American Lore is just like any other lore it has myths, legends, and fairy tales but American lore shows the history of America and how we live today, with a twist to the story.Legends are based on historical facts Myths are based on religion and gods and goddesses. Fairy Tales are make believe not real, includes special creatures. Tall tales and legends are more based in American lore and is heavily based on history and the many traditional stories that are spread from generation to generation. American lore is based on, “power social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resources. Achievement which is personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards . Hedonism pleasure or sensuous gratification …show more content…
for oneself. Stimulation excitement, novelty, and challenge in life. Self-direction independent thought and action - choosing, creating, exploring. Universalism understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature. Benevolence preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one is in frequent personal contact. Tradition is respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that traditional culture or religion provide. Conformity,Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms. Security, Safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationships, and of self” ( gregg henriques, A theory of ten universal values). Oral tradition is very important to folklore and is important to any culture because it helps spread the stories and ideas of new tradition.Oral tradition helped shape the culture by bringing people together and making them have things to share. Since american culture is all about freedom a lot of legends are tall tales about freedom and inventions that helped shaped the country.Without oral tradition in a community, people wouldn’t have anything to talk about like bloody mary everyone talks about her.The culture would change because people would repeat stuff that already happened in the past, and the way people would tell stories.Family traditions wouldn’t be the same without the oral traditions because families couldn’t tell traditional stories. Without folklore culture would be boring because there would be no entertainment in a culture. Folklore brings people together to have fun and tell stories to each other and that’s what the american dream is to have everyone come together and have fun. Legends are very important to american lore and are based on historical people or events like Johnny appleseed and Calamity Jane. Johnny Appleseed was based on John Chapman a man that was a frontier nurseryman who established orchards throughout the American Midwest. Since his story was told and retold about how he planted apple trees he soon became johnny appleseed and only planted trees because of how much he loved apples, but that wasn’t the case he only planted apple trees to help people from starving to death. Calamity Jane was known as a sharpshooter women, she was known to have drank a lot because of who she hung out with along her journey but that’s not true, her reputation was advanced with stories of heroism and charity due to her kindness to others. Both legends show them helping people and showing kindness to people. These legends reflect the culture by showing the values that the american culture is all about. Power, hedonism, and tradition are all values from American lore that are displayed in these legends because of their kindness and willingness to help people. Since both stories were told and retold they are not the real versions John didn’t grow apple trees because he loved apples so much he did it because he wanted to help people from starving, Calamity Jane wasn’t a drinker and just a sharpshooter she was a little kid when her parents died and she wanted to help people which is why she was so kind. Myths are another important aspect to american lore they are based on mythical creatures or gods.
Bloody Mary and Batman are two examples of myths. Bloody Mary was known to be a witch that lived in a cottage in the forest and went and killed little kids if they said her name three times in a mirror in a dark room. Batman is a superhero, his parents died when he was little, and he now fights crime ,including supernatural villains, and saves people’s lives. Bloody mary was more of a made up person that when you say her name three times she came and got you and killed you, batman is a super hero that everyone loves because he saves lives and fights crime against villains. Bloody Mary reflects the culture in a negative type of way being as all the criminals and taking the lives of other souls and the haunting ghosts of the deceased. Batman takes that hero role as the protector or the person everyone would look to for help. All the american values are present in either of the two myths. Batman makes people feel safe, and bloody mary harms people. Myths are hard to have evidence to prove them, and are usually told by mouth altering them into different forms. Since the story of any god has been told and retold the story comes to be some made up story that didn’t actually take place, which makes people believe gods walk upon …show more content…
us. Fairy Tales are supernatural beings or stories that involve magic and a lesson learned “Freddy’s Fabulous Frogs” and “The Rooster and The Pearl” are examples of fairy tales of american lore. Freddy’s Fabulous frogs is about Fabian stealing Freddy’s frog to put into the frog contest, and Freddy wants to prove it but he can’t so he goes to find a new frog. Freddy found the perfect frog for the contest and won the contest. The Rooster and the pearl is about a rooster searching for food and ends up finding the pearl and he pecked and pecked but it wouldn’t open because it wasn’t a seed and finally the rooster gave up on trying to open it and just let it sit there. In both of these fairy tales the main character wants something badly Freddy wants to win and the rooster wants food and they both go and find what they wanted in the end, Freddy ended up winning and the rooster found some spare corn here and there.These fairy tales reflect the culture by showing if you work hard enough to achieve something it will happen and the american culture is about working hard. Achievement, is a big value in these stories because they both achieved something they wanted to do. They both set goals and went to better what was wrong. Oral tradition helped make people believe that magic was real and imaginary creatures are real by the way people told the stories. A archetype is a very typical example of a certain person or thing.
