The Idea of the Hero

Author(s): Sheila Schwartz

Source: The English Journal, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Jan., 1969), pp. 82-86
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/812354
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The Idea of the Hero

Sheila Schwartz

Department of Education
State University College
New Paltz, New York

believed to be of divine or partly divine

LORD Byron, in his epic poem, "Don
Juan" begins with the words:
I want a hero: an uncommon want,
When every year and month sends
forth a new one,
Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,
The age discovers he is not the true
one:
descent; a man of courage and nobility
famed for his military achievements: a
man admired for his achievements and
noble qualities and considered a model
or ideal: the principal male character
in a drama, novel, story, or narrative
poem: the central figure in an event,
action, or period.

It is evident from these definitions that

Byron was not alone in his desire for
a hero. The need for heroes exists in we have come to call the standard bearer
of as
every society and goes back as far the "best" the hero. It is he who
written records. A study of the idea incorporates
of into the context of his exis-
tence the ethos of an age and thereby
the hero can provide an excellent point
becomes its symbolic embodiment.
of liaison between the cultural heritage
The best standard work on the hero
and the real world of the secondary stu-
is available in paperback. In Joseph
dent. This is one of the recurring aspects
of human existence which is manifested Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand
today in no different a pattern than in Faces (Pantheon, 1961), the author deals
with the hero in all of his historical
the time of Oedipus.
manifestations. He defines the hero as:
A good place to begin this study is
with the students' own definitions of the
... the man or woman who has been
word "hero." They can then compare
them with those in the dictionary. Some able to battle past his personal and local
historical limitations to the generally
of the definitions listed in lWebster's valid, normally human forms. Such a
Third New International Dictionary are one's visions, ideas, and inspirations come
the following: pristine from the primary springs of
human life and thought. Hence they are
a mythological or legendary figure en- eloquent, not of the present, disintegrat-
dowed with great strength, courage, or ing society and psyche, but of the un-
ability, favored by the gods, and often quenched source through which society

82

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 THE IDEA OF THE HERO 83

is reborn. His second solemn task and

his own personal suffering for the bless-
deed therefore ... is to return then to
ing he confers on society. His mission,
us, transfigured, and teach the lesson he
which is his link to his fellow-men, also
has learned of life renewed (pp. 19-20).
separates him from them and he cannot
reap the simple rewards of a Beowulf.
The hero springs from his society,
The boon plucked by him for the world
transcends that society and has a vision
of the future, and ultimately returns tonot return it to an old balance. On
does
the contrary, his boon must unbalance
bring that message to his people. Camp-
bell identifies the typical path ofthe
thepowers of the world. And, when he
hero as "separation, initiation, and does
re- this, "the powers that he has un-
turn" and identifies this pattern as the balanced may react so sharply that he
hero "monomvth." Thus, we have the will be blasted from within and with-
embodiment of the "best" following a out" (Campbell, p. 30).
typical and traditional route to the ful- A protagonist in Greek legend who
fillment of his destiny. epitomizes this variation is Prometheus,
who defied Zeus, king of the gods, and
N the simplest version of the mono- gave fire to mankind. This version of
myth, the hero leaves his ordinary the hero moves him into the majestic
world, encounters a supernatural force dimension of tragedy for he knows in
which he vanquishes, and then returns advance the price he may pay for his
to present this boon to his fellow man. service to humanity and, with this full
This is the pattern we see in "Jack-in- knowledge, consciously makes his choice.
the-Beanstalk" and similar fairy tales. It The way in which Prometheus ob-
is also the pattern of "Saint George and tained fire for men was through trickery,
the Dragon." or, as Campbell puts it, through "quick
On a more difficult literary level we device." The hero who moves too quick-
see the pattern in the Anglo-Saxon epic, lv to his goal or attempts to get it by
Beowulf. The hero leaves his comfort- violence or luck so unbalances the fabric
able kingdom to battle the supernatural of society that he can never go home
monster, Grendel. He vanquishes Gren- again. The changes that this hero brings
del and is joyously reunited with his about place him beyond the pale or
people. In "Sir Gawain and the Green protection of society. Therefore, Pro-
Knight," Sir Gawain leaves the court of metheus was doomed to suffer eternal
King Arthur to battle the Green Knight torments. His own pain was the price
and he then returns to the court having for the boon and he had no one to lift
made the world a better place for him from his misery. "Alas for me,"
knights. he says in the play by Aeschylus, "such
This version of the monomvth re- inventions I devised for mankind, but
quires exceptional courage of the herofor myself, I have no cunning to escape
but does not require him to sacrificedisaster."'
himself for his fellow man. The Old
This is the version of the monomyth
Testament story of "David and Goliath"
which we find in the stories of Jesus
and the Greek myth of Theseus in com-Christ, Joan of Arc, and Che Guevera.
mon with the story of Beowulf, permitLord of the Flies recounts it in relation
the hero to live out his life honorably in
to Simon. The boy separates himself
the midst of the people to whomphysically
he (he has previously become
has given the boon.
A more complex version of the mono-
1 Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr.,
myth does not permit the easy re-entry
eds., Seven Famous Greek Plays (New York:
into society. The hero must pay with
The Modern Library, 1950), p. 21.

