Abstract

Through ages, people worship hero, envy hero, and desire to be heroes. Hero is an eternal topic of mankind; however, its definition varies with times, ethic culture and personal differences. Today’s world is becoming a global village due to the unprecedented development of communication and transportation technology. Thus interpersonal communication becomes more and more frequent which brings great transmission and impact on various culture. In the culture, the heroic image can be most easily transmitted and accepted. Heroism, as a kind of ideology, also belongs to the category of culture which reflects culture values. This paper takes the leading characters of two novels “Sun Wukong” and “Harry Potter” as an example which respectively analyses the differences between Chinese and Western heroism from three aspects: Chinese and Western definitions of heroism, development profile of the two heroes, the heroic similarities and differences between Sun Wukong and Harry Potter, which conduces to further understanding of the significance of intercultural communication.

Keywords: Chinese and Western Heroism;  differences; 

intercultural communication; 

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-1

2.1 Definition of Oriental heroism and its development profile-2

2.2 Definition of Western heroism and its development profile-3

3. Heroic Similarities between Sun Wukong and Harry Potter-5

3.1 Similarity on origin-5

3.2 Similarity on experience-6

3.3 Similarity on yearn for freedom-7

4. Heroic Differences Between Sun Wukong and Harry Potter-9

4.1 Difference on image-9

4.2 Difference on emotional view-10

4.3 Difference on moral value-12

5. Conclusion-13

Works Cited.15