Consider the characters of Mary Logan in Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry :: English Literature

Consider the characters of Mary Logan in Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry and Gilbert Dawson in The Sexton's Hero showing how they reflect the theme of heroism. Mary Logan in "Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry" and Gilbert Dawson in The Sexton's Hero both have many similarities, all of which reflect the theme of heroism. Both have to fight against the expectations of the society they live in. Mary Logan lives in the USA in the 1930's. She is a young black woman living in a white mans world, she is a teacher and her family own land, which the white landowners are not very happy about. The white people believe that blacks a less worthy then whites and should know their place. Gilbert Dawson is a man living in Lancashire in the 1850's, he is meant to be strong and ready to fight, however he doesn't want to fight and this angers the rest of the community. ====================================================================== Both Mildred D. Taylor and Elizabeth Gaskell wrote their books to change peoples views on different things. Mildred D. Taylor wanted to change peoples views on black people, and Elizabeth Gaskell wanted to change peoples views on haw people should act. Both writers see people as equal. ====================================================================== In the dictionary a hero is: "A person who is admired for being brave" Mrs Gaskell's definition is ====================================================================== "One who acts up to the highest idea of duty he has been able to perform, no matter at what sacrifice." ================================================================ In fairy tales, the hero is usually a man who rescues the princess from evil. Over time the term hero has changed from the old fashioned traditional hero to modern hero's (someone who is heroic for standing by principles and suffering hardship as a result.) ===================================================================== In The Sexton's Hero, Gilbert Dawson is more of a traditional hero because he saves Letty and the Sexton's life, but dies himself. He also has some of the qualities of a modern hero as he stands up for what he believes in. However Mary Logan in "Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry" is a modern hero, as she stands by here principles, no matter what the cost to her is. =================================================================== In "The Sexton's Hero," Gilbert Dawson is expected to support and reflect the male working class stereotype. He is expected to be "manly", physically strong and aggressive, ready to fight when necessary and to stand up to a challenge. However Gilbert Dawson goes against these expectations. He refuses to fight much to the amazement of the onlookers "it seemed such a thing for a stout young chap to be a coward and afraid." But Gilbert Dawson was not a coward or afraid.