Alex Elliott's List: English 11 Chris McCandless Hero Essay

• ABRAHAM LINCOLN was the nation's tragic hero. No American has ever climbed over so many obstacles to rise so high; none has fallen so precipitously at the moment of his triumph. In the nearly 125 years since his death, Lincoln has become the suffering servant and the man of sorrows of American civil religion.

  • Notes/ Paraphrase/ Summary
    
    This quote gives me the option to compare Chris McCandless to President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is the classic case of a tragic having done so many good things and getting assassinated for it, and dieing to early. This article gives me the option to go into detail on Lincoln's life and how he is a tragic hero and how he compares to Chris.

  • Source Citation
    
    Fleming, Thomas (American writer). "Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings." National Review 8 Dec. 1989: 38+. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 13 Mar. 2011.

• An effective tragic hero, Aristotle says, is neither thoroughly good nor thoroughly evil. He or she suffers more misfortune than is deserved, but also nourishes a fatal flaw that animates the course of events. We pity the hero, but also fear for ourselves, feeling our own flaws vulnerable to a convergence of external forces - luck, circumstance, the gods, fate - that will get some tragic ball rolling. These forces are impossible to predict. As George Steiner has written, they represent the otherness of the world that "waits for us in ambush at the crossroads."

  • Notes/ Paraphrase/ Summary
    
    This article not only gives me a book about a tragic hero to compare Chris to but more importantly it will help me with my thesis statement. The highlighted text shows Aristotle's "definition" of what a tragic hero is and that will help me make my thesis statement.

  • Source Citation
    
    Solie, Karen. "I'm confessin' that I killed you.(Book Review)(FICTION)(Confession)(Book review)." Globe & Mail [Toronto, Canada] 31 Jan. 2009: F10. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 13 Mar. 2011.

• "For an event to be tragic it must be totally undeserved," Rubin said. He was using the word tragedy in its popular sense, of a death that is particularly sad because it is premature, accidental or innocent.

  • Notes/ Paraphrase/ Summary
    
    In this article I will only need a part of the highlighted text. At the begining of this article it defines how an event be tragic and how a hero can be a tragic hero. Inorder for an event to be tragic it must be completely undeserved.

  • Source Citation
    
    Taylor, Kate. "Arts argument: tragedy, that old black magic. Necessary flaws: whether or not JFK Jr.'s loss was tragic in the classical sense, it showed that the human need for cathersis never dies." Globe & Mail [Toronto, Canada] 26 July 1999. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 14 Mar. 2011.

• Hercules,  «HUR kyuh leez», was one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology. The Greeks called him Heracles, but he is usually known as Hercules, the name used by the Romans.
• After Hercules fell in love with another princess, Iole, Deianira followed Nessus' advice. But the centaur's blood had been poisoned by Hercules' arrow. When Hercules put on the robe, it burned him so terribly he pleaded to be placed on a funeral pyre. His body was consumed by flames, and he was taken to Mount Olympus, home of the gods. There, he became a god.

  • Citation
    
    Felson, Nancy. "Hercules." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

  • Notes
    
    Hercules was one of the greatest hero's off all time nothing stopped him from achieving any of his goals. He was able to complete all 12 labors. He was able to beat a number a different villains that stood in his way. Yet his death was caused by the jealousy of his wife. Once Hercules has fallen in love with Iole Deianira, his wife, tried to keep him but she eventually caused his death.

• The 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor honors the public safety officers who gave their lives on September the 11th. On that day, firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians, Port Authority personnel, and other public safety officers performed their jobs with extraordinary distinction in the face of unspeakable terror.

  • Citation
    
    Bush, George W.. "Public Papers of George W. Bush -- Remarks at the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor Award Ceremony,." 9-Sep-05. World Book Advanced. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

  • Citation
    
    Bush, George W.. "Public Papers of George W. Bush -- Remarks at the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor Award Ceremony,." 9-Sep-05. World Book Advanced. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.
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  • • Notes
      
      These public safety officers are the classic cases of Tragic Hero's. They put their lives on the line to save their people from a large terrorist attack. When someone can face an unspeakable danger to try and save the lives of others, then you know they are a hero. The fire fighters, police officers, and medical technicians that died searching and trying to research the lives of their people are tragic hero's. They did what they though was right for their country.

• Maloy's actions saved lives. "He's the entire reason I'm alive right now," said Ashley Knowles, 22. Knowles was heading to Samson from Hartford when she saw Maloy's pickup truck heading toward her, racing alongside McLendon's car. She screamed as she saw Maloy ramming McLendon's car, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision. It wasn't until later that she realized Maloy was saving her from an even worse fate.

  • Source Citation
    
    "Shooter's last victim died trying to stop him." Dothan Eagle [Dothan, AL] 14 Mar. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 17 Mar. 2011

  • Source Citation
    
    "Shooter's last victim died trying to stop him." Dothan Eagle [Dothan, AL] 14 Mar. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.
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  • • Summary
      
      It is never to late to become a hero. In this case there was a shooter out on the loose and Bruce Maloy was able to stop him from killing anyone else after he had been shot an was on the verge of death. Maloy wasn't ment to die it was tragic but what makes this story to good was that he knew his time had come but he didn't want any other life to be taken. Death is to large of a punishment for a hero like this.

• Heroes  are ordinary people who do extraordinary things that motivate us in some way. It can become a huge responsibility to be held in such regard. We expect the people we admire to behave in a particular manner and we can become easily disappointed if they cannot live up to our expectations.
• Our  heroes  are individuals and agencies that changed the life of our city just by a simple act of kindness, heroism or inspiration. It is not what a person does that makes him or her a  hero  , it is the effect they have on others that makes the difference.
• celebrated its 50th Anniversary of being in Verdun and it reminded us of how the idea of three local  heroes  can make a difference to an entire community.

