The following essay on role model Clearsight was written by Lucy Zener, a middle schooler, enrolled in City Congregation’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah program. Students spend a year and a half researching their heritage, values and beliefs, and write on a Jewish subject of their choice, their major project. The process improves both the student’s writing and critical thinking skills, as well as his/her self confidence and overall maturity.
My favorite character from the book series Wings of Fire is Clearsight. She also happens to be my hero and role model. Why, I hear you ask, is she both my hero and my role model? Aren’t those two different things? Well, according to Merriam-Webster, a hero is “a person admired for achievements and noble qualities.” Role models are people you want to be more like. Clearsight has many achievements, like saving the world, and has noble traits, she’s super-smart, cares about her friends, and would sacrifice herself to save others.
Another thing you are probably thinking: why did I choose a dragon? One: I don’t like books about humans that much. My favorite two series, Warriors and Wings of Fire, are about cats and dragons, respectively. Two: Clearsight was already in my mind when I brainstormed people. Three: Dragons are like humans in this book. They have systems of power, complex social hierarchy, and even trading systems. Four: Dragons are really popular. Think Game of Thrones, in which there are three important dragons. Wings of Fire is really popular among some audiences. In The Hobbit, Smaug is the main villain. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern is popular. There are many fans who create related content such as the drawings of Clearsight on the slideshow I made, which will appear as I speak.
As I said before, Clearsight is from the Wings of Fire series, by Tui T. Sutherland. Wings of Fire is about dragons. The series has three sub-series, all with villains. The first series is about the war of SandWing succession, and the dragons prophesied to stop it. The next series follows the students at Jade Mountain Academy, who must find the lost NightWing kingdom before Darkstaker does. The next series, the one that is currently being written, is about a group of dragons who find out the queen is lying to all of them for the sake of power.
I should probably talk about the author of Wings of Fire, Tui T. Sutherland. She writes fiction from teenage/young-adult books to books that are for kids who are just starting to read full chapter books. She also wrote one of the Warriors books and three of the Seekers books, which are about cats and bears, respectively. She was born in Venezuela and moved to several different countries before moving to New Jersey. Also, from her blog, I can figure out that she likes Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, both of which I really like.
Okay, enough about real things, and onto the dragons! Clearsight can see every path that the future might take. She delayed going to school for two years so that she could write down everything she saw so that dragons would be prepared and not do the “bad” things. Later in the book, she tricks her best friend Darkstalker, who was evil at that point, to fly to a mountain. She then traps him in a cave right when an earthquake is about to happen. Immediately after she practically kills her best friend, she flies to another continent that lost all contact with her continent to warn them that a hurricane is about to come.
Clearsight is not afraid to do the right thing, even if it means sacrificing herself or those she loves. She and her other best friend, Listener, go on a scavenger rescue mission, to release the pet scavengers in the NightWing school because they were sad. As I said before, Clearsight wrote down what she saw in her visions of the future so dragons would do the right thing. This illustrates my value of community. She traps her best friend in order to save the continent, also showing that she cares for her community. Even though she tried putting off school for a few years so she could write down what her visions were telling her, she loved her education. Clearsight was willing to give up her life to save others. She also risks her life, to warn other dragons she had never met, of a hurricane. This was a selfless act because if they died, it wouldn’t harm her, although she would feel very, very guilty.
Another value that Clearsight has is self-sacrifice for others, already mentioned above. It is important to me because sacrifice helps people, and they will turn around and help you if you need it (unless they’re jerks). As I said earlier, Clearsight makes the choice of sacrificing herself and those she loves for the sake of her continent. Before she and Fathom, her other best friend, tried to trap Darkstalker, she could see that there would be a low chance of success in trapping him. After she succeeds in trapping Darkstalker, she knows her tribe would never accept her back, and so she flies off to another continent, leaving behind everything she knew and loved.
Although Clearsight may not be the goofball of her friend group, she still cracks some jokes, which fits my value of humor. For example, when Clearsight and Darkstalker first meet, they have a really nice scene where they both half-know each other because both of them can see the future; Clearsight says her name is Tailbite.
Another value we share is critical thinking. Darkstalker enchanted a pair of earrings so that Clearsight could only see the good futures. Clearsight used critical thinking to see past the disguise and see Darkstalker for who he had become.
A value Clearsight does not hold is feminism. This is because her society is matriarchal. If the rights of females were not equal to the rights of males, I deeply suspect she would be doing something big about it.
Clearsight is not perfect. She has flaws. One of her flaws is that she is serious and never is in the present, always focusing on what her actions might mean for the future. For example, Clearsight’s future friend, Listener, says this when Clearsight first walks into her class: “‘I already know you’re crazy,’ Listener said with a small laugh.‘When you walked in, you looked around and immediately categorized every student into ‘safe to be friends with’ and ‘doomed if I talk to them’. What was that about? I’m not in the doomed camp, am I?’” There is also the line, “‘If I miss a day here or give the wrong answer here or share my scroll with this hapless dragon here, the entire tribe might die.’” Never being in the present prevents you from focusing on what is right in front of you. Also, Clearsight spent so much time in the library, writing down the future, that she didn’t take care of basic dragon needs like flying, as this line of Clearsight’s thoughts shows: “It’s true, I’ve spent more time in the library than flying. But for good reason!”
Clearsight shares many of my values and beliefs, such as community, education and critical thinking. I want to be more like her, and I admire her. She also has noble qualities, like self-sacrifice and kindness. This is why she is both my role model and a personal hero.
