People often create heroes in their minds and desperately try to follow their example. However, nobody is perfect, and a heroic image usually collides with the harsh reality of our world. As a result, a person who believed in their hero may become traumatized by the experience. In the first and the second lines of the first stanza, Tupac Shakur compares the impact produced by the hero’s fall from grace with a realization that fairy tales are far from the truth. The third and the fourth lines draw a symbolic comparison between the hero’s failure and the magnification of pain (Shakur). The poem’s protagonist withstood the hardships of life by following their hero’s lead, but now they suffer to a full extent with no hero to guide them. In the fifth and sixth lines, Tupac used contrast to stress the inner confusion of the protagonist, as the hero who taught them to be strong becomes miserable and weak. Finally, the seventh and the eighth lines conclude the theme of desperation with another use of contrast — a hero who told never to give up surrendered to the difficult life circumstances.
In my opinion, in When Ure Hero Falls, Tupac Shakur shared his personal experience of feeling abandoned or even betrayed by a heroic figure. Consequently, he warns people, especially youth, not to rely on the heroes too heavily. The poem made me realize that our mind idealizes heroes, who, in fact, are as human as we are. As a result, when heroes collapse under pressure and lose their inspiring aura, people who believe in them suffer severe mental trauma. Tupac Shakur filled his message with power by comparing this traumatizing experience with the falseness of fairy tales and the immense pain. Due to their simplicity and sincerity, Tupac’s words go straight into the hearts and minds of the readers.
Work Cited
Shakur, Tupac. “When Ure Hero Falls.” All Poetry, Web.