The Role Of Hero In Stephen King's 'Misery'

Death was nothing but a recurring theme for Victor Frankenstein until his own. However, it is not the death of him that tells his story, but rather the journey he takes in life. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Victor created a monster, who brought him pain and torment by taking the lives of his loved ones. These trials pushed Frankenstein to the edge of insanity, but in the long run he emerges successful after a long journey of hardships. Like many heroes, Frankenstein’s expedition follows a uniform sequence of events, known as Joseph Campbell 's hero’s journey, to prove his worthiness.

High Noon and "The Most Dangerous Games" are great stories with very interesting plots. Kane and Rainsford are the main characters of these stories, and they are very different but alike at the same time. Both Kane and Rainsford fight alone against their opponent with no one their to help them. Kane was not always alone until he turned in his tin star and said goodbye to being a sheriff so he could be with his wife who was a Quaker.

For the topic of my essay I have chosen to write about a fictional character I encountered whose inspirational quote has had a significant impact on me. The characters name is Richter Abend and his quote is “Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality”. Richter Abend was ridiculed and persecuted all his life for his race. He was so afraid he circumvented and ignored the bullies but then he learned nothing would ever change if he stayed that way. This was similar to how I felt in middle school when I was bullied.

He is considered as an epic hero in history because of his lack of awareness to his own internal conflicts. The quote that best characterizes him is on pages 406-464 of book 19. These lines read, “Just as I have come from afar, creating pain for many- men and women across the good green earth-

Society would never accept him as society treats outcast and people that are any 'different ' atrociously. The monster acquired books of "Paradise Lost", "Plutarch 's Lives" and "The Sorrows of Werter", which "gave him extreme delight" as he studied and exercised his mind. When he came across the DeLacey family, hope sparked inside of him as he believed he would finally be accepted by at least a small part of society. Intelligently enough the monster made his move and approached the blind old man, in which he knew wouldn 't be able to see him or judge him by his distorted appearance. He finally grasps the chance into talking to the old man, De Lacey and he acknowledges that if he fails in being accepted by them he will be "an outcast in the world for ever".

This society was based on the qualities of courage, being amicable, and the biggest quality of all was loyalty. Even though, for the last battle of Beowulf the all left him alone with the monster except for Wiglaf. He is a very brave man but has flaws and temptations that become his downfall. Although, he was adulated by everyone for killing the monster, he knew that he was a bad king to his kingdom and wanted to make up for it by killing getting the treasure and giving it to the kingdom. In Beowulf, there were similarities and differences between the humanity

There are many lessons Odysseus and is men learn on their journey home in the Odyssey. Unfortunately, only Odysseus makes it home and the rest of men are dead because of their foolish actions. In the Thrinacia and The Cattle of the Sun episode of the Odyssey Odysseus’s men once again disobey him and cost them their lives. The men and Odysseus learn valuable lessons throughout their epic journey, but in the episode the most important lessons they learn are; temptation can lead to death, being obedient can save your life, and trust your instincts. If Odysseus’s men would have been more obedient to their leader Odysseus perhaps all of them would have made it back home alive.

This explains the first portion of Horney’s theory, now on to the second. As he continued to grow up, he started to fight alongside his brother in attempts to become as decent a hunter as his father was before he passed, slain by a demon as well. So, as he continued to overcome his personal and public obstacles, he began to feel a vague loneliness. All the trips he would go on would leave him foraging for a lasting love he would be able to keep and finally be at peace with, but throughout his life he would just have to cut them all of so as not to have them mixed up in the dangerous journey he was born

Because of this fear, Gilgamesh travels in search of eternal life. The exposure to the death of a companion, fearfulness of his own life, and the experience of love allows Gilgamesh to acquire a greater understanding of the humans he is commanding, ultimately making him a better ruler to his people. Death is an absolute in life. If one is living, then one will eventually die. For humans, death is one of the most important events we face.

His pride and desire to control the very nature of life ruled his life for years, driving him into an obsession. Deep down, he know his work was immoral, but “who shall conceive the horrors of [his] secret toil, as [he] dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave, or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay (pg 33).” His

William James once said in his book “ History is a bath of blood”, “Modern man inherits all the innate pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors. Showing war’s irrationality and horror is of no effect on him. The horrors make the fascination. War is the strong life; it is life in Extremis; war taxes are the only ones men never hesitate to pay, as the budgets of all nations show us.” (303)

In the novel "Lord of the Flies", the boys attempted to create a working society with hunters, a chief, where everyone could be safe, and more importantly feel safe. This society though didn 't work out; there were too many outlying problems, like Jack wanting desperately to best Ralph, or Roger being a secret sociopath, or the fact that throughout the entire book they were terrified of some beast, which was really just them all along. In "Lord of the Flies" the boys are so blinded by terror and excitement that they don 't take any time to clear their heads, think, and realize that what they have been doing is completely wrong. In the book one character, Simon, realized that the beast that they had been scared of the whole time had really been them, and when he tries to tell the others what he has discovered, they beat him to death with spears before anyone can hear or understand what he was trying so hard to tell them.

Choices can be bad, to worse. It is never as black and white as it may seem when it comes to choices, and for that, one cannot wish anything sour to those who chose a path that felt best in a situation. John died a hero for trying to save those falsely accused, and trying to prove that the girls were lying, though that has never been proven and is merely a theory. With that, John also died a selfish man for leaving behind his wife and children for nothing but a name. One can conclude that John can easily be assumed as a selfish hero, like many people in stories and people currently walking the earth.

In Ron Howards 2005 Cinderella Man, James Braddock is an altruistic gentleman that sacrifices his wellbeing for the good and prosperity of his family. James Braddock works tirelessly to bring money in for his family during the Great Depression. James not only worked as a longshoreman, but he also boxed competitively to earn money. After working two laborious jobs and earning an income for his family, James breaks his hand. This impairment causes James a great deal of pain, but he still continues work through it.

Journals Bloom, Harold. Tim O'Brien's The things they carried. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2005. Print.