Anglais: mythe et héros

Myth and heroes :

The Notion i'm going to deal with is Mythe and Heroes

A myth can be defined as a story which illustrates human's proccupations (death, love, gods...). It can be a popular belief,a tradition or a false notion. A hero can be a mythological figure, a person who is admired for his or her achievements, a superhero, maybe a role model or an icon.

We may wonder to what extend the dispelling of the Ammerican Dream illustrates the notion of Myth and Heroes.

First wat's the american dream ?

The American Dream is a national ethos of the United State, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success.

In class we studied the picture of the Louisville Flood. The picture show us the flood victims standing in line to get their rations of food, besides, we can't help noticing they are all africans americans and they many have lost everything that's why they must rely on charities to survive. They are standing in front of a billboard that promotes the American way of life. The family represented in the poster is white, all the family members look radiant, they embody a typical WASP family. There is a sharp contrast between the two groups, the haves and the have-nots, in reality, all citizens are not equal, some are «  more equal than others ». We can’t help thinking the slogan on the poster is ironic. The photo clearly underlines the contrast between the ideals of a nation and the grim reality.

The second document is a cartoon. This cartoon illustrates the collapse of the housing market has had on the United States. We can recognize Uncle Sam who's a symbol of the pride and power of the United States, he represents not only the American government, but also the whole of the United States and its economy. Beginning in 2006, the housing market began to decline. In this cartoon the author tries to convey the way many Americans felt when the housing bubble collapsed. All Americans were overwhelmed by the economic but also the US economy in general.

The cartoon conveys the idea that Americans felt crushed because their savings vanished and their homes’ values plummeted.

Finally, both documents want to make people realize that some americans people are confronted with poverty, due to natural or economics disaster, they debunk the myth of The American dream. In fact poverty can exist in an affluent society with a hight standart of living.

Idea of Progress :

The progress represtents all the beneficial advances for the society. It can be in different sectors such as technological or cultural..

In class, we spoke about this notion through one period in particular : the sixties, which were a decade of changements, of progress, especially in Great Britain. So, we will see to what extend the sixties can illutrate this notion of progress.

First, we listened a document untitled « memories of the sixties », in which baby-boomers present this period as a progressive decade in two fields in particular.

The firt one is technology as lots of technological breakthoughts were achieved during the sixties, such as the colour television (invented in 1968), or the transistor radio.

The second one is the culture : people discovered new music styles with new bands such as the Beattles or the Rolling Stones ; in fashion, new figures appeared like Twiggy and her mini-skurt. It was a culture revolution, and people had the feeling that their live was improving.

So, that is why the sixties are considered as a progressive area.

Then, we read a text about women liberation, which is an other field of progress (social progress). Indeed, during the sixties, women won many advances , through two principal acts of Parliament : equal pay for an equal work, and in case of divorse, all the goods have to be divided equally between the husban and the wife. Also, their home work was considered as a real work. These advances aimed to abolish all the inequalities between women and men.

Women won also the access to the birth control, with the development of the uptake of the pill. That is also a major progress for women.

To conclude, the sixties are a good illustration of the progress in so far it was a progressive area in lots of fields. But we have to qualify the women liberation : these advances were won by the law, but the reality is still completly different : human customs are long to involve, so after century of men domination, women are still considered as inferior as men

Also, we do not have to forgot that progress is concerning a part of the mondial population, but a very big other part of its is still living in the poperty

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