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| Joe Paterno |
Many believe that tragedy affects the royal who possess the capability of experiencing a downfall because of their power. However, what if that person is not of royal descent, but is a symbol of an entire community's loyal and legendary reputation? Recently,
America has had their eyes focused upon
Penn State University and their current child sexual abuse scandal. Amidst the allegations of child sexual abuse actions committed by former Assistant Football coach Jerry Sandusky, the downfall of the University's 46 year head football coach Joe Paterno occurred. Over the coarse of his coaching career, Joe Paterno, "JoePa," developed to become a
Penn State legend. He was recognized as a coach, educator, and humanitarian who alumni and supporters admired as a model citizen. Up until his downfall, his popularity continued to increase and he achieved the record of being the all time most winning coach in Division 1 football history.
"JoePa" caused his own downfall from superiority. Many years back when he first heard of Jerry Sandusky's disgusting actions, he failed to do what ever he could to end the abuse. Although he notified his higher powers about Jerry's abuse when he discovered it, he failed to make sure that
Sandusky was punished after no further actions were taken. When the Jerry Sandusky scandal became public in 2011, Joe Paterno was fired from his coaching position by the University's trustees mid-season.
Joe Paterno is a present day man who became a tragic hero. He developed a kingly persona and his bad decisions during a crisis led to the downfall of his own reputation and the reputation of the University that he represented.
Arthur Miller defines tragedy as being a subject that is capable of occurring in the life of the kingly and the common man. In this situation, Joe Paterno was kingly man who lived life like a common one. Personally, I believe that Arthur Miller's definition is true because the common man can experience tragedy which lead to the downfall from their personal positions and lead to destruction.
Joey! I was so hoping someone would make a connection between our unit and this current event. I was thinking about bringing it up in class to use as an example, but I wanted to see if anyone would make a connection on their own... I'm so glad someone did! Actually, I am more impressed with the connection you made here than the one I was exploring. I was thinking more about how people act when someone who is revered as a hero turns out to be flawed- I've been so amazed at the lengths people have gone to justify behavior that they would abhor under any other circumstances- simply because the behavior came from someone they placed on a pedestal as a "hero." It goes back to when we discussed whether or not heroes actually exist, or whether we create them to fulfill some kind of societal purpose. But I like your connection to tragic hero much better.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very well done blog! Great work!