  • Citation
    
    Dawson Community Center has over 50 years tradition of creating local heroes.NewBank. Electronic Database. 14 March 2011.

  • Notes/ Summary
    
    This article explains what a hero is, how they are regular people that will do unimaginable things to change the life of a regular person. Most hero's goals are to make a difference in life and to try and help their community. In thins case the hero's from the past are honored every year for what they had done for their community. One thing about any type of hero is that they are never forgotten.

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• n baseball, it's Babe Ruth's "Called Shot" in the 1932 World Series. In football, it's Jerry Kramer's block on Jethro Pugh in 1967's Ice Bowl. 

   

   They are powerful moments forged in the heat of battle that define a hero's place in sport. Equal parts fact and mythology, they are destined to be replayed and debated for generations. 

  • Citation
    "'The Look' put sport on U.S. radar." USA Today 11 July 2003: 10C. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

  • Notes
    Whether it's the hero's that you read about in comics or the one's that are in the sporting industry they will do anything to acheive their goals. When it comes to sports your goal is to be the best at what ever sport that you are in. Once to get to a certain level nothing will be able to stop the most determined from getting their price. This is how you can compare a sports hero to the one's that are in the comic books.

• Lawrence became one of the greatest guerrilla leaders of all time, mastering the small (devastating raids on enemy railways) and the large: as Korda convincingly argues, if his hero's Mideast mapmaking, respectful of ethnic territory and ancient trade routes, had been followed after the war, the region might not have become the bloody mess it is today.

  • Source Citation
    Bethune, Brian. "Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia." Maclean's 17 Jan. 2011: 74. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

  • Notes
    
    Lawrence of Arabia was seen as a great leader. He lead within the the goals of the British army, to try and lead an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during WWI. After WWI, Lawrence became from the global conflict as the most known, hero. This example is of a hero doing the best for their country and how it pays off with the people in the future.

• The history of the Armenian people is beset by tragedy. They have been subjected to repeated massacres, including the genocide of over one-and-a-half million by the Turks in 1915. In 1988, they have also suffered from one of the world's most devastating earthquakes, which left 25,000 Armenians dead, and half a million homeless.

  • Citation
    Cox, Caroline. "Nagorno Karabakh: forgotten people in a forgotten war." Contemporary Review 270.1572 (1997): 8+. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 12 Mar. 2011.

  • Notes/Summary
    
    This example shows us what the people of the world consider a tragedy. In this case the Armenian people have suffered from numerous massacres (the most prominent being the genocide) by the Turkish people. Even though numerous people suffer from these tragedies you can still compare them to the tragic death of Chris McCandles and how it effect the people that he loved.

• Eric David Yates, a 2008 Western Kentucky University ROTC graduate from Rineyville, was honored at a memorial service Thursday afternoon on campus. Friends, family, university officials, students, faculty and ROTC cadets gathered to remember the 26-year-old, who was hailed as an American hero.

  • Source Citation
    
    "Afghanistan fatality: War hero, WKU grad honored at Bell Tower." Daily News [Bowling Green, KY] 24 Sept. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

  • Source Citation
    
    "Afghanistan fatality: War hero, WKU grad honored at Bell Tower." Daily News [Bowling Green, KY] 24 Sept. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
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  • • Notes/ Summary
      
      One thing that really defines if someone as a hero is if they have had a big effect on the people around them. A war hero can be considered a tragic hero because they die fighting for their country and what they believe is right. But all war hero's are honored once the pass away and the people of their nation and other nations respect what the hero has done for their respective country.

• "America stepped into the Middle East as British and French colonial domination receded," thereby becoming "the chief guarantor of the region's peace...." This is another way of saying that we were chosen to take over from Sisyphus, the tragic hero of Greek mythology condemned to spend eternity daily rolling a large boulder up a steep incline, only to have it roll back down as it neared the top at day's end.

  • Notes
    
    This passage shows us how you can use an example of a tragic hero to back up an event that has happened. In this case the make a reference to the United States stepping into the Middle East. They compare this to Sisyphus, the tragic hero in Greek mythology that rolled a boulder up a hill everyday only to have it roll back down. This article is refering to the fact that when the US does something good something else happens to make it go wrong.

  • Citation
    
    Grigg, William Norman. "Sisyphus in the Middle East. (The Last Word)." The New American 6 May 2002: 44. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

• As a subject, Charles de Gaulle meets all the Aristotelian requirements for the tragic hero: the man who reaches high estate, then falls from it, generally through some inbuilt flaw. The brave soul attempting the definitive biography of such a man faces many problems. First, millions of words have already been written about de Gaulle (even while considerable archival material remains locked up in the family vaults). Second, there were at least four separate de Gaulles: the professional soldier; the military thinker and visionary; the Man of June 1940, rallying point of Free France; and the politician and national leader of the postwar era. To make matters harder, each one of these de Gaulles wore masks of great complexity.

  • Notes/ Paraphrase/ Summary
    
    Charles De Gaulle was a figure head in France during the the 1940's and follows Aristotle's requirments for a tragic hero. Which is a man who reaches high estate, then falls from it, generally through some inbuilt flaw. Like Chris, Charles has a flaw that caused him to loss everything. In Chris's case it lead to his death. Through this article I will be able to see the type of childhood backround that Charles came from and where it lead him and most importantly his flaw that caused him to loss everthing. He may have the same type of personality as Chris which led to both of their ends.

  • Source Citation
    
    Horne, Alistair. "De Gaulle." The Wilson Quarterly 17.1 (1993): 96+. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 13 Mar. 2011.