Myths and Heroes: Malala

I'm going to talk about the notion of heroes we studied in class through some documents. First, I would like to give you a brief definition: a hero can be a mythological figure, a person who is admired for his or her achievements, a superhero or maybe a role model or an icon.

To begin with Malala's speech, I'm going to present her acts and then I'm going to speak about those of Henry Ford, the man who revolutionized the automobile's world.

First and foremost, I consider Malala as the heroine of our time. She marked her 16th birthday by delivering a speech at the United Nations to speak of her campaign on girls’ rights and above all the right of education of every child.

That day, she was heard and she was standing behind a lot of important politicians. But she wasn't here to speak for herself but for those whose voices can't be heard. She told the assembly about the attack of Taliban and the bullets shot at her and her friends. Those shots were aimed at silence but they failed to shut her up. Nothing changed in her life, only fear, weakness, and hopelessness witch disappeared to let place to strength, power, and courage.

By fighting for the education for every child, Malala tries to ensure the liberty of each of them. Her campaign is more important when we know that freedom is necessary to reach happiness.

Moreover, she has many qualities. Being pacific, altruistic, mature, courageous, and over and above. These qualities, in my opinion, are the characteristics of a hero.

Can we consider every person as a hero because he or she fights for his or her ideals?

To this question, I answer no. I will explain why with the example of Henry Ford.

John Dos Passos has written an article, called Big Money, about this great businessman of the 20th century.

We learn that Henry Ford had his own working policy. Indeed, he established the assembly line and the mass production. Visionary as a conservative man, he only hired “clean-cut properly married American workers”. To get them to be good workers, Ford paid them five dollars a day, an amount of money which was quite generous at that time.

It's on this concept that the success of Henry Ford was based and that he was considered a hero. However, the journalist is quite biased in his words. This article is written in a sarcastic tone. For instance, he gives his opinion on the wages given to the workers as a very small cut. Moreover, he exposes Ford to hire workers who didn't read or think.

In his opinion, Ford is not a hero. He believes that being considered as a hero depends on the point of view of every person. Indeed, we don't have all the same convictions or ideas. So he deduces that a real hero must act in the common interest.

In conclusion, to be considered as a hero some qualities are expected, but for me, the most important is to act for the common interest as Malala does.

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