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 84 ENGLISH JOURNAL

has never
separated spiritually) been bestedhis
from by ordinary mor-
society to
confront the supernatural
tals whether they wereforce which
patients or fellow
turns out to be a dead
workers. pilotpower
Her exceptional dangling
gives
her theSimon
from his parachute. ability to change her shape like
attempts to
witches
bring this boon of in traditional fairy tales:
knowledge based on
scientific investigation to his fellows but,
She's swelling up, swells till her back's
in the process, risks destroying the exist-
splitting out the white uniform and she's
ing establishment which is based on fear
let her arms section out long enough to
and ignorance. Thewrap
establishment recog-
around the three of them five,
nizes the danger and Simon
six times... pays
her painted for the
smile twists,
boon with his life.
stretches to an open snarl, and she blows
up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor,
TWO interesting contemporary illus- so big I can smell the machinery inside
trations of the monomyth in which the way you smell a motor pulling too
death or torment are inextricably en- big a load. . . . But just as she starts
twined in the boon are the film, Cool crooking those sectioned arms around
Hand Luke, and the novel by Ken the black boys. .. all the patients start
coming out of the dorms . . and she has
Kesey, One Fle'w Over the Cuckoo's
to change back before she's caught in the
Nest (Signet, 1962).
shape of her hideous real self.
There are interesting similarities in
these two works. In common with all What is the boon which Luke and
heroes, the protagonists, Luke and Mc-
McMurphy bring to their new societies
Murphy, have an exceptional gift which
which is so threatening to the establish-
sets them apart from their fellows, ments
the of each that they must die? On
gift of living life joyously. Both the
are surface the changes they have oc-
thrown into worlds which have the same casioned are not even evident. The chain
symbolical deficiency, the repression of
gang continues and so does the mental
life by the forces of death and evil.
hospital. But, the boon is the same in
Before the appearance of the heroesboth stories. They have shown their
death, despair, and the frustration of im-fellow prisoners that even in the most
potence have controlled each society. extreme circumstances man can retain the
The supernatural Grendel is epito- last and possibly the greatest of human
mized in Cool Hand Luke by the Man freedoms. That is, the freedom to choose
with No Eyes. Instead of eyes we see his own attitude in any set of circum-
the mirrored sunglasses he wears and stances. Once the men have understood
the possibility of inner freedom, the
his awful power is patterned by the first
shot of the chain gang which is seen foundations of fear and desperation on
through the reflection in his glasses. which the power of the establishment
has been based are irrevocably shaken.
Luke's persecution begins after he has
the temerity to address this man directly. Luke first confers the boon on his
"Luke," his friend warns him "ain't fellow prisoners when he accepts will-
no one allowed to speak to No Eyes." ingly the most difficult job given to the
This supernatural figure is malevolent, chain gang and makes it into a game.
and because he is all-powerful he can When the men learn that they must
see everything through his mirrored tar a road, a familiar despair settles on
glasses and possesses absolute power of them. They have had no hero to show
life and death over ordinary men. them that when a man is not free it does
Big Nurse, in the Kesey novel, also not matter whether he cuts grass or tars
rules through supernatural powers which a road. It is still the establishment which
include the ability to read thoughts. She has set the rules and it is their manipula-

