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Breaking Bad: Walter White the Outlaw Hero


             The most classic ones that come to mind are definitely those like Superman, Spiderman, parents, astronauts, and older siblings. Big or small, there are heroes everywhere. A hero is someone to look up to, someone who sets up good examples for those around them. Heroes are great leaders and are seen as entirely morally correct and proper, but can a hero really be upright and noble all the time? Though heroes are amazing people, they are humans too. Humans are flawed and perfection exists only subjectively. Sometimes people have to sacrifice their morals and values to achieve a greater good. The pivotal point of it being excusable is also subjective. What is acceptable, or what is considered as taking something too far? Walter White from The Breaking Bad is a flawed hero, a human being who has taken questionable actions in order to achieve his overall goal in the last two years of his life; to provide enough financial comfort for his son and wife. The more successful Walt is at achieving his goal, the more of a criminal he becomes. He is considered a villain or evil person to some but he is also a hero to others; Walter is a two-sided hero.
             Walter White is diagnosed with stage three lung cancer who has a teenage son with cystic fibrosis and an unexpected child on the way. He works two jobs that don't pay him much; as a chemistry teacher and his sad job at the car wash, which does not help. Walt is placed in an unpleasant situation and starts thinking about providing for his family financially towards the future, once he is gone. A hero is someone who is responsible and acts selflessly. Though Walt's idea is unconventional and unlawful, he is still doing that for the good of his family. According to The Thematic Paradigm by Robert Ray, Walt starts off as an "official hero" and continues to portray himself as so throughout the series, but he is truly an 'outlaw hero'. "The official hero, normally portrayed as a teacher, lawyer, or family man, represented the American belief in collective action, and the objective legal process that superseded private notions of right and wrong" (Ray 343).


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