Chow 1

Kevin Chow
Professor Lewis
English 115
12 December 2014
What makes a hero?
Most people in the world look up to various types of heroes or heroines. Whether it is
someone in their family, a close friend, or someone in a movie or television show, heroes and
heroines exist in various forms for many different people. I have my own opinions and views on
what a hero is. My definition of a hero is someone who is mentally strong, a person who is brave
and someone who will never give up on any situation whether if it is in their control or not. I
conducted an ethnography in order to evaluate what my peers think a hero or heroine is to
them.
For this ethnography, I focused on young adults who are currently enrolled in college. I
interviewed a total of ten people who consisted of friends, roommates, and hallmates. I texted
three of my friends, in which are females. Two of them attend California State University Long
Beach, and the other attends California State University Northridge. Next, I asked my three
roommates, who are all male. For the last four, who consisted of three females and one male, I
conducted a door to door survey around my hall and asked whoever was willing to participate.
Their ages ranged from eighteen to twenty one.
I first evaluated if the person was a male or a female, and then evaluated their age. Most
girls gave me a small, hesitant glance when I asked them for their age, but guys did not hesitate
to answer. I assume that girls are not very open about their ages to random people asking them.
I also asked them where they were from to test if different living environments would affect the
outcome of who their hero was. I also asked what ethnicity they were to see if that had an affect

Chow 2
of what a hero or heroine was to them depending on their race. There were a total of five males
and five females in this experiment. Their hometowns focused mainly around South or West Los
Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. Their ethnicities were Caucasian, African American,
Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Mexican.
My first question was Describe in three to four words or phrases what a hero or a
heroine is to you. Nine out of ten people gave me a three to four word response as I asked.
Only one girl gave me a two phrase answer. Every single person that I asked gave different
responses. The responses were brave, smart, fearless, red white and blue, courageous, helper,
good doer, strong, tough, rich, intelligent, handsome, dark, good, and powerful. There were a
couple of synonymous answers but only two answers were exactly the same. The two phrased
answer that was given was a person who cant do the impossible but will try his best to do so
and someone working for what they believe in or doing something for someone they love. I
found this surprising and interesting because of the ten people, only one girl gave an elaborate
answer. Additionally, out of everyone I surveyed, none of them had an answer that was the
same as the other.
My second question was Who is your hero or heroin? I gave them examples of Marvel
heroes such as Batman or Superman, and told them it can be anyone they know or look up to
like their parents or policemen. Nine out of ten of them answered a Marvel hero or heroine.
Their responses were Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Superman, Hulk, Flash,
Robin, Batman, and a fireman. Finally there was a similarity between the people I have
surveyed, two of my friends said that Batman was their hero. My friend from California State
Long Beach was the only one who did not pick a Marvel character as their hero.
I was curious about everyones responses, but her particular answer made me wonder
why she picked someone in the real world instead of a Marvel character compared to everyone
else I surveyed. She responded that a fireman saved her from her burning home one night

Chow 3
when she was around eight years old. The fire was caused by a stove left unattended that had
spread throughout the kitchen until it was too late to stop. The family had to dial the fire
department. As the mother, father, and grandmother had escaped and stood outside as their
house burned, they realized that their daughter was missing. They thought that the daughter
had ran out with them because she was with them when this happened. But when she tried to
exit her room, the fire had reached all the way to her and prevented her from escaping. The
family notified the firefighters that a little girl was inside and they worked as quickly as possible
to retrieve her. Inside the room she was crying helplessly on the floor as the firemen busted
through the window next to her bed and rescued her from the burning flames. She described to
me that a firefighter is one who tries to do the impossible every single day, and that they do
what they believe in for themselves and for who they love.
The nine other people who responded to the question why is this person your favorite
hero or heroin? were quite similar being that they had all grown up watching the Marvels on
television or in movies and played with their action figure toys. Most of the participants included
their three to four word descriptions into their explanations. For example, Spider Man is fearless
because he defeated the Globin, Batman is dark because he lays in the shadows and protects
the city from the Joker. Many of the participants did not really give a background story or go in
detail why they chose a specific Marvel character as their hero except one. The most interesting
response to me was when I asked my roommate why Superman was his favorite hero and he
responded because he represents the country wearing red, white and blue, and he is a strong
fatherly figure because he is strong and swears to protect the city and the ones he loves. He
also mentioned that Superman can also represent how the President of the United States
should look at his country. I found that very meaningful and surprising because he gave all
those details off of what he wears and his good deeds.

Chow 4
I found it surprising that out of the ten people I interviewed, none of them had the same
details describing a hero as another person. I can conclude that different environments from a
different city to being a different race has an effect on peoples views of who a hero or heroine is
to them. One thing the participants share in common was that they all have their ideal of a hero
in their minds and in their hearts. Every single one of them looks up to someone in their lives. It
does not matter if they described their hero in deep detail, but I know that everyone looks up to
someone, and that someone has made an some difference in their lives no matter how big or
how small.