Dossier d’Anglais Renforcé TL

Mythes and Heroes

     So, i’m going to talk about the notion myths and heroes. First, i would like to give a definition of this notion. A myth, of his Greek designation « Muthos » means an epic tale staging supertanural beings in an allegorical way. A myth always conveys the idea of legend including artistic ones, for instance, the myth of Sysiphus. A hero is a person, man or woman with a considerable courage, with bravery, ready to save lives in exchange for hers, in others words, a superman who is admired for his/her achievements and qualities. He can also be real or fictional.

So, to what extent can say we that those myths and heroes changed the way of thinking of America ?

For that, we will see in a first time the two documents seen in class and a third personal document.

   Firstly, we are going to talk about Aretha Franklin. Of course, the mythical Aretha. She can considered as a myth and as a hero, as we say, i’ts a complete woman. On this document, she was photographed in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1993 and in fact only great figures was standing in front of this one as Martin Luther King Junior when he delivred his famous « I have a dream » speech in 1963. She was in Abraham Lincoln’s footsteps. Because in fact, Lincoln was a a great figure of his time, the 16th president of the US who had abolished slavery in 1863 and the author of the famous « all men are created equal » If we know Aretha Franklin, it’s mainly for her wonderful voice which has never been equaled ! By the way, she was dubbed « The Queen of Soul ». Already small, Aretha Franklin was a prodigy child. In other words, she can compared as a diva, a superior being or still a Goddess ! With her voice, she greatly contributed at the development of African American culture. In fact, this woman was a landmark, a milestone, able to crash through barriers like discrimination, segregation,etc… She used her talent to move America forward though her music and maybe raise people’s consciousness on the racial issue. Take for instance her song « Freeway of love » her goal is to gather everybody. She was also an African American artsist who achieved sucess against the backdrop of the civil rights movements and as millions of Americans know her music by heart, she was heard. To finish, Franklin was a traiblazer for the advancement of women, a standard-bearer with her famous song « RESPECT », she gave strength. No wonder she was later ranked the number one greatest singer of all time. Aretha Franklin such a gifted and unparalleled artist, one thing is sure, this lady will make a lasting impression.

      Secondly, we have a document about the great Nelson Mandela who also played an important part in the advancement of American culture. So, we have 2 cartoons and a text about Mandela by Zapiro. Zapiro is one of South Africa’s best known cartoonists ; he won many awards, including the Media Institute of Southern Africa’s Press Freedom Award.  Mandela is always represented in allegorical way. For exemple in the first cartoon, as a SuperMandela with extraordinary powers as a superman. In the second cartoon , he is considered as a gifted child. He was predestined in a high career « lawyer, activist, freedom fighter, president and icon. On the text, we can see many comparison with many mythological figures as Cupid, David, Atlas and even the biblical figure Moses whose reinforce the heroic side of Mandela or still compared with a genie. But what made Nelson Mandela ? First, Mandela of his nickname Madiba was a South African statesman. He arrived at the African National Congress , a black national movement in 1943 to fight against political domination of the White minority and racial segregation. He was fighting against the laws of Apartheid during the 70-80’s and that is pusnished by the law so Mandela was arrested and sentenced to life emprisonment on Robben Island. He became a worldwide famous symbol of the fight for racial equality and receives and international support. Even if nobody was allowed to see Mandela’s face or hear his voice, his  wife Winnie carried on his fight against apartheid. Mandela’s main goal was to reconcile the South Africa people. At the end, he was set free in 1990 after 27 years in jail. He deafeted the Apartheid regime which had been introduced in 1948 and in 1994, he became the first president of South Africa.

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