Since the beginning of time, mankind has been enchanted by the concept of Gods living in disguise amongst them. The prospect of such magnitude induces hopes in their hearts and motivates them to achieve what can’t be done by ordinary means. Thus the concept of heroes emerged in ancient Greece in the form of a divine union between Gods and Mortals, hence creating Demigods.
Why does a man need heroes? It is the question that arises after witnessing the birth of heroism. The very simple answer to that question is that hero is the creation of society. He represents everything that men of society lack and fail to achieve on their own. They desire to see their wishes and values manifest in the form of a person who embodies hope for them. Depending on the needs and requirements of society, a hero keeps on taking many faces and looks.
The second question that we find ourselves asking is what a hero is or what are the traits that transform a man from ordinary into a hero? Depending on the cultures, societies, and different values, heroes may be defined in many ways. Greeks envisioned their heroes as men capable of performing inhuman feats of strength and courage. They are superhuman beings who keep on finding ways to challenge themselves, pitting against dangers and embarking on impossible quests.
They only lusted after pride and glory while their characters remain shrouded as they are considered heroes due to their strength and talents. The Roman and Spartan ages glorified soldiers as people’s champions due to their martial nature. The more severed heads they brought, the more they secured their place as heroes in the eyes of the populace. Christianity’s birth brought out a new kind of hero, a symbol of piety and selflessness; the saints took over the mythical seat left by their predecessors.
The martyred saints gained love and attention all across the globe as heroes began to show signs of humanity and empathy. Whilst the medieval age viewed artists, intellectuals, and rebels as heroes, Shakespearean heroes began to emerge men filled with great virtue and character. And so the traditional hero of age started that lasted until the industrial revolution.
Heroes of the modern age took a new definition. They were men of character and virtue yet burdened with a load of their responsibilities and afflictions. They whimpered and hid behind their supporting characters in times of trouble. Thus the age of Byronic Heroes begun where heroes or the protagonists (as that’s what they were turning into) portrayed men of high intellect and capabilities but with no regard for laws or society. They were depicted as rather anti-social. The romantic and modern age turned heroes into mere protagonists, the center of the spotlight quite unlike the heroes of the old age with their traditional rescuing the damsel in distress tactics.
The 20th century brought World War I along with it that altered many perspectives and the need to redefine the heroes was realized the celebrated American author and war veteran Ernest Hemmingway who utilized all of his best efforts to create characters from which he could draw out the elements that are present in a traditional hero. He developed characters that had suffered and endured the hardships of time and war and emerged as heroes, and from here on, Hemmingway’s “Code Hero” started defining its contours (Young, p. 70).
Setting the standard for the modern hero, Hemmingway inspired the new age of heroes that emerged either through literature, art, or the ever-evolving electronic media. The age of comic books that started in the 1930s brought a new breed of heroes that were the ingenious combination of the Hemmingway hero and the classical Greek Demigods; The Superheroes. As this genre evolved, Superheroes adapted the definition of people endowed with superhuman abilities and a strict sense of moral codes to follow.
This genre was further expanded by the birth of television, film, and cable where these heroes developed further into more mature and human forms. The silver screen defined heroes a bit more depth as most of them possesses the same traits. They are supposed to be good-looking, they always get to save the day, are eccentric, and symbolizes masculinity.
Thus the definition of a hero has been reduced to an actor portraying the character on either the silver screen or the small screen. Soldiers and warriors are seldom regarded as heroes in the post-World Wars world, and even if they do, their fame is limited to their native lands only. The modern age has turned the hero into a star. But heroes of the modern age are heavily indebted to the creed of heroes that were created by Hemmingway.
In the war-torn backdrops of the worlds he portrays in his works, Hemmingway’s hero shines before the reader for being a hero without having the traditional hero-like qualities. Explained by Philip Young in his work Ernest Hemingway: A Reconsideration, Young defines Hemmingway’s hero as a person who lives his life by a specific code or ideals of life, his self defined sense of virtue and “offer up and exemplify certain principles of honor and courage which, in a life of tension and pain, make a man a man and distinguish him from the people who follow random impulses […] and are […] perhaps cowardly, and without inviolable rules for how to live holding tight.”