‘’The Hero’s Journey is a pattern of narrative identified by the American scholar Joseph Campbell that appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization”( The hero’s journey outline, Christopher Vogler). The Journeys significance is that without it the hero would never find themselves and how they feel. The archetypal hero’s journey fits into folklore because there a different steps that have to be taken for the hero to reach their full journey and accomplish their goals. Batman connects to the hero’s journey by showing himself as becoming a superhero. Batman goes through this journey after his parents died, and discovers himself and decides to become a superhero. Batman’s journey was significant because it showed people that they can live up to their dreams and be anything they wanna be.The purpose was to show that even through the tough times you can get through it. The journey helps the reader stay interested in the myth batman by showing similar connections to real life situations, like when his parents died it shows that you can overcome any obstacle that comes into
life. In my legends, myths, and fairytales everyone of them show the main character going through a rough time but finding a way to deal with it. They are all different because they all show different values some values are the same but all the stories are all unique. Everything produced by the american folklore shows all the values that America is about, achievement is what americans do we don’t give up till we achieve what we set out to do. In Batman all the american values are present because he goes and fights crime to achieve something, and harms the person that is the enemy, he has self-direction and drive himself towards helping others in the time of need. He shows conformity, stimulation, by going to the challenge but not getting carried away with everything he does. American folklore is very interesting because it’s what american culture is about. American folklore shows all our values through stories to make them more interesting but still have a good massage to the plot of the story. They made them more entertaining for our minds because of oral tradition and the spreading of the stories that made the stories the way they are today. Future generations will receive the culture and will retell these stories to their kids and keep passing American folklore to be preserved into other future generations and live on forever.
Holmes, Thomas. “The hero’s journey: an inquiry-research model. Jun 2007, vol 34 issue 5, p19-22.4p. 1 Diagram
As the story comes to its conclusion, the hero has endured his hardships; he went from the one that started fights to the one that thought of what could make everything work. An ordinary person in an ordinary world faced his share of trials and tribulations to come out as a new person. Defining the hero myth—he struggled and still was able to triumph to his prize at the end ; individuals relish these type of stories, they can
Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey” is a common myth in global mythology. The hero’s journey is exactly what its name implies; a tale of a hero’s deeds and adventures. The stages and sub-stages that Campbell outlines as part of the journey are simply guidelines and don’t appear in every story, but this is what makes each story unique. Jeff “the Dude” Lebowski is not much of a hero himself, but his story certainly falls in line with the hero’s journey.
The human need to be relatable is unquenchable. We love to be able to see parts of ourselves in others, and to be able to feel like our idols are not untouchable. The Hero’s Journey format is one that can be found in almost any story, even in real life. Overall, it is the perfect recipe for keeping readers engrossed. Another place the journey has shown up is in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Odyssey by Homer. These two stories—one a biography, the other, an epic poem—are so effective in their storytelling, it is easy to see how authors today continue to use the same method to make stories that grab the readers’ attention. What makes them most alike, however, is the emotions and thoughts they have the power to provoke.
Batman and Superman are superheroes whose qualities are exaggerated in a way that is reminiscent of the gods and heroes in The Odyssey. In Fact, the superheroes from comic books emerge from the epic tradition. Epics, as you know, celebrate the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes. This epic hero is generally involved with a quest to overcome hardship, and he (and it usually is a "he") succeeds. The hero performs superhuman exploits in battle, often saving or founding a nation or the human race itself. Sound familiar? And even in terms of the superhero's body, with his bulging muscles and larger‐than‐life qualities, such figures evoke the images of Baroque masculinity. What Becomes important in these retellings, then, is how the hero makes the journey, how he faces his obstacles, and what he learns in the process.
