FREE ESSAY ON A CHARACTERISC OF A HERO

A CHARACTERISC OF A HERO

A Characteristic of a Hero
The 'American Heritage High-school' dictionary defines a hero as a man, often of divine
ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength. Is that what a hero truly is?
Does he need only strength and courage? Does a hero not need a mind? Any man can be
strong and brave, but dose that mean he is a hero? Nay, a hero must have more. He must be
quick-witted and always think with his head and never his fear. A man must be clever
(mentally bright, superficially skillful or witty) to be considered a hero. A hero has
many characteristics but one of the most important is to be able to think his way out of
trouble. Not that a hero shouldn't be physically strong, that's always good, but
sometimes you can't fight your way out things without getting yourself killed.
Odysseus, king of Ithaca, is a very clever man. He shows that quality time and again in
'The Odyssey'. For example, the Trojan War. The Greeks fought with the Trojans for ten
years without success. They had to get over the wall around Troy. No one had any ideas.
But then Odysseus and his clever mind thought of a way to trick the Trojans. He ordered
the Greeks to build a huge wooden horse in which they could hide. Odysseus figured that
when the Trojans wake up to the horse and no Greeks in sight that they'd take the horse
as a peace offering and take it inside the city. The Trojans did as Odysseus had guessed
and after ten long years the war with Troy was finally over.
Another example of Odysseus' cleverness is when he met a giant, one-eyed monster named
Polyphemus. Odysseus and his men went into this giants' cave and stayed to meet him. What
they saw when Polyphemus came home was a huge surprise. Polyphemus liked humans, yes he
did. He liked them as dinner, lunch, and breakfast. Odysseus was losing his men rapidly
while they were trapped in the cave. He had to do something. Suddenly an idea popped in
his head. He and his men sharpened a stick, and shoved it into Polyphemus' eye while he
was sleeping. Plus, when Polyphemus called for help, nobody listened because Odysseus had
told him that his name was 'Nohbdy'. If that doesn't take a clever mind then I don't know
what dose.
I have never really used cleverness in my life as Odysseus has. Sure, some school papers
I've written might have had something clever in it, but that's not the same kind that's
needed in a hero. I hope that if I ever a situation occurs that I'll need to think like a
hero I'll be able to but for now I'll stick to being clever for school.
As I said before, a hero has many characteristics. I think the most important is to be
able to think his way out of any situation. A hero must keep his head up and believe that
no matter what there is a way out of any situation. He also needs to be kind hearted and
fight for good. For a hero can never be evil.