His heroes are the typical masculine war veterans, who often sport war injuries as a medal; they drink and indulge in bullfights, and are often shown off a rather promiscuous nature. Hemmingway’s heroes are often portrayed as introverts who believe that action speaks louder than words. But the difference between Hemmingway’s hero and his Code Hero must be maintained since Hemingway’s hero is a character of flesh and blood from whose perspective the story is narrated while Code Hero are norms and moral values that this character follows.
Hemmingway’s hero is daring and often portrayed as a fearless man who is willing to go any length to achieve his goal, incidentally showing a corner of his personality that wants to redeem itself of the danger he puts other people in as daringly explained: “To be a hero means to dare more than other men, to expose oneself to greater dangers, and therefore more greatly to risk the possibilities of defeat and death” (Gurko, p.15). His heroes aren’t necessarily God-fearing men, God is sometimes prayed to by the Hemingway hero in a time of crisis, but He is never depended upon (Waldmeir, p.29).
Using many of his heroes as templates, especially Nick Adams, who not only has appeared in a number of his works but also has narrated the story In Another Country, modern writers have based many heroes that have a touch of Hemmingway’s Code Hero, here and there. May it be Jack Ryan from Tom Clancy to Rowling’s troubled teen Harry Potter, Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne, or be it Dan Brown’s favorite, Robert Langdon. They all exhibit striking similarities to the heroes that Hemmingway has brought to life.
Even Hollywood seems to have borrowed Hemmingway’s code hero and it can be seen in the form of gun-slinging wild west cowboy Clint Eastwood to the hero of the high tech age Ethan Hunt portrayed by Tom Cruise in the insanely popular Mission Impossible movie franchise. What they all have in common is the masculinity, their lone ranger attitude, bravery, and an impeccable conscience that doesn’t let them compromise or bow down
Hemmingway’s heroes demonstrate not only the traditional sense of heroism like chivalry and eccentricity, but they also are men of the 20th century and depicts the rare trait of “Grace under pressure” (Parker, p.30). They display an extraordinary sense of bravery and virtue in the face of fear but at the same time are riddled with the traditional characteristics of soldiers which include love for physical pleasures and the persona of a tough-as-nails cowboy.
The example can be seen In Another Country where the hero of the story is the typical example of a man demonstrating the qualities, Hemmingway has envisioned. The hero Nick Adams enjoys getting drunk, loves the life of adventure, bears the war injury like a medal, and most of all shows signs of empathy. Hemmingway’s heroes show the traditional qualities of heroes from Illiad and Oydessy, they demonstrate the bravery and charisma like soldiers and gladiators from ancient Rome, their intellect saving them from tight spots with grace and dignity every time, and above all, they not impossible to perceive.
Hemmingway brings back the traditional age “hero lost in the twentieth century” (Gurko p.18). Born in the wake of “Lost Generations”, Hemmingway’s heroes are the archetype of masculinity combined with a highly developed conscience, they can easily say to have been in league with Hercules, Achilles, Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet, or Beowulf (Hemmingway, The Sun Also Rises, p.7).
Heroes of the modern age, may they be, Hollywood’s glorified action or romantic heroes, to the suave, deep and multidimensional characters out of the New York Times bestsellers list, they all seem to have taken heavy inspiration from the heroes that are envisioned by Hemmingway. The story In Another Country is a classic example of how Hemmingway portrays his heroes closer to life, yet amazingly dignified characters. like the Byronic or Shakesperean heroes, the hero of the story suffers yet manages to remain firm and honorably dignified in the face of trouble or ridicule. These extraordinary abilities have not only been incorporated into the heroes of the modern age, but also have made Hemmingway’s stories and characters immortal.
Work Cited
Gurko, Leo. “The Heroic Impulse in The Old Man and the Sea” Modern Critical Interpretations: Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999.
Hemmingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. Scribner, 1995.
Parker, Dorothy. The Artist’s Reward. The New Yorker 1929: 28-31.
Waldmeir, Joseph. “Confiteor Hominem: Ernest Hemingway’s Religion of Man” Modern Critical Interpretations: Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999.
Young, Philip. Ernest Hemingway: A Reconsideration. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996.