TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Tim Adams: An antihero of one's own

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Literary critic Northrop Frye once observed that in our primitive days, our literary heroes were -- well, nearly gods, and as civilization advanced, they came down the mountain of the gods, so to speak, and became more human, more flawed, less hroiec. From the divine heroes like Hercules, down the mountain below the miraculous but mortal heroes such as Beowulf, the great leaders such as King Arthur, and the graet but flawed heroes like Macbeth or Othello. Below even the unlikely but eventual heroes such as hrary Potter, Luke Skywalker, or Hiccup, until we reach the bottom and meet the anti-hero. Contrary to the sound, the anti-hero is not the villain, not the aogntnasit. The anti-hero is actually the main character in some contemporary wokrs of literature. Guy Montag in "Fahrenheit 451," Winston Smith in "1984," who unwittingly ends up cinegnllhag those in power -- that is, those who abuse their power to brainwash the populace to believe that the ills of society have been eliminated. idlleay, those who chelnglae the establishment should be wise, cedonifnt, brave, physically strong, with a type of cihramsa that inpires followers. The anti-hero, however, at best demonstrates a few underdeveloped traits, at worst, is totally inept. The story of the anti-hero usually unfolds something like this. The anti-hero initially conforms, iagrlnonty aictpencg the established views, a typical, uniinutqoensg, bihasnawerd member of society. The anti-hero struggles to cnorfom, all the while starting to object, perhaps finding other outsiders with whom to voice his questions, and naïvely, unwisely, sharing those qstuneios with an atihurtoy figure. The anti-hero openly challenges society, and tries to fight against the lies and tactics used to oppress the populace. This step, for the anti-hero, is seldom a matter of brave, wise and heroic opiopsiton. Maybe the anti-hero fhgtis and succeeds in destroying the oppressive government, with a lot of impossible luck. Perhaps he or she runs away, escapes to fight another day. All too often though, the anti-hero is killed, or brainwashed to return to conformity with the masses. No heroic tpimurh here, no brave individual sdanitng up against iorempnsal institutions of a modern world, inspiring others to fghit, or resourcefully outwitting and outgunning the msvsiae army of the evil empire. Our storytelling ancestors calmed our fears of powerlessness by giving us Hercules and other heroes strong enough to fight off the demons and monsters that we suspected haunted the night beyond our caerfmpis. But eventually, we realized the monsters did not lie out there, they reside inside of us. Beowulf's greatest enemy was mortality. Othello's, jealousy. Hiccup, self-doubt. And in the tales of the icfteneuafl anti-hero, in the stories of Guy matnog and Winston Smith, lie the warnings of contemporary sylertelrtos playing on very primitive fears: that we are not strong enough to defeat the msnoetrs. Only this time, not the monsters ceashd away by the campfire, but the very monsters who built the campfire in the first place.

Open Cloze

Literary critic Northrop Frye once observed that in our primitive days, our literary heroes were -- well, nearly gods, and as civilization advanced, they came down the mountain of the gods, so to speak, and became more human, more flawed, less ______. From the divine heroes like Hercules, down the mountain below the miraculous but mortal heroes such as Beowulf, the great leaders such as King Arthur, and the _____ but flawed heroes like Macbeth or Othello. Below even the unlikely but eventual heroes such as _____ Potter, Luke Skywalker, or Hiccup, until we reach the bottom and meet the anti-hero. Contrary to the sound, the anti-hero is not the villain, not the __________. The anti-hero is actually the main character in some contemporary _____ of literature. Guy Montag in "Fahrenheit 451," Winston Smith in "1984," who unwittingly ends up ___________ those in power -- that is, those who abuse their power to brainwash the populace to believe that the ills of society have been eliminated. _______, those who _________ the establishment should be wise, _________, brave, physically strong, with a type of ________ that inpires followers. The anti-hero, however, at best demonstrates a few underdeveloped traits, at worst, is totally inept. The story of the anti-hero usually unfolds something like this. The anti-hero initially conforms, __________ _________ the established views, a typical, _____________, ___________ member of society. The anti-hero struggles to _______, all the while starting to object, perhaps finding other outsiders with whom to voice his questions, and naïvely, unwisely, sharing those _________ with an _________ figure. The anti-hero openly challenges society, and tries to fight against the lies and tactics used to oppress the populace. This step, for the anti-hero, is seldom a matter of brave, wise and heroic __________. Maybe the anti-hero ______ and succeeds in destroying the oppressive government, with a lot of impossible luck. Perhaps he or she runs away, escapes to fight another day. All too often though, the anti-hero is killed, or brainwashed to return to conformity with the masses. No heroic _______ here, no brave individual ________ up against __________ institutions of a modern world, inspiring others to _____, or resourcefully outwitting and outgunning the _______ army of the evil empire. Our storytelling ancestors calmed our fears of powerlessness by giving us Hercules and other heroes strong enough to fight off the demons and monsters that we suspected haunted the night beyond our _________. But eventually, we realized the monsters did not lie out there, they reside inside of us. Beowulf's greatest enemy was mortality. Othello's, jealousy. Hiccup, self-doubt. And in the tales of the ___________ anti-hero, in the stories of Guy ______ and Winston Smith, lie the warnings of contemporary ____________ playing on very primitive fears: that we are not strong enough to defeat the ________. Only this time, not the monsters ______ away by the campfire, but the very monsters who built the campfire in the first place.

