Heroism ideally is about having great bravery. Culture values and myths are similar because they have the same concept. Ancient Greek is more fighting cyclops, while American culture is more risking your life to save others. The meaning of heroism is someone who is willing to save someone above themselves. Heroism is seen a lot in American culture by helping others and in mythology by saving the day.
Heroism is seen in the books ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Mythology and You’. In ‘The Odyssey’, Odysseus is going to save his men from Circe: “Take this herb with you when you go to Circe, and it will protect you from her deadly tricks...that’s how you will get your comrades freed and yourself well loved” (Homer). This is heroism due to the fact that Odysseus went to Circe and saved his men, even though he could’ve died. He took a chance and made it out alive, with his men. Another form of heroism is in ‘Mythology and You’. Rhea saves her children from Cronus: “When Zeus had reached maturity, Gaea and Rhea knew that the time had come to avenge their children...Metis tricked Cronus into swallowing a tasty, drugged drink, which gave him excruciating stomach pains...he spewed up his four children” (Rosenberg and Baker). Rhea wanted to save her children, so she came up with a plan. Cronus didn’t want one of his children to take over his place, as the prophecy stated, so he ate his children. Odysseus and Rhea show heroism in ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Mythology and You’ by standing up and saving their own.
American culture shows heroism by the things people do for one another. One example is firefighters. Firefighters save people who are stuck in houses on fire. A fireman saves two children in a house fire: “One of the responding firefighters went into the burning home to rescue the children” (Fox). This demonstrates the value of heroism because he risked his life to save a family. Another example is a person in the military named Kyle Carpenter. Kyle saved his friend: “In the heat of a battle, a live grenade landed near one of his comrades. Without giving it a second thought, Kyle threw himself on the grenade, absorbing the explosion” (Watson). This shows heroism because he saved his friend's life. It caused him severe damage, but his actions saved both of them. Heroism is seen in American culture by firefighters, and regular people or people in the military.
Rescuing others in American culture and saving others from danger in Ancient Greek is seen as heroism. Heroism was important in Greek culture because someone needed to help save the world. People wanted to believe in hope if something bad happened. This value is relevant in American culture because it helps improve the world and help other people. Heroism is a very inspiring value and encourages people to help others. Heroism all has to do with caring for and protecting others.