Heroism Critical Thinking Examples

Heroism

Analysis of the presentation of the theme of heroism in Charlotte’s Web by E.B White and the Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler by Gene Kemp
Generally, heroism involves acts of bravery that either earns respect and recognition from society members. Heroism can manifest itself in a variety of ways and in fact, some heroic acts by some individuals fail to be noticed by the rest of the society.
Charlotte occupies a central character in White’s Charlotte Web. The display of heroic acts can be realized just from the beginning of the story. At the beginning when Fern is told that her father intended to kill Wilbur because he was weak and minuscule, she does not fear to confront him and rushes out of the house to plead with him to stop it. Her father warns her to learn to control herself and not question his intentions. This remark elucidates anger in her, and she heroically yells at him: “Control myself?” “This is a matter of life and death, and you talk about controlling myself,” (White 1952 p.5).
She started crying and took hold of the ax her father was holding and tried to snatch it from him. Her actions are laden with immense courage and heroism plays out in them. She tells her father “Please don't kill it!" she sobbed. "It's unfair,” (White, 1952, p.14). Her intent is to ensure that the small and weak pig, Wilbur, to be saved from possible death. She is determined to save him and throws a rhetoric question at her father. She asks him whether he had killed him if she had been tiny at her birth. Her father takes this as loss of control and he tells her gently, “you will have to learn to control yourself" (White, 1952, p.15).
Essentially, Fern is focused on saving Wilbur’s life from a cruel death planned by his father. She manages to convince her father to stop her intention to kill the young pig, and her father presents it to her as hers. Fern had spent the daylight heroically saving the world of undesirable injustice.
Examining Tiler in Gene Kemp’s ‘The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler,’ Tiler is described by the headmaster to be fond of jokes. The headmaster hints that Tiler had always appeared to him as someone on the verge of wrecking the school. From the outset, Tiler is the “male” school child who behaving in a heroic manner. Later, we discover that she was a girl.
For a twelve year-old to wreck the school handedly is heroically astonishing. The headmaster, in the opening remarks, confirms his long-held fears that Tiler would cause wreckage of the school. Tiler is constantly in trouble because of hanging out Danny Price. Everything Danny does come around to hound Tyke. Danny steals a ten pound notes from one of the teachers and Tyke tries to return this stolen money he gets a heavy discipline in return. The audacity of Danny to have the courage to sneak a teacher’s money is indicative of a heroic character. Despite their tender ages, these boys are not afraid to steal from their teachers (King, 1991).
In White’s story, a hero is displayed as a person who is charming, and with immense intelligence. The heroine of this story is Charlotte. When the oldest sheep informs Wilbur of the impending slaughter he will be facing, Charlotte from the outset informs him that she will save him from any possible death that may come his way (Biggs, 2000). Mr. Zuckerman fed Wilbur three big meals a day and the pig had grown big and had good health. Wilbur is astonished by this news and screams out for help from any quarters so that he is saved from being murdered for bacon and ham.
According to the sheep, they were fattening Wilbur so that they could kill him when the cold season approached. Wilbur gets mad at this and it this instance Charlotte heroically declares that she will save him from death. As much as the odds are in favor of the death of Wilbur, Charlotte is staunch enough to believe that she will save her. He tells Wilbur never to worry and have hurry in his steps (Folman et al., 2014). Wilbur questions Charlotte’s ability to save him and she is going to do to which Charlotte replies "That remains to be seen. But I am going to save you, and I want you to quiet down immediately. You're carrying on in a childish way. Stop your crying! I can't stand hysterics." (White, 1952, p.78).
In the initial steps to save Wilbur, Charlotte employs her intelligence to stir the environment at Zuckerman’s farm. She uses her unusual gifts of weaving webs as the first step to protecting Wilbur from potentially being killed at the onset of the spring. Charlotte painstakingly weaves a beautiful web and in the middle of it, she includes the words “SOME PIG” in block letters (White, 1952, p.67).
The theme of heroism is presented through blunt actions of the characters. For example Danny Price digs sheep bones from the town weir system (Kemp, 1977). The intention of this is so that he gets house points. The deliberate digging of bones is heroic in nature because it is expected that a child of their age will not engage in such an activity.
These schoolchildren are daring to do things beyond their years. Digging of a sheep’s bones may not border well with the local laws, and these kids espouse a different kind of courage. They go to extreme lengths to ensure their house get points. Excavating rotting bones of sheep can be construed as bizarre activity to engage.
In White’s Charlotte Web, animals are the ones depicted to be heroes (Thomson, 1993). They astonish human beings by their intelligence and ability. Charlotte goes to extreme trouble to put together these words. This astonishes Lurvy and Mr. Zuckerman, who bring along Mrs. Zuckerman to witness this occurrence that they refer to as a miracle. This occurrence scares them stiff and they strongly believe that a miracle has happened on the farm.
