Intro: The book "The Machine Gunners", written by Robert Westall is about a boy named Chas Mcgill who finds a shot down German bomber plane with its 7.62 millimeter machine gun still attached and in perfect order. He takes it off the plane and with all his friends help, they build a fortress that acts as a kind of pillbox with the gun. They then attempt to shoot down enemy planes and protect the place in which they live. In this book the reader is shown how the character Chas starts out as a fairly average 14 year old boy and turns (later on in this book) into a brave young man fighting for his country. Fighting for his country would be described by many people as being a hero but the way he goes about it might change some peoples mind. Here is the definition of a hero: A person of extraordinary valor, fortitude or enterprise. .
Paragraph 1: A hero that you might see in the movies or in comics such as Superman or Batman, are a lot different to a hero in real life. These made up hero's which are also known as superhero's normally have special powers, a big cape and underwear on the outside. Real life hero's however, don't have any powers and usually just look like a normal person. Chas is fairly normal in comparison with a superhero, but like a superhero he is fighting for good and for peace. The major difference though besides not being able to fly is that he didn't always do the right thing as far as the law goes and wasn't always a really good person. Here is a section of the book from page 66 that will back up that last statement. .
Calmly, full of murder Chas picked up his gas mask case and swung it. It hit the side of Boddsers head with a sound like a splitting pumpkin. Boddser screamed but did not fall. Chas swung at him again. The gas mask case dented dramatically. Boddser crashed into the corrugated iron fence. Chas raised his tin for a third time.
Now, although Boddser did actually start that fight, Chas still went a bit to far.