16+ Naruto: Character Essay: Naruto vs. Gaara

[brohne]

Summary: Naruto and Gaara represent two of the most important qualities a person can have. Naruto is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in even in the face of death. Gaara has the courage to admit that his beliefs are wrong, then has the character to begin to change his outlook on life. An essay about these two characters' relationship.

Status: Complete

 

Uzamaki Naruto and Sabaku no Gaara; what makes these two characters so compelling both as a pair and separately?

 

First lets examine Naruto as the main character. As the 'number one knuckle head ninja' as his Sensei Kakashi puts it, Naruto acts out to receive attention. Nothing and no one can dissuade him from his goal of becoming Hokage and he fights to prove his worth with everything he's got. His friends mean the world to him because he knows 'that dark hell' of loneliness all too well. He is unflinching in his devotion to them. His strong conviction in the face of other's contempt and out right hatred is one of his greatest qualities. He knows what he believes in and is not afraid to stand up for that belief.

 

On the other hand, when we first meet Gaara his one goal in life is to prove that he exists and he does this by destroying all who defy him. As he so poignantly tells Naruto and Shikamaru, his conclusion to the reason why he is alive, is to kill. At the center of this psychotic behavior is a very lonely, scared little boy who has only ever known as emotional desert and who tries to fill this void by physical means. His internal pain is a stark contrast to the front he puts on of being strong and emotionally distant. He believes that he only exists to love himself and that is what gives him strength. Deep down he may have been driven to try to find someone who could finally make him feel truly alive and may have been seeking escape in death. Yet, since no one had been able even to injure him, he despaired and become even more violently unstable as evidenced by his desire to kill people whose only offense had been to look at him wrong.

 

When these two boys finally meet there is bound to be a cataclysmic confrontation and that is exactly what happens.

 

During the course of their fight Gaara taunts Naruto claiming that he cannot be truly stong unless he forgets his 'stupid' friends and fights only for himself. Naruto refutes this belief by showing Gaara just how strong his love for his friends is, even going so far as to be ready to die them. As they both lay, exhausted and barely able to move, Naruto in a show of sheer will power crawls toward the prone Gaara telling him that he will protect his friends even if he has to kill Gaara to do it. Gaara, who had never experienced defeat in his life, is astounded and shaken asking 'why is he so strong?' He is able to answer that question himself. 'Love' is his conclusion and at this point we see a change in Gaara. When his brother Konkuro and his Temari come to rescue him, he asks them not to fight anymore, that it's over. As they leave he apologizes to his astonished siblings who had only ever known his abusive behavior.

 

Naruto and Gaara represent two of the most important qualities a person can have. Naruto is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in even in the face of death. Gaara has the courage to admit that his beliefs are wrong, then has the character to begin to change his outlook on life. These two attributes are not mutually exclusive, but rather inclusive. It can be very difficult to maintain our beliefs in the face of someone else's skepticism and the nerve to maintain our stand is not easily come by. Yet, if we learn definitively that our beliefs are flawed we must have the courage to face this fact and not be afraid to change.

 

This is why Naruto and Gaara are two of the most compelling characters in contemporary fiction. Very rarely are we given such complex people to compare ourselves with in fiction. How many of us have had a deeply held belief challenged? It may be a religious conviction or a simple personal observation about life. How do you respond when someone calls it into question? Are you offended or are you willing to listen to another's viewpoint? This had to be forced on Gaara, yet in the end he chose to respond to the truth of what Naruto was telling him. The ability to re-evaluate a deeply held conviction, even one that may have defined our existence as in Gaara's case, is the essence of true character.

 

In life, we all face obstacles, it's how we face them that defines who we are. Do we give in without a fight or do we stand up for our beliefs? Are we willing to admit when we are wrong? This is where the characters Naruto and Gaara illuminate two of the greatest qualities a person can have; love and forgiveness of our self and others.