Pecos Bill Rides The Tornado Retold Analysis

Throughout the world, there are thousands of people who speak different languages and have differing cultures and customs, however, they all share a similarity with one another which is storytelling. In American mythology, people told various stories about heroes, and as the American settlers moved west, so did their new stories and legends. In these folk tales, they all establish similar cultural values. In the tale Pecos Bill Rides the Tornado retold by S.E. Schlosser, Pecos Bill was a well known cowboy that could ride any bronco and when he was at Kansas, he decided to ride a tornado. This tornado was not like any other, it was so boisterous and it roared so loud that even the farmers in China heard it. In addition, John Henry: The Steel …show more content…
Through metaphor and man vs nature, it is shown how the Early Americans valued facing their problems instead of going around it. After John Henry became a freed slave, he worked as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. He was well known for being the strongest, the most powerful man working on the rails. There was a new railroad that was quickly being built, however, “But looming right in its path was a mighty enemy - the Big Bend Mountain. Now the bosses at the C&O Railroad decided that they couldn’t go around the mile and a quarter thick mountain. No sir, the men of the C&O were going to go through it - drilling right into the heart of the mountain,” (Schlosser 72). Early American values are shown when the C&O Railroad stated that instead of building the railroads around the mountain, they were going to drill into it. The concept of how the railroads were going to be built is a metaphor of how the Early Americans faced their problems straight on than avoiding it. Although the C&O physically drilled right into the mountain, this is a representation of how the American settlers confronted their problems face to face. In addition, even though the workers understood that they could not build around the mountain, they did not give up and instead they found a solution. Man vs nature is also demonstrated when the mountain became a challenge they had to defeat. The C&O Railroad …show more content…
Through the uses of imagery and idioms, it is indicated that Early Americans valued taking initiative when there are conflicts. There was once an obnoxious river called the Whistling River that oftenly tormented loggers who worked nearby, and it would break apart whole rafts of logs. One day Paul Bunyan, a giant, was sitting on a hill by a river combing his beard when, “But that ornery river jest reared up again and spat five thousand and nineteen gallons of muddy water onto his beard, adding a batch of mud turtles, several large fish and a muskrat into the mix. Paul Bunyan was so mad he jumped up and let out a yell that caused a landslide all the way in Pike’s Peak. ‘By jingo, I am gonna tame that river or bust a gut trying!’ he cried,” (Schlosser 74). Since the Whistling River constantly harassed the workers and destroyed their logs, people frequently viewed the River as annoying. Paul Bunyan also could not handle the River because through imagery, one can establish that he was not contended when muddy water and animals were spat onto his beard. He was so irritated that he decided to tame the river or bust a gut trying. When he states that he will bust a gut trying, an idiom is used. To bust a gut trying means to strain oneself to accomplish something and this is how Paul felt. When the river was being bothersome to him, he decided to take care of the problem instead of not doing anything. This reflects Early