Most success in Hero Narratives occurs when the author has gained self-confidence in their reading and/or writing ability. Taylor Lacey’s Literacy Narrative “The Series I Started” is a great example of a Heroic Identity. Taylor, when he was younger, spent most of his time outside helping his parents and once he got to kindergarten he was placed in special classes because he was falling behind. He continued with these special classes until middle school. Taylor says “ If I wanted to learn another language then I knew I needed to work on my English, and that moment is when I decided to start reading outside of class”. Taylor decided to take matters into his own hands because he was tired of not being “a normal kid”. This is a clear example of a hero identity because of the way he does it on his own. Williams defines the hero identity as “The hero identity constructed in the narrative portrays the student as confronting and eventually surmounting progressively difficult changes”. Taylor progressively battles the struggle of always being behind during middle school, until he starts to read books because he wants to overcome his challenge. Successfully Taylor overcomes his challenges with reading and writing because of his self-perseverance and dedication. “I realized that I became so involved in the book that nothing else mattered. It was all that I could think about. I wanted to be a part of the book and escape”.

Overcoming situations by oneself is the biggest part of the heroic identity. Each Hero literacy narrative starts and ends the same. In the beginning people are always doubting themselves and allowing themselves to be put down or fall behind. Then they have some sort of realization which allows them to become more confident and overcome their obstacles. Madison Derosa, in her literacy narrative “Road to Failure”, goes through this cycle. Her difficulties started in second grade when she was placed in the Title 1 program at her school. “I never even thought of failure as being a part of my life until the second grade”. Going in to the fourth grade is when she figured it out. She read the books she needed to and without knowing it was setting herself up for success. She was then not placed in the Title 1 program, “I passed my reading exam. I didn’t have to be in Title 1. I didn’t fail myself this year. I was proud of myself. I was excited to go home and tell my mom that I wouldn’t be in Title 1 this year”. Her self confidence was increased to a whole new level. This increase in self-confidence relates a lot too the definition that Williams presents. “In these narratives it is the traditional individualistic heroic attributes- perseverance, self-reliance, self-confidence- that allow them triumph”. Madison meets each aspect of this definition and is able to triumph after all the “failure” and struggle she went through. The few individualistic traits that Williams mentions are all traits that Madison was able to acquire over her time from second to fourth grade.