JE61 Mystery of Heroism

            In Stephen Crane’s story, “A Mystery of Heroism”, Fred Collins was mocked for not daring to get the water. Eventually he did but spilled it all out. I think the mystery lies in the water that the he carried. The “heroism” in this story is something that the man wanted to pursue, or happened to be pursued. When he finally gets it, people welcomed him with cheer. However, lastly, a careless mistake made him lose all the heroism as when the water was spilled out. The definition of what makes a hero is an action that brings positive effects among people. It can relate a little to the motivations of people who preform heroic acts. But people who tried to do it do not always become heroes or heroines. In the story, the motivations of Fred Collins to risk for the water was simply because he wanted to prove himself that he was not a coward and wanted the cheer from people. I do not think he was clear about his motivations because it was just a simple, naïve action that he suddenly wanted to do. He did not specifically process it through his mind and abruptly decided that he was going to get the water with the risk of being killed.

            The most heroic action I have done so far was probably to beg the teacher to delay the test. My motivation was to save myself though, not to save everyone in the class. However, people still cheered for me because I convinced the teacher and saved them.