Entry 61: Mystery of Heroism

Consider Stephen Crane’s story, “A Mystery of Heroism.” Where do you think the mystery lies? Is it in the definition of what makes a hero? Or is it relating to the motivations of people who perform heroic acts? In the story, what are the motivations of Fred Collins to risk his life to get water? How do you think he feels about his own motivations? Does he understand them? What about yourself? Have you ever done anything heroic? How well do you understand your own motivations for the things you do?

• The mystery of heroism lies in that there is no definite definition of the word heroism. What defines heroism? It varies from person to person because of people's different vocabulary. Also, we don't know what people expect from a hero: the characteristics and their actions and reactions towards different situations. Another point of view concerning the mystery of heroism is, should we consider people's motivations when we are talking about heroism? What if someone with a bad motivation accidentally did something good and was classified as a hero? What about the situation in the other way?
• Fred Collin's motivations started out as a simple need to drink water because of his body's thirst and desire for water. However, he was later motivated by peer pressure: people kept on asking him, didn't he want water, and why doesn't he get water when he wanted to drink some? To Fred Collins, his motivations are now turned into obligations and duty because of peer pressure.
• I do not believe that I have ever been a hero. Everything that I have done for my sixteen years of life was normal and not out of ordinary. I would say that most of my motivations for certain actions usually stick with selfish needs (well, not necessarily selfish, but I do things for my own good most of the time). Sometimes, however, my motivation for my actions is based off on the want to help my friends or family. I can very well distinguish what my motivations are for things.