In traditional stories, “heroes” are portrayed as the masked, justice-driven super humans who halt villains and rescue victims from perilous situations. In reality, however, this isn’t the case. In Isabel Allende’s story And Of Clay Are We Created an emotionally repressed journalist befriends a girl on the verge of death; they “save” each other, though in the end they part ways forever. In 102 minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, the tragedy that was 9/11 drives otherwise unlikely individuals to rush to the aid of the victims affected. In any turn of event that calls for a hero, even the most unexpected person can rise to the occasion. Heroes are not born but rather created by …show more content…
This occurred in Allende’s story And Of Clay Are We Created with Rolf Carle and the trapped Azucena. “The girl could not move, she barely could breathe, but she did not seem desperate, as if an ancestral resignation allowed her to accept her fate. The reporter, on the other hand, was determined to snatch her from death (Allende 534).” Rolf Carle attempted to rescue Azucena when no one else would. Upon the realization that he could not, he befriended Azucena and accompanied her until the end.“He understood then that all his exploits as a reporter, the feats that had won him such recognition and fame, were merely an attempt to keep his most ancient fears at bay, a stratagem for taking refuge behind a lens to test whether reality was more tolerable from that perspective. He took excessive risks as an exercise of courage, training by day to conquer the monsters that tormented him at night (538).” “But he had come face to face with the moment of truth; he could not continue to escape his past. He was Azucena; he was buried in the clayey mud; his terror was not the distant emotion of an almost forgotten childhood, it was a claw sunk in his throat (538).” Rolf Carle hid his memories from himself so well that until his encounter with Azucena, he never acknowledged the grip his past still had on him. Azucena in her own right was a hero despite her being a child: she changed Carle forever, so entirely …show more content…
“He had lost his paramedic license, let it lapse after he squandered too many days and nights carousing. He had gone into rehab programs, slipped, then climbed back on the wagon. He had fought his way back to sobriety, but the paramedic work was behind him (Dwyer & Flynn 527).”Sereika was a recovering addict who spent most of his time sulking; yet he took the knowledge he had from his paramedic days and used it for good. “Karnes had started the morning in a business suit, working as an accountant for Deloitte and Touche in Wilton, Connecticut. After the attacks, he drove from Connecticut to Long Island and went to a storage facility where he kept his Marine kit. His utility trousers and jacket were freshly pressed, though his commitment had ended months earlier. Trim as a whip, he slipped into them, drove to a barber, and ordered a high and tight haircut. He stopped at his church and asked for prayers with the pastor, then with the top down on his new convertible, drove straight for lower Manhattan(528).” Karnes was a former marine; he had no obligation to help anyone. Sereika and Karnes both worked strenuously to free the victims from the rubble and save lives that would otherwise not be rescued if not for