This event turned Wilbur into the most famous pig during this time. All over the country, news of the unusual pig spread like wildlife. The Zuckerman farm became a beehive of activities with numerous guests trooping in to come and see the wondrous pig. Many people travelled from far places come and have a look at Wilbur and read the words that Charlotte weaved on her web (Neumeyer, 1994).
In Gene’s Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler, heroes are school children who through stupid stunts they bring out their heroism. Their stupidity and incessant duels make them heroic (Cross, 1979). The two school children go a step further to attempt cheat on an assessment test. Tyke had overhead teachers discussing the likelihood of Danny being transferred to a special school. When Tyke takes a folder into the Chief Sir’s office, he picks one of the tests which he hides under the jumper as he walks out of the class.
The successful attempt to pick one of the tests to be given to Danny without the knowledge of Chief’s Sir is somehow heroic. By transferring Danny to a different school, Tyke will lose his friend. To avoid such an eventuality, Tyke intends to help Danny cheat in a particular assessment test. This is a high-risk engagement that may cost them dearly. The mere intent to help Danny engage in exam irregularities is purely ambitious, and its success would have them heroic.
In Chapter 2, Tyke manages to enter the loft and out of the toilets without the knowledge of the caretaker. He manages to join the school assembly and Danny’s notoriety. He has carried Fatty, his pet mouse, to school. He produces the mouse as the assembly is in session. The behavior of Danny borders on stupidity but achieve a certain level of heroism. Danny wants to become a hero through pulling crazy stunts in school. Carrying a pet cat to school was ill-informed, and its motives might have been attention seeking. Instead of concentrating on their class-work, the school children would rather seek attention and espouse laziness.
In Chapter 5, Tyke’s Dad is involved in a political contest and wants to be re-elected. His family is in his support and Tyke is provided leaflets to deliver in letterboxes. Danny, Crumble, and Tyke set out to delivers the leaflets. While on this task, they carry bread to consume. Accidentally, they lose their lot into the leat’s water. Surprisingly, they find the oppositions leaflets delivered in a lot which they pull out and throw into the leat. This behavior is unbecoming that is shown by the children is irritating. To them, it is heroic to disrespect the property of others and trample on their rights.
Moreover, the heroics of Charlotte are displayed in her ability to assume the leadership of the animals of the farm despite her small demeanor (White, 1952).
She exercises this leadership by arranging for a meeting so as to get more ideas on the new messages she can weave on Wilbur’s pig pen so as to extent the mystery surrounding the pig. She is strong- willed, and she strongly maintains her focus on ensuring that Wilbur is saved.
Additionally, in this story, Charlotte is determined to teach Wilbur how to live his life in her absence. She is hell-bent on saving Wilbur’s life without necessary putting harm in her way. As much as death was coming her way, she is determined to save Wilbur by noting her instincts, remaining true to herself without acting falsely to her general nature, and aptly employing her intelligence. Charlotte belongs to a class of her own because she intensely uses her extraordinary gifts to offer protection to Wilbur. She does not let her gifts lie idly, but heroically puts them forth in the whole scheme of saving her friend.
Moreover, Charlotte is heroic enough to declare her immense love for Wilbur, and she refer to her as her one and only (Rollin, 1990). She provides two reasons for saving Wilbur’s life. The two reasons are: she likes him and she wants to lift up her personal life and transform into a little better spider than it has been earlier. Charlotte sacrifices immensely for the benefit of his friend, Wilbur.
In Chapter 6 of Gene’s book the students are taken to the park as part of history lessons. The discussion is centered on two historical figures, William the Conqueror and Normans. These historical figures are a manifestation of their heroic acts. The teacher points the historical site where they waged their battle. Against this background, the students are prompted to stage mock battles. These battles are nothing but a mere reflection of the heroics the generations of yore. The mock battles are led by Tyke on one side and Kneeshaw on the other. Surprisingly, the fathers of two are in contention for council leadership. Essentially, political contests produce one winner who ultimately becomes the hero of the election (Vickery, 1993).
Chapter 9 presents us with another overwhelming scenario for Danny. Tyke has bribed him to go back to the old paper mill for the second time. The possible invasion by Martians would necessitate that they stay at the mill. Danny is not ready for this experience because he fears that the place may be inhabited with ghosts. Here Danny is the picture we get is that of a non –courageous person while Tyke appears to be courageous and heroic. He is ready to face the supposed ghosts and fighters. Moreover, he arrogantly knocks a bucket of water over Kneeshaw and this is pure malice. Because of this, the Headmaster punishes him (Thomson, n.d).
In Chapter 10, Miss Honeywell is presenting an end of the year play for the concert. In the play, Danny is cast Sir Galahad. This is because Galahad’s strength was comparable to the strength of ten people. This was due to his heart had high purity. Miss Honeywell saw these attributes in Danny. Essentially, Sir Galahad was the hero of this play because his strength was ten times that of an ordinary mortal (Vickery, 1993).
