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The Journey of Two Great Heroes

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The Journey of Two Great Heroes
The Journey of Two Great Heroes
What does it mean to have courage? The definition of courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, or pain; bravery (Dictionary.com). What does it mean to have endurance? Endurance is the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina (Dictionary.com). There are so many people in this world that show those two heroic characteristics, whether they are alive or deceased doesn’t matter. Rosa Parks is a remarkable hero for the courage she showed the country. In Ernest Hemingway’s, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago is also a hero in his own way for the trials and tribulations he faced. Although in a different time and a very different place, African American hero, Rosa Parks and Santiago both overcame immense challenges regarding something that they loved and believed in.
One of the first and most important traits of being a hero is having endurance. The circumstances of Santiago and Rosa Parks are very different but they stayed strong and overcame great challenges. When Santiago made the courageous choice to go back out to sea and make a great catch he knew it would take endurance to survive the danger. “I could just drift”, he thought, “and sleep and put a bight of line around my toe to wake me. But today is eighty-five days and I should finish the day well” (Hemingway 41). Santiago was very tired and knew it would be easier to just give up and rest but he had a dream and he would endure whatever it took to fulfill his dream. It must have been very hard for him to face the things that Santiago did but he is a hero in his own way, exemplifying endurance.
Rosa Parks is an African American hero, known by many. “On December 1, 1955, during a typical evening rush hour in Montgomery, Alabama, a 42-year-old woman took a seat on the bus” in one of ten permanently reserved seats for white people (National Archives). When the bus


Cited: "An Act of Courage, The Arrest Records of Rosa Parks."National Archives. Social Education 63, n.d. Web. 19 Feb 2013. <http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks/>. Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1980. Print. “Rosa Parks.” 2013. The History Channel website. Feb 20 2013, 12:46 http://www.history.com/topics/rosa-parks.
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