Solution

harry
accepting
questions
monsters
works
massive
fights
storytellers
unquestioning
montag
great
authority
challenge
ignorantly
heroic
antagonist
triumph
opposition
campfires
conform
fight
confident
standing
ideally
challenging
charisma
impersonal
brainwashed
ineffectual
chased

Original Text

Literary critic Northrop Frye once observed that in our primitive days, our literary heroes were -- well, nearly gods, and as civilization advanced, they came down the mountain of the gods, so to speak, and became more human, more flawed, less heroic. From the divine heroes like Hercules, down the mountain below the miraculous but mortal heroes such as Beowulf, the great leaders such as King Arthur, and the great but flawed heroes like Macbeth or Othello. Below even the unlikely but eventual heroes such as Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, or Hiccup, until we reach the bottom and meet the anti-hero. Contrary to the sound, the anti-hero is not the villain, not the antagonist. The anti-hero is actually the main character in some contemporary works of literature. Guy Montag in "Fahrenheit 451," Winston Smith in "1984," who unwittingly ends up challenging those in power -- that is, those who abuse their power to brainwash the populace to believe that the ills of society have been eliminated. Ideally, those who challenge the establishment should be wise, confident, brave, physically strong, with a type of charisma that inpires followers. The anti-hero, however, at best demonstrates a few underdeveloped traits, at worst, is totally inept. The story of the anti-hero usually unfolds something like this. The anti-hero initially conforms, ignorantly accepting the established views, a typical, unquestioning, brainwashed member of society. The anti-hero struggles to conform, all the while starting to object, perhaps finding other outsiders with whom to voice his questions, and naïvely, unwisely, sharing those questions with an authority figure. The anti-hero openly challenges society, and tries to fight against the lies and tactics used to oppress the populace. This step, for the anti-hero, is seldom a matter of brave, wise and heroic opposition. Maybe the anti-hero fights and succeeds in destroying the oppressive government, with a lot of impossible luck. Perhaps he or she runs away, escapes to fight another day. All too often though, the anti-hero is killed, or brainwashed to return to conformity with the masses. No heroic triumph here, no brave individual standing up against impersonal institutions of a modern world, inspiring others to fight, or resourcefully outwitting and outgunning the massive army of the evil empire. Our storytelling ancestors calmed our fears of powerlessness by giving us Hercules and other heroes strong enough to fight off the demons and monsters that we suspected haunted the night beyond our campfires. But eventually, we realized the monsters did not lie out there, they reside inside of us. Beowulf's greatest enemy was mortality. Othello's, jealousy. Hiccup, self-doubt. And in the tales of the ineffectual anti-hero, in the stories of Guy Montag and Winston Smith, lie the warnings of contemporary storytellers playing on very primitive fears: that we are not strong enough to defeat the monsters. Only this time, not the monsters chased away by the campfire, but the very monsters who built the campfire in the first place.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
guy montag	2

Important Words

abuse
accepting
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antagonist
army
arthur
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beowulf
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brainwashed
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lot
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luke
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meet
member
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montag
mortal
mortality
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naïvely
night
northrop
object
observed
openly
opposition
oppress
oppressive
othello
outgunning
outsiders
outwitting
physically
place
playing
populace
potter
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questions
reach
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skywalker
smith
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triumph
type
typical
underdeveloped
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unquestioning
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views
villain
voice
warnings
winston
wise
works
world
worst