Bonjour, je prépare mon oral blanc d'anglais et j'aimerais une correction de mon texte sur la notion Myths and Heroes. Merci d'avance !
Today, I’m going to deal with the notion of myths and heroes. A myth can be defined as a story about gods or heroes, 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. To illustrate this notion, I will talk about the witches of Salem and the McCarthyism. So I would like to try to answer the question: How myths and heroes do influence the behaviour of the American society? I will focus my presentation on two points: the witch hunt and the second Red Scare.
To begin with the witches of Salem, which have marked the American history. In Salem, in the 17th century, more than 150 people were accused of witchcraft. That begin when girls went into constant fits and a doctor was called for. He declared that they had been bewitched. Then a wave of hysteria spread throughout the State. Three women were accused of bewitching the little girls. A recent epidemic and the threat of attacks by Native Americans tribes fuelled the paranoia. Finally, 80 people were killed during this witch hunt. Those information has been taken in a video that we have study in class: “The Salem Trials”. This case had a deep impact: it leads indirectly to the founding principles of the USA.
But three centuries later, after the WWII, the McCarthyism began. It’s the second part of the Red Scare. During that time, Wisconsin Senator, Joseph Mc Cathy produced a series of investigations and hearings in an effort to expose supposed communist infiltration of various areas of US government. In 1950, he had done a speech in which he accused 205 people to be a part of communist. Like the Witches of Salem, some people have been wrongly accused and the population became paranoid.
After that, we have studied in class the trailer of the film "One of the Hollywood ten". The Cold War in full swing, and during the "communist hunt", Biberman learns that he is blacklisted like other Hollywood directors. Thus, his entourage takes away from him. The myths can be dangerous, and can influence people's behaviour. The image of the movie “The Crucible” show us a woman who is accused of being a witch, she will be banished from his own community and burned.
To conclude, I would like to say that myths and heroes were in the mind of the Americans, because they are part of American history, therefore they influenced the behaviour of society.
I get the impression that the myths and heroes influence the American behaviour because we can see that they always put the people, that threat them, in a box and do whatever is possible to eliminate them, even accusing people wrongly. However, we can’t say that they really influence the American society of today, because the mentalities have evolved and the people are more open with the “unknown”.
