Is He a Champion Or Hero?

A man is his own champion. To be a champion, you must be the man. And a man cannot be a hero without first becoming a champion

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words Champion and Hero? Maybe superman, Batman, someone who possesses extraordinary powers, has amazing qualities, number one, athletic, enduring, and challenging.

Champions and heroes can be the same and different from each other depending on an individual’s opinion.

       A champion has more than one definition. It is usually a person who has endured pain, challenged by hardships (Opponents) and risen above many obstacles to get to the top. It is associated with Honor and portrayed as a fighting warrior. A hero is someone who possesses humility, courage, and positive qualities. They do good for the people and set an example for many. A hero can be your parent, someone you love, or a powerful figure you look up upon. The number one basketball player or golfer in the nation is an example of a champion. They have exceptional abilities to go through obstacles and reach the top.

Many people (Especially the media) see these two qualities dependent on each other. When a person becomes a champion, we automatically look up to them and view them as our hero. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Prince Williams, Lebron James, even your friends and family members are all champions that you consider heroes because they were able to succeed in life and go beyond their limit. They proved to others that since they are capable to do such thing, we all can too with the inspiration and help.

So, how is a hero defined in literature? A hero is a universal archetype and is included in almost every story. There are many elements that shape a hero. First is courage. It is what makes a person unique and differentiates a hero from a ordinary person. A hero doesn’t back down. Second element is their will power. Are they strong enough to suffer and change? This proves a person’s capability to withstand anything.

There are different types of heroes in literature. William Shakespeare is mostly known for his TRADGIC heroes such as Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet. They are protagonists who suffered because of that one major flaw which ends up killing them. In Macbeth, it’s pride. In Hamlet, it’s over-thinking and procrastination. In the end, the hero goes through a series of changes and draws the readers to feel pity and compassion for them. Other famous heroes in literature includes: Conan, Achilles, Beowulf, Joan of Arc, King Arthur, Don Quixote, and Jesus.

       Champion-like and heroic are qualities that aren’t really tangible to us. We can’t pinpoint whether person is a hero or a champion. But we can perhaps tell if a person possess the right qualities.

A Life Lesson That Can Never Be Taught

As I was reading Tuesdays with Morrie for my Death and Dying class, there were many life lessons I discover that was really inspiring. One of Morrie Schwartz’s main philosophies is that we live life day to day without any meaning or purpose. We have goals and yet we choose not to follow them, we tend to choose money, power, and status above what is most important than anything else, love and companionship. Materialism and our culture’s values have shaped us into an “unwashed mass”. We are brainwashed by the items we own and view money as the holy alter for human life. Yes money does lead to status and a strong life, but what’s important is establishing a loving relationship with others. You can’t take money or power after you die. The materials you posses are gone after you die, but your love and influence can last eternally.

I am surprised that someone who is dying from ALS and only have few months to live can be so confident and optimistic. To him, life is a glass half full. Since he is dying, he won’t let the disease take control of his life. Morrie Schwartz lives by the main life principle; you live once so make it worth-while. He is a strong man who refuses to give up, instead he takes advantage of the time he has left and spread his teachings and discussions on dying to the whole world. This influential man reached beyond his barriers to provide us with extravagant knowledge on living life and dying. “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”~Morrie Schwartz 

There was a poem I came across that relates to Morrie’s teachings in Mitch’s book. It’s called O me! O Life! By Walt Whitman. This poem stresses the importance of attempting to make meaning from life with the sense of nonexistence. You are the life and identity that brings meaning to seize the day (Carpe Diem) Morrie teaches that when your life is empty, find a purpose to fill the hole. To take control and do something that will make a difference is better than sitting on your butt and being depressed. After all, look how Morrie turned out to be.

“When life gives you lemons, you can ask for a receipt and return the box, OR you can get some salt and tequila and throw a major party.” Always Stay Positive!!

