Comment le monde des héros peut-il nous influencer ? (texte en anglais)

How can Heroes influence us? Are they all true heroes ?

At the origin, the word Hero comes from Greek mythology. For them, a hero is a half god like Ulyssis, Achilleus. But in our time, it’s not the first thing we think about.

The first thing coming on your mind when we say heroes, it’s superheroes. I mean Superman, Wonderwoman, Green Lantern…. We need Heroes, because we need to have someone to imitate. Even if it’s impossible to reach their power, we can imitate their perfect ‘’citizenship’’. We can see that heroes have been created in order to be liked by certain kinds of people. Wonderwoman has been created in order to be liked by girls while Superman, Batman are loved by boy. They also have an influence in movies, video games, clothes, decoration. For instance, the movie ‘’Kick-Ass’’ show us the life of a teenager who is a fan of comics. Because he is a victim of racket, one day he decides to become a hero and to defend the city. Image of the superheroes are used by enterprise for earning money. Superheroes also have an influence in daily life and people’s mind. Indeed, for example in United States of America, a group of persons who called themselves ‘’Superheroes Anonymous’’, disguise themselves in superheroes and help neighbor by practicing self-defense class, First Aid, helping the helpless or even cleaning streets.

The second kind of heroes we think about is people going from rags to riches. In our class, we have studied a poem of John Dos Passos about Adrew Carnagie. This man cames from nothing and reached a big amount of money. He donates a lot in order to build universities, schools, libraries in the United States. This man has followed the American dream: Coming for nothing and becoming wealthy. This man is a model for a lot American people, a way of life that everybody wants to reach.

But for me, those men are not truly heroes. For me, when I think about heroes I think about anonymous heroes and people who have helped others.

When I say anonymous heroes I mean fireman, policeman. All these people risk their own lives to save others. Those men can be proud of themselves. Fireman influence us by showing bravery in daily life, it’s a proud job that a lot of little boy want to have. Policeman influence us by making us respect the law.

But for me, the true hero is men like Churchill or Schindler. Churchill has led a country in war in order to protect the world from Nazism. For me, Schindler is the first man I think about for being a hero. This man has protected jews from the Final solution, he gave them a better condition of life than in a concentration camp. He spent a lot of his money in order to keep them and protect them. He even went to search them when they had been send to extermination camp. For me, he is a true hero because, he risked his own life, spent his money in order to save one thousand jews.

In conclusion, superheroes and heroes of the American dream influence us by being model for us, someone to imitate. But for me, they are not truly heroes who help others. Anonymous heroes and Great Man of war like Churchill, Schindler, Jean Moulin ... are for me true heroes who have helped others and risk their life for us.

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