What Makes a Hero Essay

In an age of comic-book movies and social media posts glorifying the everyday, it might be difficult to come to a definitive answer about the qualities that define a hero. Humanity has certainly been thinking about the hero for as long as there have been written records—from cave paintings of mastodon hunters to profiles in the daily newspapers. But what are the qualities required to lift someone above the norm all the way to the status of hero?

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about what makes a hero.

Write a unified, coherent essay about what makes a hero. In your essay, be sure to:
● clearly state your own perspective on the issue and analyze the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective
● develop and support your ideas with reasoning and examples
● organize your ideas clearly and logically
● communicate your ideas effectively in standardized written English
Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of those given, in partial agreement, or completely different.

You may wish to consider the following as you think critically about the task:
● Strengths and weaknesses of different perspectives on the issue
● What insights do they offer, and what do they fail to consider?
● Why might they be persuasive to others, or why might they fail to persuade?

●Your own knowledge, experience, and values
● What is your perspective on this issue, and what are its strengths and weaknesses?
● How will you support your perspective in your essay?