ThelmaLou Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 for a paper he's writing about The Hobbit/Bilbo Baggins. I suggested he start his intro. by listing other unlikely heroes, and end with the most unlikely (baby born in a manger...Jesus) just before introducing Bilbo Baggins. But I'm brain-dead this a.m. and need a jump-start. I guess they could be historical or fictional, but prefer that they be well-known. Any ideas would be welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun.classical Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 How about David (from David and Goliath), and Joan of Arc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Yes, fabulous! Keep 'em comin'! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I wouldn't think of Bilbo as being the "unlikely hero" as much as Frodo but that's my opinion. Unlikely heroes... Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 I wouldn't think of Bilbo as being the "unlikely hero" as much as Frodo but that's my opinion.] Hmmm....is Frodo even mentioned in the Hobbit? Thanks for the other ideas. Very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I wouldn't think of Bilbo as being the "unlikely hero" as much as Frodo but that's my opinion.] Hmmm....is Frodo even mentioned in the Hobbit? Thanks for the other ideas. Very helpful. Sorry!! I was thinking LOTR :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I wouldn't think of Bilbo as being the "unlikely hero" as much as Frodo but that's my opinion. Hmmm....is Frodo even mentioned in the Hobbit? Sorry!! I was thinking LOTR :) Lucky I read through all the posts. I was about to get indignant. Frodo is MY hero!:001_wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingmommy Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Just throwing this one out there, but what about Audie Murphy? He was poor, uneducated because he had to drop out of school around the age of 12 to support his family after his father abandoned them, supported his siblings after his mother died, managed to join Army (after being rejected by every other branch of the military) and became the most decorated soldier of WWII (that might not be specifically right but I think it is) and did it all before he was 19 or 20 years old. He went on to become an actor. One of our favorite movies is To Hell and Back, which is based on his autobiography. Just thought I'd toss that one out for you. Should appeal to a boy anyway. Jeannie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 ...as seen in "Little Engines CAN Do Big Things". Have you read Harry Potter? For me, one of the most heroic scenes in the whole book is when Neville comes out to fight the Dark Lord, even though he has so little magical talent that he is practically a squibb. That is one of the most gallant things I have ever seen in a book. IRL, the young man who blocked the tanks on world wide television in Tiananmen Square is a good example of an unlikely hero. Another is the boy in Holland who stopped the dike with his finger all night, of course. (May be a legend--I've never been quite clear on that point.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingmommy Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 ...as seen in "Little Engines CAN Do Big Things". Have you read Harry Potter? For me, one of the most heroic scenes in the whole book is when Neville comes out to fight the Dark Lord, even though he has so little magical talent that he is practically a squibb. That is one of the most gallant things I have ever seen in a book. IRL, the young man who blocked the tanks on world wide television in Tiananmen Square is a good example of an unlikely hero. Another is the boy in Holland who stopped the dike with his finger all night, of course. (May be a legend--I've never been quite clear on that point.) I love that part! I was so PROUD of Neville right then that I could have cried! After seven books, some of these characters are like friends. Jeannie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 How about David (as in David and Goliath)? Oops! Looks like someone already suggested that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I was thinking of Sgt. York, WWI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Seems like I should be able to come up with more unlikely biblical heroes, but I am going blank. "God does not call the equipped; he equips the called!" I would choose heroes that were "reluctant" as parallels. Wasn't Bilbo pretty "reluctant?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I love that part! I was so PROUD of Neville right then that I could have cried! After seven books, some of these characters are like friends. Jeannie Actually, I did cry. And I NEVER cry over books. I didn't cry when Dumbledore was killed. I also cried when the Hogwarts castle was half torn down, and one of the Slytherins suggested just giving Harry up, and the entire rest of school immediately jumped up and aimed their wands. What is it about gallantry. Must be my Lutheran background. Too many viewings of "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen" when I was a kid, perhaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 - Rosa Parks? (ordinary, middle-aged woman who's quiet passive resistance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott which helped lead to integration) - Annie Sullivan? (Helen Keller's teacher -- nearly blind herself, she taught Helen to think, speak, read and write) - Gandhi? (taught passive resistance which led to India's freedom) - Mother Teresa? (nun who brought help to the poor, sick and dying in Calcutta) - Betsy and Corrie TenBoom? (ordinary middle aged sisters who shared God's love even in Nazi prison camp) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillary in KS Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Not every hero get a happy ending. But I think most heroes are unlikely: men and women who are thrust into desperate circumstances. What about the men and women on United 93? Or the firemen and policemen who rushed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11? Or the men and women who serve in our military? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The other Kimberly Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 The Little Dutch Boy who put his finger in the dyke. Jean Valjean in Les Miserables Lucy in Chromicles of Narnia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabrett Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Rudy- The guy who play one game for Notra Dame? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 How about Gideon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Ledge Academy Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 George Washington Carver, Louis Pastuer (son of a tanner, not brilliant, but very diligent), Booker T. Washington, Glenn Cunningham (legs badly burned in a fire, went on to win Olympic medals. We have found a lot of unlikely heroes by listening to "Your Story Hour" cd's, the historical ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUJLBE Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 One of my favorite unlikely heros is Louis Braille. Blinded while playing in his father's workshop as a child, his father taught him to read by making manipulatives-steel letters. Then when he went to work for a blind school as an adult, the rich, sighted, administrators told him that blind people could read better with raised outlines of letters than his patterns of dots! Susan ds(7) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plimsoll Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Edmund and Lucy in the Chronicles of Narnia, Eustace in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Reepacheep; Telemachus in the Odyssey; Desperaux the gallant mouse. Not so well known but certainly unlikely: Bill the Galactic Hero in the series by Harry Harrison; various characters in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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