Joseph Campbell states in his work, The Hero With a Thousand Faces: the hero discovers and assimilates his opposite (his own unsuspected self) either by swallowing it or by being swallowed. One by one the resistances are broken. He must put aside his pride, virtue, beauty, and life or submit to the absolutely intolerable. Then he finds that he and his opposite are not of differenig species, but one flesh (108).
Could Ryan White be classified as a hero in light of Campbell's words? Argue, in 100 words, whether you think he is a hero or not according to what Campbell states and what you think the qualifications of a hero are.
10 comments:
In light of Campbell's words, Ryan White is obviously a hero. In the quote stated, it basically defines what kind of a person Ryan is. "He must put aside his pride, virtue, beauty, and life or submit to the absolutely intolerable." That's exactly what Ryan had to deal with when his school would not let him attend anymore and when everyone was judging and hating him just because they didn't know him. To those ignorant people in his town, Ryan was some kind of alien. He was different because he was sick, not because he was from a foreign country, or because he was a "differing species." The qualifications of a hero are exactly what Campbell says. They have to forget about what people do or say and what happens, otherwise they submit themselves to be emotionally tortured by very ignorant people.
In the light of Campbell’s words, Ryan White is a hero. Ryan opened the door to the world about AIDS. When his school did not want him back, and was treated horribly in his community, Ryan fought back. He used the media to tell about his battle, and was able to teach others about his deadly disease. His community made up hurtful comments of how he got AIDS. Many people reached out to Ryan for supporting him fighting for his rights. An organization for AIDS, run by gay men who have them, were thankful for Ryan to speak out, and celebrities reached out for him too. Ryan is no different from any human being. It was only one thing that stopped him, but he did not let it stop him.
Ryan White is a hero in light of Campell's words in many ways. After finding out he has AIDS he has to deal with much prejudice. He stands up for himself and knows that he isnt doing anything wrong and he deserves to get a normal education even though he has AIDS. He could either swallow it or be swallowed and decided to swallow it and try and teach people about his disease so they could learn and so they wouldnt swallow him. His community and many people around the world were trying to swallow him when they wouldnt let him go to the public school and protested against it because they didnt want somebody that was different to go to their school. All of the mean people that hated him because of his disease were like a different species to him at first yet later on he learned that we are all people and are all from the same species.
In the words of Campbell it Ryan White can be seen as never becoming a hero. According to Campbell one would have to give up all that they had and will ever have to become this hero. It is said that one would have to give up all that they loved and loved doing to become this so called hero. I feel that Ryan White didn’t really accomplish this “goal’. Instead of giving up everything he ended up gaining more. He ended up getting what he wanted. He was able to go to school and show that he was just becoming one who is looking up for themselves. Whilst trying to get in school he was happily being on the media and going onto talk shows. He was gaining popularity and getting free stuff that he happily accepted and was happy to have. So it can be seen that Ryan was not a hero.
Campbell once said " He must put aside his pride, virtue, beauty, and life or submit to the absolutely intolerable. Then he finds that he and his opposite are not of differenig species, but one flesh (108)." this notion is demonstrated well by Ryan White. Ryan is the epitome of this quote and in result is seen as a hero in the eyes of Campbell. He has to deal with peoples ignorance every where he goe just because he has Aids. But instead of hating them for hating him he understands that that will get him no where and prays for them to be educated and not use Aids as such a dirty word. that was Ryans mission in life as he saw it and i think that the book did a signifigantly good job on doing so.
In light of Campbell’s words, Ryan White is a hero. Ryan was only thirteen years old when he was diagnosed with AIDS and he was brave enough to tell the world his life. Ryan White can be described as everything that Campbell says in this quote, “He must put aside his pride, virtue, beauty, and life or submit to the absolutely intolerable.” Ryan was a true hero, one that put others before him. Even though he had a deadly disease, he refused to give up. People living in Ryan’s town did not understand this. They discriminated against him due to a disease he could not control. Ryan was not able to choose whether or not he was going to get AIDS, it just happened. No matter what people said about him, Ryan refused to give up and made a difference throughout the world.
In the light of Campbell's words, Ryan white is most definitely a hero."He must put aside his pride, virtue, beauty, and life or submit to the absolutely intolerable." This quote basically sums up the book and the story of Ryans life. The first the ryan had to "submit to the absolutely intolerable" was the fact that his whole town where he grew up his whole life turned his back on him just because he got AIDS. Then Ryan put his pride aside and fought for months to get back into his school. Finally when he got back into school he had to deal with the terrible things that people had to say. So basically Ryan white is a hero for the fact that he sucked up his pride and fought for something he knew he had to change.
In light of Campbell's words, Ryan White can be classified as a hero. After Ryan was diagnosed with AIDS, many things were thrown at him that most 13 year olds do not have to deal with. For one thing, he was kicked out of his school because he had AIDS. He fought to get back in school. He did not "submit to the absolutely intolerable" like most people would have in that situation. This makes Ryan a hero because he fought for what he believed in. If he didn't, people would not have been aware of the prejudices that were happening.
ryan white was just an innocent boyy strucken with the impossibilities. Born with curse that inevitably led to his untimely death. But at his birth he wasnt just given a fate of pain and heartache he was given the future of a hero. The deffinition of hero is to put aside pride, virtue,beauty and there life, but i say nay to this the defintion of a hero is ryan white. He was in no way inhuman but in the eyes of society he was the farthest thing from normal. He paved the way for a kids socially indifferent. Threw hatred and pain he forever paved a path of love .. and that forever makes him a true hero
Joseph Campbell's passage describes ryan white as person. Campbell's words basically tell that ryan was a hero. this is because ryan society had turned on him with in instant it caused him to realize the world could be a terrible place, that it bring u so low that you just wish you were dead. now with ryan facing ths terrible fate he could either fall to a prejudice or he could swallow his pride, virtue, beauty, and life, and proove every one wrong and show that just because the community ryan lived in banned him because his sickness made him different, he would find his place and get people to accept him for who he was and not the sickness he had. which is just what ryan did he showed people aids isn't something to fear in a person they just have to understand it to accept it. so according to Joseph Campbell's works ryan is a hero.
Post a Comment