What is an Emersonian Hero?

Question

If possible, can you relate it to Yossarian in Catch-22?

Answer 1

An Emersonian hero is simple and genuine, self-reliant and self-motivated. He is the kind of person who seeks to do good out of a genuine unsophisticated desire for good things to happen, not out of any complicated philosophical or imposed system of belief, but more just because he feels that it the way things should be. He is very much an everyman, not necessarily better than you or I, but perhaps just brave (as Emerson put it) for "five minutes longer".

Yossarian is in this sense very Emersonian. He is not a complicated character and his desires are very accessible. His greatest desire is just to be safe. Nor does he particularly wish any harm on his enemies... in a very real sense his enemy is not the other side in the war, but the people who force him to fight it. We get the impression that if the war were up to Yossarian, he'd just invite the enemy over to watch a game of football, get drunk, and call it all even.

Likewise, as a kind of judge of the insanity of the war, Yossarian is not just concerned with his own well being, but with everyone else's too. He wants to save his tent-mate. He worries about the man in the full body cast. He is a person who is involved not only is his own affairs but in those of others as well, despite his seeming casualness.

He is not, however, be a perfect Emersonian hero. For one thing, while Emerson's heroes are in same ways as innocent as Adam, Yossarian is all too cynical. Where Emerson's heroes are filled with hope and possibility, Yossarian is mostly filled with panic and fear. Nor is he particularly brave... not even for the first five minutes, much less five minutes longer.

Still, it's a fairly apt comparison. Hope that helps!

Answer 2

An Emersonian Hero is one who is independant, self reliant, responsible for his own successes and failures. Now you can contribute your part by comparing Yossarian to this definition. Do you think he fits it, or not, and why. Once you do that part, you will have the complete answer. Good Luck.

Answer 3

Emersonian