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 THE IDEA OF THE HERO 85

tion which forces men to see a value in follow their rules, to live like they want
the lesser of two evils. But, with Luke you do. And the best way to do this,
leading them, the men finish the job two to get you to knuckle under, is to weaken
you by gettin' you where it hurts the
hours ahead of time. They are exhila- worst. You ever been kneed in the nuts
rated and filled with laughter instead of
in a brawl, buddy. Stops you cold, don't
the exhaustion and hopelessness typical it? There's nothing worse. It makes you
of their reaction.
sick, it saps every bit of strength you
"Luke, you crazy, wild, beautiful got. If you're up against a guy who wants
thing," his friend shouts exultantly. to win by making you weaker instead
After that, Luke's fate is determined. of making himself stronger, then watch
He has defeated the supernatural mon- for his knee, he's gonna go for your
ster with laughter and must be punished vitals. And that's what that old buzzard
for ripping apart the old fabric of his is doing, going for your vitals.
society. The slow crucifixion of his body
By the time McMurphy is finished he
to destroy his mind begins. But nothing
has given the boon to his fellow patients.
can destroy his joy in life. Even with his
Kesey describes the coming of under-
ankles in chains he laughs at the tenacity
standing to Harding, one of the patients,
of a snapping turtle which just won't let
in the following way:
go. And finally :they are forced to kill
him, but they cannot kill his boon. His Harding looks around, sees everybody's
friend tells the other men that even in watching him, and he does his best to
death he was smiling that special "Luke laugh. A sound comes out of his mouth
smile," and in the final chain gang scene like a nail being crowbarred out of a
his friend is smiling that legendary smile plank of green pine; Eee-eee-eee. He
and it is evident that Luke's message has can't stop it. He wrings his hands like
reached his fellowmen. a fly and clinches his eyes at the awful
sound of that squeaking. But he can't
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,
stop it. It gets higher and higher until
McMurphy's first major challenge to the finally, with a suck of breath, he lets his
thinking of the mental institution comes face fall into his waiting hands. "Oh
after a group-therapy session. He silent- the bitch, the bitch, the bitch," he whis-
ly observes as each patient parades his pers through his teeth.
past mistakes before the others, spurred McMurphy lights another cigarette and
on by Big Nurse. Then he asks: offers it to him; Harding takes it with-
out a word. McMurphy is still watching
"And you really think this crap that Harding's face in front of him there,
went on in the meeting today is bringing with a kind of puzzled wonder, looking
about some kinda cure, doing some kinda at it like it's the first human face he ever
good?" laid eyes on. He watches while Harding's
twitching and jerking slows down and
The brainwashed men have never
the face comes up from the hands.
articulated any questions about the
"You are right," Harding says, "about
group-therapy process. They do not all of it." He looks up at the other
even dare to think critically about patients
Big who are watching him. "No
Nurse. McMurphy continues: one's ever dared to come out and say it
before, but there's not a man among us
... that nurse ain't some kinda monster
that doesn't think it, that doesn't feel
chicken, buddy, what she is is a ball-
just as you do about her and the whole
cutter. I've seen a thousand of 'em, old
business-feel it somewhere down deep
and young, men and women. Seen 'em in his scared little soul."
all over the country and in the homes-
people who try to make you weakAnd so after this, the fate of the typical
they can get you to toe the lines, herotoas described in the monomyth be-

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 86 ENGLISH JOURNAL

gins to unfold inexorably. McMurph

myth in the English and Humanities
is lobotomized but he has contributed classroom is its ability to serve as a uni-
to the freedom of humanity. fying concept for many seemingly dispa-
She tried to get her ward back rate
intoelements in the contemporary world.
shape, but it was difficult withFor
Mc-example, it can help in the evaluation
Murphy's presence still tromping upofand
the achievements of men such as Che
Guevara, John Brown, Martin Luther
down the halls and laughing out loud
in the meetings and singing in the latrines.
King, Mark Rudd, Timothy Leary, Len-
She couldn't rule with her old powernieanyBruce. The monomyth is applicable
more, not by writing things on pieces
to a variety of literary works, films, and
of paper. She was losing her patients one
after the other.... plays. This different way of studying
these works has unquestionable relevance
for both the past and the present.
The value of this study of the mono-

To P.M.

-On Reading a Commentary by P.M. on Hopkins' "Spring"-

Much have I heard Lafcadio Hearn speak

on "Manfred," "Grecian Urn,"

on the beauty

of the morning scene from the Bridge

or on the singing Skylark pouring his heart.

Long have I stood beneath a persimmon tree,

admiring the round, red, honey-packed fruits,

thinking of my forty years that will not come again.

But never did I feel such keen joy,

till I looked, following your direction,

into the thrush's nest in the hedgerow,

and saw heavens there in the blue, tiny eggs;

till I heard the bird sing from the peartree top,

rinsing and wringing my unaccustomed ears.

Naoshi Koriyama

Tokyo, Japan

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