Myths and heroes : can everything and everyone be a myth or a hero ?

Myths & Heroes

I'm going to talk about the notion "Myths & Heroes". First of all I would like to give a definition of "myth". A myth is an ancient story about gods, heroes and magic. It can refer to a popular belief which embodies the ideals and institutions of a society. It's a tradition often represented by an iconic figure. Now I expose you the definition of "hero". For me a hero makes me simply think about someone who performs great actions. He is also admired for his achievements, noble qualities and great courage.

In class we talked about the founding myth of the US. We spoke about the American Dream with famous people like Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and black people in general. We spoke also about the British Empire.

 So the question raised is everything and everyone can be a myth or a hero?

To illustrate this notion I have chosen 2 documents: a painting entitled "Spirit of the Frontier" by John Gast and a text : the Story of Rosa Parks.

The 1rst document I have chosen is a painting entitled "Spirit of the Frontier" : it's about the American expansion. It was paint by John Gast in 1872.

We can see a blond woman on the middle of the painting. She is dressed in white and carrying a book and a telegraph. She is a spirit moving. She is bigger the other elements of the painting. There are wolves and Native Americans with bison on the left. On the background, we can see the sky and the clouds. We can see also a star in her head.

The telegraph in the hands of the woman show a mean of communication brought to the West. The movement from the right to the left of the spirit symbolise the movement of Americans pioneers. It represents the beginning of the United States. It's an ancient story. The star in her head represents the 1rst star of American flag, it's why we can say it's a myth.

We can make a link between this painting and the notion "Myths & Heroes". The Spirit paint here is a myth. It represents an ancient story about the beginning of the United States.

The 2nd document I have chosen is a text entitled "The Story of Rosa Parks". It was a reading comprehension.

One day of 1955, Rosa Parks, a black woman, was sitting in the colored section of a bus in Montgomery in Alabama. The white section of the bus was crowded so the driver asks to Rosa Parks to give up her seat. She refused and was arrested by the police.

During this period, Back people were controlled by White. But Rosa Parks wants to stop this habit. They want to change the laws but they haven't the right to vote. They must do another achievement to change their everyday life. It's why after the reaction of Rosa Parks in the bus, many achievements like boycott of the bus, ect ... were doing.

We can make a link between this text and the notion "Myths & Heroes". We saw the definition of a hero. After studied the story of Rosa Parks, we can say she is a hero. She had a lot of bravoure to do what she does. She won her battle: more rights to black people. She changes their life.

To my mind this 2 documents are the best way to represent this notion. We see exactly the meaning of "myth" and the meaning of "hero". With

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