Kendra McCurdy

Mrs. Robinson

Honors English 3

22 Sept 2008

I can be your Super Man: The heroes unaffected by Kryptonite

John Proctor and Nelson Mandela

Do you consider a person who causes pandemonium and threatens to annul the government a hero? John Proctor and Nelson Mandela are men who should be admired as heroes. These two are men who may be opposite in what it real and fiction. Despite this they are similar as leaders, combating a cause, and being dedicated to their objectives.

John Proctor from The Crucible and the famous Nelson Mandela of South Africa are both leaders in their community. John Proctor is as some say a “leader without followers.” By this he has all the aspects and qualities to be a leader, though he does not have the trust of the general public. At the end of The Crucible John Proctor says “because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller 62). This signifies his portrayal as a rejected leader opposing the controversial hangings in Salem. Nelson Mandela is man who is much more regarded as a leader. Nelson Mandela organized a paramilitary branch of the African National Congress to carry out revolutionary warfare against the government (“Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.”). With this he gained the support of thousands of people to overthrow the government.

John Proctor and Nelson Mandela are heroes by having a purpose to fight for. In The Crucible John Proctor was appealing to the massacre of the Salem Witch Trials. Where innocent people were condemned falsely for choking people “before the eyes by spirits…[and sticking] pins and [slashing] daggers” (Miller 41). Nelson Mandela was fighting for equal distribution of rights among all people in South Africa regardless of color. Also he was fighting to build “up powerful local and regional branches to whom power could be devolved” and enhancing education to students (“Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.”).

Another similarity between John Proctor and Nelson Mandela that makes them heroes is that they both are dedicated to their goals, no matter what the consequences shall be. Both ventured penalties to themselves for the actions that they committed. John Proctor and others who were condemned were hanged. John Proctor was hanged because he denied working with the devil. However John Proctor stated: “…I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours…” (Miller 52). This comment that he stated offended the court and made mockery to the justice that the people of Salem abided to. Nelson Mandela got a different yet just as ruthless punishment. He was “sentenced to life imprisonment and started his prison years in the notorious Robben Island Prison, a maximum security prison on a small island seven kilometers off the coast near Cape Town” (“Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.”).

In conclusion, Nelson Mandela and John Proctor are leaders who should be seen as heroes. In their actions they were courageous and valiant to take a stand. They made a difference to their society by being the definition of what a hero really is. That is a person who is full of heart, dedicated, and puts those around them first than themselves.

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2005.

“Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.” African National Congress. 22 September 2008.

<http://www.anc.org.za/people/mandela.html>.