Myths And Heroes

Myths and heroes

Intro

Myths are stories that take part of the culture of a country. They can be a popular belief, a tradition or a false notion. They help us to understand where our values come from, to reveal unproved truths. They feed our imagination.

However, everyone imagine a hero as a mythological figure or a national hero, someone who is known for his eloquence or his achievements. But some women & men have proved that anyone can suddenly become a hero. In these two documents we’ll focus on the stories of normal women who actually suddenly became a hero with only one choice.

I. A woman’s choice

In 1968, Rita O’ Grady fights against pay discrimination between men and women. She works in a Ford car factory in Dagenham, east London. Mrs O’ Grady has led protests and all the women of the factory stopped working for weeks. This case was followed closely by Barbara Castle, the Secretary of State for Employment at the time because of the economical importance of Ford in the country.

We studied in class an extract from the script of the film « Made in Dagenham ». In this extract, Mrs O’Grady reveals her ability of holding a position when she meets Mrs Castle for the first time. The Secretary of State tries to make her understand the importance of the investments of the Ford Company in the country but Mrs O’Grady does not succumb against the government pressure and the power of the industry. She’s ready to change attitudes towards women’s work.

The meeting with Mrs O’Grady is the moment when Mrs O’Grady, a mother who has difficult working conditions, reveals that she can be a real national hero.

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