Folklore

Omar Al-ekakili Teacher’s name English 102 9/15/15 How much can You Really Trust the Author While many people think of fairy tales as a way of teaching kids different life lessons, and those people are not wrong, but fairy tales hold much deeper meaning and scripts that kids might not understand. This leaves the job to the adults to decipher and learn the story and see what the author had intentionally put there and in many cases unintentionally leave clues and behaviors that can be used to…

Rebecca McKenney Introduction to Humanities Mr. Mansur 8 September 2016 Listening Log: Jeff Lynne’s ELO John Stickley (host of National Public Radio’s World Café) talks with Jeff Lynne on the January 8th episode of World Café. During the interview, Lynne talks about his career as a producer, his relationships with other artists, and the newest Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) album Alone in the Universe. Stickley mentions that Lynne has “never really been a fan of playing live. I gusee it has to…

The mythological tales that are studied today all stem from the early periods of Anglo-Saxon literature. These stories have been based on ancient views of heroism and larger-than-life characters(Beers 14). Each character in each epic faces many challenges and defeats, which form them into the character they are. Not only do the conflicts they face form them into who they are, but it is also the setting and plot of the story itself. In certain conditions, characters are forced to make important…

La Casa Matusita is an urban legend that is known to all people in lima-Peru. This haunted yellow house holds various types of mysteries. Many people prefer to avoid this house, especially during the night for pretty good reasons too. There is not only one, but two versions to how this urban legend goes. One tells of a man who found his wife in bed with another man. After killing both his wife and her lover with a knife, he killed his children and then turned the blade on himself. The other…

J. Michael Straczynski, the American writer and producer, said “[t]he point of mythology or myth is to point to the horizon and to point back to ourselves: This is who we are; this is where we came from; and this is where we're going. And a lot of Western society over the last hundred years - the last 50 years really - has lost that. We have become rather aimless and wandering.” Today when people think of the mythology of Rome, Greece, or Egypt, they might think of statues in museums or parks or…

Written history seems to gain more credibility than do oral history. Over time oral history transforms from what it initially starts with. For example, Nazi Germany slaughtered more than just Jews, but there are more accounts of the Jewish atrocities because there are more written records from the Jews. We do not have enough records of the mass murders of the Gypsies because of their oral culture. As time passed their oral history faded. In fact, when people think of the Holocaust it always…

Many ancient civilizations depicted dragons in their own special way, but the physical appearance of these beasts remained quite similar. Since this fact talks about a dragon’s external features, it is very relevant. These mythical creatures have some of the most magnificent and intricate characteristics of all reptiles. Looking like one of Picasso’s paintings, the head of a dragon is truly extravagant. The next part of its layout is the beautiful body and wings. Finally, being as flexible…

Myths create a reality people believe in and act on. While we may view these myths as simply stories, they shape people’s view of reality. Stories are real to the people who believe them. Aguirre would not have desperately searched for El Dorado if he did not believe it existed. Many signed on to jungle expeditions ill informed and lusting after adventure (Balkan, 31), after hearing rumors of a king who washed off a fresh coat of gold dust everyday (Balkan, 21). People’s belief in myths can…

Some of the elements of the Native American culture that are being maintained in the book are the storytelling, ceremony, and beliefs. The story Ceremony was written in a Native American tradition of storytelling. The Native American storytelling was about the tradition of the past, present, and the future, which cycles and repeats itself. Also, storytelling focused on helping people understand their place in this world by gaining knowledge on who they are, where they came from and how to deal…

In “The Runaway Grandmother” by Jan Harold Brunvand, he contends how the urban legend has evolved from the different versions across Europe and the Americas. The story’s theme involves an unexpected death of a woman (usually a grandmother) while on a family trip. Her body is transported in a car in the hope of reporting her death to the nearest authorities. However during the family’s stop, the car is stolen together with the grandmother’s corpse. This urban legend has similarities with the tale…