With comparison, Danny informs Tyke that he won’t be stealing anymore. Here he makes this decision because of the supposed resemblance with Sir Galahad. Danny takes pride in being compared with Sir Galahad and feels that his energy is also ten times that of ordinary mortals. He feel she has the heroic characteristic of Sir Galahad. With such a good comparison, Danny feels that it is right to drop the bad habits that paint him in bad light.
In Chapter 11 it is the election morning, and Tyke is not feeling too good but he responsible for doing the running from the polling booth to the house with the whenever the numbers change (Thomson, n.d). Tyke gets a headache which deteriorates and he starts writing in a blurred manner. Kevin Simms and Kneeshaw catch Tyke and start beating him up ultimately leaving him in the gutter. He goes down with a bad virus, and he is taken home with a bad virus and is confined to his bed for long. Dad won the council election and is going to London; he asks Tyke what he should bring back for him. What Tyke ants is a rope. The Headmaster called to tell his mother the wonderful results of the test. He suggested that Tyke should apply for a place at a school for the gifted. The cheating for Danny has backfired on Tyke. From the preceding, Tykes dad became the hero in council election, and Tyke emerges the hero in the assessment results (Vickery, 1993).
Tykes Dad comes back from London and has bought a rope for Tyke. Tyke wanted to play with it at the disused mill. Mum and dad constantly fought over their son going to the new school. Tyke tried to tell them the truth, but Beryl told him to shut up because it will never happen. Beryl said that their attention would soon be focused on her because she is going to get engaged to Richard. Their parents were fighting when that happened, and Tyke retreated to the old paper mill. When Tyke came home later that night, his parents were happy again, and Tyke knew there will be no new school. Next day it was back to school again, and Tyke was greeted by the news that Mrs. Somers gold watch had been stolen, the police had been called and Danny had run away (Mallett, 1997).
The end of the term and the pupils are cleaning up the school, and the concert is a success and Danny plays great as Sir Galahad. The school year and their life at that school come at an end. The summer holiday are coming. Tyke is waited for Danny in the playground whereas the bell tower is tempting Tyke. He finally climbed up onto the roof to ring the bell as the one final act at the school. Once up there Tyke can saw for miles, suddenly the playground was full of people imploring him to descent. Mrs. Somers arrived and called out “Get down at once, Theodora Tiler, you naughty disobedient GIRL!” The use of the name angers Tyke she hates it. She leans over and rings the bell with all her mighty. The term had been a beehive of activities, but they had all emerged heroes who will move to the next class (Mallett, 1997).
In White’s Charlotte Web, the birth of Wilbur in the spring indicates renewal or rebirth. The pig goes to be feted for its presupposed ingenuity. The death of Charlotte in autumn indicates decline and recession into severity. Principally, Charlotte had saved Wilbur’s death and her demise spells doom for Wilbur. Moreover, the journey to the fair has extreme significance. The Fair presents an opportunity of Wilbur to showcase his heroism. Mr. Zuckerman dreams that Wilbur is 92 feet high and 116 feet long so he can sweep all prizes at the Fair.
The plot of the story is enhanced by Charlotte’s trickery that is made possible by her writing. The author uses Charlotte to write her personal story. The novel is called Charlotte’s story which essentially translates to White’s story. The combination of friendship and writing that Charlotte espouses, make it possible to save Wilbur’s life. In this, White is merely noting the combination a writer should in order to be successful. These two attributes are to have heart and to be skilled. Moreover, E. B White’s initials can be rearranged to read WEB; therefore Charlotte and he are interchangeable. White dies but leaves this story to read and he lives on in his carefully crafted words.
The heroics antics of the characters in Charlotte’s web do not serve to showcase any political advocacy or political dissent. The novel is feminist because it uses a female character, Charlotte, to be the hero of the story (Sims, 2011). The story is easy to read and only challenge a reader might have is deciphering the connection of this story to the real world.
In the Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler, the analysis of gender stereotypes is examined. The book promotes the idea that we are not supposed or we should not fit in the gender boxes that our societies have prescribed (Vickery, 1993). From the beginning of the book we are convinced that Tyke Tyler is a boy because of her heroic acts of playing outdoors and climbing objects. It is not until the end of the story that we realize Tyke Tyler was actually a girl. Deciphering the gender of Tyke Tyler is one of the challenges the readers have. The book was written to challenge the existing gender stereotypes. Tyler’s heroic acts of climbing and hiding in mysterious places makes the reader not suspect her gender. From the outset she is a boy. The theme of heroism is used as political advocacy of gender deconstruction. Tyler, a girl, is able to engage in all antics the boys like engaging in. The story is sexist in nature because it aims at dispelling the notions that surround gender. Moreover, the presentation of the heroism theme takes on a conflicted presentation, since the readers are challenged to question the gender of Tyke Tyler due to the heroic antics she engages in.

References

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