think that’s the worst motive you’ve given yet for being the wife of young Linton” (Chapter 9).  She tries to help Catherine realize her own actions and possible consequences.  Nelly continues to do this throughout the novel.

She has also dedicated her life to the people of this story and, while she is opinionated, she is good-hearted.  She tries to help the characters by showing examples of what the “right” thing to do is but she is surrounded by people who cannot focus on anything but themselves.  Heathcliff, Joseph, Catherine, Edgar, Isabella, Hindley, and Linton are the society in which Nelly lives in.  But even though these characters are corrupted, she manages to stick to her own thoughts and morals and has the ability to influence Hareton and Young Catherine.

Her selflessness and her confidence in her own morals makes her the hero of this novel.

Oedipus is born a cursed man.  He doesn’t figure this out until the end of the story, but his fate was already decided.

In Oedipus’ society, people believe in the prophecies, rarely asking questions.  These prophecies state that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother.  His parents hear this and send him out into the wilderness to die, however, Oedipus doesn’t.  He then grows up with another family and hears the same prophecy when he is older.  He doesn’t want this to happen so he leaves.  He leaves behind everything he has to protect the ones he loves from that dangerous prophecy.  

He travels and encounters the terrors at Thebes, the Sphinx.  The Sphinx asks a riddle and anyone who cannot answer gets devoured.  The Sphinx is also responsible for much of the destruction and bad luck in Thebes.  Oedipus risks his life to answer the Sphinx’s riddle and to save a town full of strangers.  Luckily, he succeeds.  His selflessness and his courage make him a hero to the town of Thebes and also its ruler.  Sophocles describes Oedipus as generous and a good leader, Oedipus even says, “Speak to everyone, for I consider their pain more important even than that of my own soul” (Lines 100-101).  Oedipus places the well being of his people before his own life, which is a great sacrifice, especially when life is so valued in society.  

Another example of his heroism is when he risks his safety and everything he has (he has so much more to lose now that he is a king) to find the polluter of his land.  He curses that man and when he finds out that he himself is the polluter, he makes sure to leave the land so his people will be safe and comfortable.  Oedipus goes against what society believes; especially when he does not believe Tiresias when he claims the prophecy did come true because few people questioned what the prophets said.  This mistake allows Oedipus to exhibit his strong character and leadership by taking responsibility for his actions and become a true hero.  He sacrifices everything he has for the good of Thebes but only after he accepts what he has done and punishes himself for it.  He is an individual in these moments because he does not let society’s opinions convince him of something he has not discovered himself.