Hamlet vs Mel Gibson

After I got done reading Hamlet, I went to watch the movie online which features Mel Gibson as Hamlet. The movie was much better than the older versions and other adaptations. It’s like comparing The Dark Knight Rises to the original batman. It has more drama, better quality, and the actors are a lot more energetic and alive. Surprisingly, the movie went along well with the play and there aren’t many major changes unlike other movies adapted from books such as: Frankenstein, Dracula, Harry Potter, Hobbit, The Godfather. The movie was so similar that I was able to read along with the play as I watched the movie.

       What I like about the movie is that most of the actors are more emotional and exciting so the movie doesn’t drag and it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. Each soliloquy is more dramatic than the last and builds tension towards the next scene. The settings in each act plays perfectly to the tone and the audience gets the full effect of what each character is feeling. Whereas in the play, I got bored after the second soliloquy and can’t understand what the character is trying to get across. You get this “Can we just move on to the next scene” feeling and can’t wait to put this play down.

       One of my favorite scenes in the movie is Gonzago’s play and Claudius’s reaction to it. In the play, it just tells you that the king felt shocked and went to his room. In the movie, you experience the full emotion of the king and see the guilty conscience overtaking his mind. It’s like déjà vu in an extreme, to see your actions and the exact way you killed the king in front of everyone and you don’t know if people suspect you.

       There are some minor adjustments to the movie that aren’t really noticeable until you actually examine to movie and the play in depth. There was a funeral scene at the beginning of the movie, Polonius found out by spying on Hamlet and Ophelia instead of having Ophelia tell him about Hamlet’s condition, and some dialogues were cut short to prevent the movie from getting dull. One thing I didn’t like about the movie in general is that it is dramatic but there wasn’t a lot of blood or intense violence. But if you were reading the play, you can let your mind and imagination do the work and create as many vivid and bloody scenes in your head. I want someone to produce a Hamlet movie that has more blood, gore, sex scenes, and preferably R rated.

       I believed that Mel Gibson is the perfect actor to play Hamlet. He has the persona and quality of Hamlet and he is kind of dark and scheming in most of his movies like Braveheart, Apocalypto, Lethal Weapon, and Edge of Darkness.

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.”

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston was one novel that I had mixed reviews about. I despised the treacherous dialect and syntax the author uses in this book but I enjoyed the story by itself. In most African American novels such as Their eyes were watching God, A Raisin in the Sun, The Piano Lesson, The language and dialect depicts their culture, background, tone, and setting. It is important to be familiar to the language in order to be able to connect with the characters. For me, Their eyes were watching God was one of the most difficult books I’ve read throughout my life. I can even understand Shakespeare more than Hurston. The author in this book writes like how the people speak. I am a Chinese-American. My native dialect is mandarin and it was a challenge for me to comprehend the novel since it’s in a southern slang dialect. Hurston modifies how the character speaks. Like Janie, instead of using “the”, she would replace it with “duh”.

 Many African American novels have cultural significance and usually rooted back to slavery times. In The Piano Lesson, the carvings on the piano represent the struggles boy Willy’s dad had endured and wanted to sell the piano in order to buy back the freedom. What I like about the Piano lesson is that it has the element of supernatural. This makes the play more interesting for me so I don’t get bored reading a few guys arguing over a piano.

In the opening lines of Their Eyes Were Watching God, A black man’s wish is to escape and be free. The closer the ship gets, freedom becomes a possibility. This quote also emphasizes the theme in the novel. Janie’s search for fulfillment and completeness is compared to a man’s desire on a ship. In A raisin in the sun and The Piano Lesson, The themes of these play focuses on the American Dream. Instead of searching for freedom, you live your freedom by achieving your goals. Boy Willy dreams to sell the piano in order to buy back the freedom and land that his father harvested. In A Raisin in the sun, the dream of all the characters (especially Mama) is to keep the family together and have a safe place to live.

Their Eyes Were Watching God has many historical approaches including the rejection of the Racial Uplift Program and the Harlem Renaissance. It received many racist, sexist, and political criticism. I see myself as the “voiceless” person trying to find my place in society despite what others view me as.