Modern Man Facing Common Problems

A hero is usually a heroic main fictional character or an actual real human being who, in the eyes of danger, successfully fights adversity through incredible feats of strength, courage, or ingenuity. Like many previously only gender-defined words, a hero can be used to describe any gender, although hero only generally refers to females. Sometimes used as an insult, hero can also be used with some affection; hero may refer to a male character (such as Han Solo in Star Wars) or to a heroic action.

While most people have stereotypical masculine qualities, especially courage and aggression, heroes are typically not predicated on these qualities. Most heroes are flawed, sometimes greatly so. However, because heroes overcome adversity and find personal meaning in their actions, they are beloved by many. When comparing heroic characters with other characters in literature and movies, it is easy to see how the traits shared by heroes are unique, defining characteristics which set them apart from everyone else.

There are five essential qualities shared by all heroes: valor, innocence, cleverness, humanity, and respect. Valor and innocence are the ideal hero, the ideal person; every other hero lacks this quality, which makes them not fully human. In contrast, the principle hero (the common man) does not lack either innocence or valor, but he also lacks humanity or respect for other people. Humans have their common characteristics, and heroes are no different.

heroes have role models and numerous inspirational stories to draw from that allow them to develop and hone their own personality and characteristics. As children we have role models in our families, and these role models form the basis of our character traits. In addition, we watch television, movies, and even games that have heroes as the heroes, and these stories are consistently shown to us over again.

In our modern society, modern inventions like the telephone, television, gaslights, and automobiles all have changed our lives and changed the way we interact with each other. All of these inventions created social heroes in the minds of the people. Our modern culture places a premium on being popular, and many people prize being one of the most popular people, whether they are socially or otherwise. This often means having a larger than life personality and a strong sense of obligation.

Modern man does not face common problems as the principal character in a story would, but rather as the secondary or sometimes, even tertiary character in a story. One can compare modern man with principal character in stories and note how the common man is always trying to do more than the hero does to solve the problem. The real hero is trying to achieve something that the principal character is already aware of and has power over. A hero may be working to change society, to create equality, to overcome some disease or to prevent something bad from happening. The real difference between the modern hero and the principal character is that the hero tries to do something that the principal character could never have imagined.