We all are heroes of our own story, and it is a quality seen in many movies and books. The hero's journey is about progress and passage. This journey involves a separation from the unknown, known world, and a series of phases the hero must go through . Each stage of the journey must be passed successfully if the person is to become a hero. In “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir faces a series of trials and goes through obstacles where the concept of his childhood dies.
The Hero’s Journey is an ancient archetype that we find throughout our modern life and also, in the world of literature.Whether metaphorical or real, the journey that a character goes on shows not only the incredible transformation of the hero but it also gives them their life meaning. It is the ultimate human experience and it reflects on every aspect of life. Take Logan, also known as Wolverine, from the X-Men movie as an example. His adventure starts with “The Call,” which is the first step of the Hero’s Journey. This step happens due to the realization of imbalance and injustice that the character has in their life. Logan steps into the first stage of the pattern but is hesitant to start his adventure because he does not know what and
The hero’s journey can be seen as a set of laws or challenges that every hero faces through their own journey(Christopher Vogler). The hero’s journey is used as a general term such as all
Kind and selfish, deep and shallow, male and female, and foolish and wise aren’t always words that are associated with each other, quite the opposite in fact. However, when it comes to the trickster tales of Native Americans, each word is associated with the other and describes more or less the same person or animal. To Native American people a trickster affects the world for an infinite number of reasons, including instruction and enjoyment. A trickster, like the name implies, is a cunning deception. A trickster can be a hero. However, at the same time he could introduce death. How is that heroic? Why would a group of people want to remember a person that brings punishments such as death? The function the trickster tales have/ had on Native American communities is still powerful today quite possibly because of their context, the lessons they reap, and the concerns they address. As the tales are told, the stories unravel showing the importance of a trickster and the eye-opening experiences they bring.
Native American literature from the Southeastern United States is deeply rooted in the oral traditions of the various tribes that have historically called that region home. While the tribes most integrally associated with the Southeastern U.S. in the American popular mind--the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole)--were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) from their ancestral territories in the American South, descendents of those tribes have created compelling literary works that have kept alive their tribal identities and histories by incorporating traditional themes and narrative elements. While reflecting profound awareness of the value of the Native American past, these literary works have also revealed knowing perspectives on the meaning of the modern world in the lives of contemporary Native Americans.
Myths have been a great example of the hero’s journey. Many heroes have journeys and trials to face throughout their life. Most of their journeys start out with their origin and end with the return. However, the hero’s role remains identical to every other hero. Most heroes like Gilgamesh has heroic traits because of the stages in the hero's journey. Gilgamesh is a man who can turn into a hero by changing himself, even when he has unusual circumstances surrounding his birth. Gilgamesh is viewed as a hero due to the stages of the hero's journey.
I went years without knowing that the hero 's journey is involved in most of my life. We read it in books, see it in movies and can even apply it in our own lives! Some examples of this journey would be a high school graduation, getting a indian name, or even Ariel 's journey to human land in The Little Mermaid. In these big events otherwise known as the hero 's journey we experience a,"process of separation, initiation,and return...each stage must be completed successfully if the initiate is to become a hero"(Harris and Thompson 50). This process has been around for years and will be around for years to come but have you noticed it? Mattie Ross a young girl from Arkansas goes on a hero
In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will discuss the major themes of the book and why the author wrote it, it will describe Native American society, its values and its beliefs and how they changed and it will show how Native Americans views other non-Natives.
One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby. Joseph Campbell calls the initial phase of a hero’s development the “Call to Adventure.” The call is the in... ...
The young boy walked with his parents down the street after watching his favorite film. A man seemingly comes out of nowhere, BAM BAM, and like that, young Bruce’s parents fall dead against the cold, cracked floor. This is one of the most famous heroic back stories yet. The tragic backstory that created the infamous Dark Knight. Like countless other heroes with tragic backstories or other interesting attributes, it molds an ordinary man into an almost godly being. This is on par with supernatural beings and over eight digit bank accounts really forges a great hero.