CBEST - essay1

Ernest Hemingway once commented, "As you get older, it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary." In an essay to be read by an audience of educated adults, state whether you agree or disagree with Hemingway's observation. Support your position with logical arguments and specific examples. [CBEST English Writing exam (Practice Essay 1) ]

       A Hero is a role model. Somebody who has many admirable qualities be it physical, intellectual or spiritual. He is one who inspires a goal and gives a person something to aspire to become. This aspiration can be as simple as a slight admiration for a fleetingly small time period or even full blown hero worship that can last an entire lifetime. Heroes often change as a person grows older; in the same as one’s personality and goal in life changes as their outlook towards life shifts.

        A small child almost always associates the word “Hero” with a physically strong person more than behavioral qualities and strength of character. A happy childhood can very often lead a child to stand up and proclaim to everyone that their parent is their hero. At that young age, their thoughts are as simple as “I want to be as strong and tall as my Dad”. As they grow older their aspirations about their parents shift and then their wish morphs into “I want to be as accomplished or educated as my Dad”. Their wish is no longer to be as physically similar, but it might shift into an intellectual fascination. But then life happens, and as time passes and they grow older and get a better awareness of their surroundings and circumstances. They often come to a realization of the shortcomings in their lives and have a better understanding of their station in life and the people surrounding them and even form opinions about how their parents react to various events in their lives. They start to recognize the negative and positive traits in people and put thoughts to how they would have reacted in those same situations. Disillusionment sets in about those who they looked up to in childhood, who seldom have the same attractive shine under a different light at a different age.

       Most often, a hero is not even a real person. The importance of fictional heroes can never be downplayed as they have a very strong presence in every person’s life at some point or another. A very common example that can be cited at this point is Superman. A child loves his colorful costumes, strong body, ability to fly and being able to punch the villains in their faces. That is what first catches their attention and the hero always wins in the end. Always. Good always triumphs over evil. Then as he gets older, this child then realizes that Kryptonite is Superman’s biggest weakness and it is often used by his enemies to weaken him. But he still wins out of sheer force of will and ability to remain steadfast in his belief that evil needs to be thwarted at any cost even at the cost of his own life. At this point the kid, who is older now, realizes strength of character and will power is what he admires most about Superman. When this child grows older he may be ridiculed for still watching cartoons and even made fun of, for following the more or less same story line which superman has been fighting and winning for more than half a decade. His adult mind tries to find faults with his hero. The same colorful costume becomes an undergarment worn inside out, the strong will of his hero becomes a homeless man pining away for his destroyed world. The adult in him refuses and fails to understand the mindset in which he aspired to become someone like Superman. A fictional character who gave him much joy and enthusiasm in life till then becomes an embarrassment to be covered up and not acknowledged.

       Famous people like Mother Theresa, Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, are all people who have become heroes to entire masses of people. They are heroes who have achieved many things overcoming great misfortunes and situations like, war, political unrest, famine, gender inequality and inspired entire masses of people to rise up and fight for their rights and beliefs. But often a common man who might admire these real-life heroes, still chooses to run away from these difficulties than stand up and fight for what is right. Fear of the consequences of their actions often demotivate people from emulating their heroes. Fear for the safety of their loved ones and fear of upending their lives often have discouraging results and they feel unimpressed with their mundane existence. This results in a sort of quiet disillusioned acceptance of being a non-hero even though these ideals may still linger in their minds.

       Being one of the great literary masters, Ernest Hemmingway, must have commented that “As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary” keeping in mind these adults who do not find their heroes in their themselves but still trudge on hoping for a way to be proud of themselves at some point in their life. Everybody needs goals to aspire to, no matter their age, size and color. Heroes are simply people who choose to face their fears no matter what form that fear may embody. They do not need to wear red capes, they just need to be happy with their choices in life to become a hero they are proud of.  

(874 words, 95 mins writing time)