Jackie Robinson, a great and historical baseball player. Jim, a run-away slave in search of freedom. Both share many of the same qualities. Among them are, they both broke color barriers. One broke the color barrier in the game of baseball, while the other broke it in a book. But both of these heroes are intelligent, courageous, and caring. All these qualities listed equal an ideal hero, whether it might be a real of fictional hero. The first and most important quality a hero needs is intelligence. Both Jackie Robinson and Jim had that. They each carried it out and showed it differently, but they were both intelligent.
Even though one was a professional baseball player and the other a runaway slave, they both were intelligent in their own unique way. They both did what their mind told them and accomplished the goal that they wanted to achieve, even though one was real and the other one wasnt. Jackie Robinson showed his intelligence through his actions. He was not only a great baseball player, but also a good businessman and executive. While he was on the baseball field, he had many fans that loved him and some many who hated him. But he didnt let them stop him from pursuing his career.
Many people who didnt like him, threw rocks and bottles at him just because he was black, and even sent him death threats to him in the mail. But unlike many people, he did not fight back, instead he ignored them and proved that he was the greatest baseball player at that time: Jackie Robinson did not merely play at center stage. He was center stage; and wherever he walked, center stage moved to him. Just like Jackie Robinson, Jim was also intelligent in his own unique way. Although he tended to be superstitious, sometimes his superstitious ness helped him out.
He knew his way around nature, especially when Huck and him where on Jackson Island. At that time in the book his superstitious ness concealed a deep knowledge of the natural world around him, and represented an alternate form of truth and intelligence: Jim was not only a slave, but a human being, a symbol of humanity, and in freeing Jim, Huck makes a bid to free himself of the conventionalized evil from his town. The second quality a hero must have is courage. Jackie Robinson showed his courage in many ways, but it was most noticeable on the baseball field.
He was courageous enough to break the color barrier in the game of professional baseball. This brought the game of baseball to a whole new level. Though he had many whites, which didnt think that blacks should be allowed to play baseball, he kept on following his dream and his goal. He accomplished that dream on April 15, 1947, when he became the first black major league baseball player, an event that would change the history and the game of baseball forever. He was also courageous due to his outspoken leadership on issues of civil and human rights.
Jackie Robinson was proud of being black and he challenged many racial pretensions through out his life. As an army lieutenant he resisted on moving to the back of the bus, for that reason he was court marshaled and was found innocent. As a baseball player he railed against teams and individuals when he believed they were racists: To the average man in the average American community, Jackie Robinson was just what the sports pages said he was, the first Negro to play baseball in the Major leagues. Everybody knew that In remembering him I tend to de-emphasize him as a baseball player and emphasize him as an informed civil rights leader.
Jim is a courageous by escaping from his owner Miss Watson. He risks a chance of getting caught and sold, caught and killed, or caught and returned back to Miss Watson. He knew he was taking a chance and risking his life by running away, but that was a chance he was willing to take in order to gain back his freedom. He went through many hardships to gain back his freedom, but it was all well worth it at the end. His courage and determination proved to be successful, when Miss Watson decided to let Jim go as a free slave.
To him the hardships he went through, as well as the pain, were all worth the effort because now he was a free man. Not a man with many benefits, but a man that after such a long time of being in slavery, could now go and be with his family. Also because Jim was a Blackman and a runaway slave, he was often at the mercy of all the other people, and was often forced into ridiculous and degrading situations, in which he always overcame. Now the third quality that a hero needs is to be caring. Many people can do that today, but not many can do it like Jackie Robinson and Jim.
Jackie Robinson was a very caring person; his vigilance against racial wrongdoings was a legacy that he wanted to pass down to his children: He told his children to be willing to stand up for their rights as full fledged Americans who happened to be black. Jackie Robinson was deeply concerned with the struggle for civil rights. He worked tirelessly over the years with several organizations, which helped out the community. His love for the youth was one of the reasons he never gave up in life. He always wanted to work with children and be some sort of a role model to them.
He accomplished that through many things that he did and contributed to the community. His major aim was to contribute and help the improvement of living conditions for black Americans, especially in the metropolitan areas: Negroes arent seeking anything which is not good for the nation as well as ourselves. In order for America to be one-hundred percent strong economically, defensively, and morally, we cannot afford the waste of having second and third class citizens in out nation, for if we ever want to succeed and become greater, we must have to make a change.
After his death, his wife founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which was created to fight for human dignity and to help support families with children who cannot afford to send them to college. Just like Jackie Robinson, Jim was also caring. Even though Jim was a slave, he formed a great bond with Huck, especially while spending time with him on Jackson Island. They both soon started caring, and watching out for one another. Jim was a man of remarkable compassion. Although he has been separated from his wife and children.
Which he really misses terribly, and the thought of permanent separation from them, this motivated him to commit a criminal act, which was running away from Miss Watson. While on the run he ends up finding Huck. Jim becomes a surrogate father, as well as a friend to Huck, by taking care of him without being intrusive in Hucks actions. He is the only adult in the book, who provides a positive and respectable example for Huck to follow. At the end they both take their ways but they shall always remember one another.
In conclusion both Jackie Robinson and Jim hand many similarities, some of which were relevant and some of which where not. But as heroes they both accomplished the three main qualities that a hero has, intelligence, courageousness, and being caring. Though they were two totally different people, from two totally different backgrounds they both had the standards of a hero. They both did this in their own unique way one by helping others, so that they can have and live better lives, and the other by helping himself in order for him to get ahead in life.