mythes et heros

« MYTHS AND HEROES I am going to talk about the notion of myths and heroes in which we have studied several texts about wars, slavery… that’s the mains topics present in this notion of myths and heroes.

First of all I would like to give a definition of MYTHS , It may be defined by four definitions that are : ­ An ancient story about gods, heroes and magic.

­ A popular belief or tradition embodying the ideals and institutions of a society. ­ An unfounded or false notion. ­ A theme or character type embodying an idea.

Then, I would like to give a definition of HEROES , that may be defined by four definitions too that are : ­ A mythological or legendary figure with great strength or ability. ­ A person admired for his achievements noble qualities and great courage. ­ The main character in a literary or dramatic work, an event, period, or movement.

­ An object of extreme admiration and devotion : icon, role model.

In order to illustrate the notion, I have chosen two documents we have studied in class and that to my mind seem to best illustrate this notion of Myths and Heroes : Once were Warriors , a story by Alan Duff and the famous speech of Martin Luther King I have a dream .

The reason why I have chosen this documents is because it really happen in the history of the world, and that have marked the minds of people all around the world.

First, I would like to talk about the text Once were Warriors .

The narrator Alan Duff describes a civilization, a Maori tribe who lives in New Zealand.

He wants to show them how a different folk than ours live, what are their traditions, their style of lives.

In the first part of the text, the narrator explains how the Maoris works in wartime.

This is entirely different of our ways of fighting.

In this Maori tribe, people take care of their enemies, they give them food, drink and all sorts of comfort in order to give them more strength to continue the fight the next day.

In the second part of the text the narrator explains the traditions of a Maori tribe when they are threatened by other people or civilization of the world.

They have a chief who gives to his tribe orders, advances but not like a dictator because a chief of a tribe is always tuned of theirs and take orders for their own good.

Alan Duff explains a very special tradition in Maoris’ tribe that is a dance of war named Haka.

We have all seen this dance make by the rugby team of the All Blacks.

They perform this dance in order to give them more strength, to impress their enemies.

Indeed, the Haka consists in slap their chests, thighs, elbows, thrust out theirs arms, stomp their feet.

The narrator wants to show them the relations and differences. »