Literary Essay

Bravery had been shown all the time from ancient times to the present. There are so many brave people that can't be counted in the world. What kind of people can be brave people? For example, Washington--the first president of America led people to become independent of English colonialists' domination. His heroism was venerated by people as a warrior who was brave enough to rebel for saving people from abyss of suffering. Actually, brave people are not only national heroes or great men. It can be common people. In both "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and "The Sniper", each of the two characters -- Sir Gawain and the sniper played an important part in presenting their courage. Consequently, to be brave can't be spoken randomly, it was showed by characters who used their own words.

In this story of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", King Arthur is a brave character who steps forward bravely by upholding as a king and defending his knights from the Green Knight. King Arthur is one of the protagonists who shows his courage when he safeguarded his dignity as a supreme king. For instance, when the Green Knight appeared surprisingly with an axe, he asked who was King Arthur. "He stood up and said ' I am Arthur'". Hence, he was courageous because he answered without hesitation. To be a sovereign, his heart flowed the spirit of a hero.It was his instinct to step forward. King Arthur didn't fear the conflict that was made by the Green Knight. When the Green Knight petrified everybody, King Arthur still remained calm. He just stood up without panic and replied to the Green Knight. His brief but forceful words showed the reader his bravery. Otherwise, he was brave to face Green Knight to stick up for his knights. In other words, he stood up to defend his knight from the Green Knight by saying "what you asked for makes no sense. You asked your own death" when the Green Knight jeered at his knights that they were cowards. Thus, the knights represented their country, so King Arthur couldn't bear the Green Knight laughing at his knights in his domain. As the king of his country, he had responsibility and authority to protect everything in his area. So he upheld his knights and his country's dignities heroically. To summarize, being brave is a trait of King Arthur. He is a rational king to face the Green Knight's provocation and shows bravery when safeguarding his knights in this story.

In the story of "The Sniper'--which was told from a third-person limited omniscient point of view, the sniper is a character who showed his bravery fully. He could think with a calm mind in dangerous situation and could find an idea to resist his enemy. The Republican Sniper is the protagonist who was brave to think as usual when he was wounded. For example，"he broke the neck of the iodine bottle and let the bitter fluid drip into the wound" when he was hit. Therefore, he was courageous because he dealt with his wound at first, not be alarmed to do noting when he was hit by his enemy. He knew what should he do and kept a sober mind at that time. Though he was wounded, he didn't have any fear of that situation. He was calm and represented his bravery in the face of danger by the author's writing. In addition, he showed his courage when he was in a dangerous position so that he could be found and killed by his enemy at any time. In essence, "he thought of a plan" to kill his enemy though he was in a nervous position. Accordingly, it means that the sniper could come up with a ruse to beat his antagonist in this game of life and death. He wasn't afraid of danger and never gave up living. He had the nerve to face danger even when he would be discovered if he didn't take care. As a result, it was bold of the sniper to take a risk of tricking his enemy by is cap. This brave act of him really represented his courage. To summarize, bravery is a character of the sniper, he is a person who can be calm and think carefully in danger by being brave to think of a plan to kill his enemy.

Though Sir Gawain and the sniper were in different situations, each of them had a brave heart to face and vanquish difficulties and danger. It could change their lives because of bravery--Sir Gawain became the bravest knight in the world, the sniper killed his enemy and lived. Being brave is a character for everyone. For example, Sichuan Province which is in China had a destructive earthquake, it damaged many buildings and killed many people. People who lived in Sichuan Province didn't despair and still had courage to face death.They loved their lives and tried to live.Totally, people need to have bravery to face dangers and handicap so that humans will live better lives in the world.