Heroes are an important thing to people nowadays. Heroes give people something to look up to and follow there path. A good example of a hero is Luke. Luke is an inmate in the film Cool Hand Luke directed by Stuart Rosenberg who goes through many important events. This character can clearly be seen as a hero. There are many ways to classify a hero one way is by the method of Classifying fiction by the hero's power of action. In the method constructed by Northrop Frye there are different modes a character can go through. They are the Ironic mode, the low mimetic mode, the high mimetic mode, romantic mode, and the mythic mode. The explanation on how Luke completes three of these modes, the Ironic mode, the low mimetic mode and, the Mythic mode can undoubtedly be seen in the following. .
In the Ironic mode the hero is seen below the average man; he is a substandard in the authority he holds and in his intellect. Luke is first depicted in this mode when he arrives at the jail for the initial time, there the new prisoners are asked there crimes and his crime was destroying municipal property. The other inmates are there for robberies and murder. Luke does not belong at that jail and already is looked down as an outsider because he is in for a petty crime. Another example can be seen when Luke is giving water to the inmates as they work because the man with the no eyes has made him his lackey. In this scene it is perceived as a low for Luke, because he was their hero and now he is doing the lackey work that a hero would not, nor would any of the inmates do. .
The next mode would be the Low mimetic mode, in this mode the hero is just one of the guys. He is not superior to any man or to his environment. Luke reaches this mode when he agrees to fight Dragline, the leader in the jail. Luke is no match for dragline and is knocked down several times. But Luke keeps coming back up when he should have quit.