The Myth Of Western Heroes Essay

There are many ways in which we can view the history of the American West. One view is the popular story of Cowboys and Indians. It is a grand story filled with adventure, excitement and gold. Another perspective is one of the Native Plains Indians and the rich histories that spanned thousands of years before white discovery and settlement. Elliot West’s book, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, offers a view into both of these worlds. West shows how the histories of both nations intertwine, relate and clash all while dealing with complex geological and environmental challenges. West argues that an understanding of the settling of the Great Plains must come from a deeper understanding, a more thorough

The Wild west was a frontier that created opportunity which led to more. Shames uses the idea of expansion, the Wild West, and the frontier

Today's modern day hero has similarities and differences than the Anglo-Saxon hero. The two heroes each have different values they believe in. Also, they are motivated to fight for different reasons. An Anglo-Saxon hero also fights differently than a modern day hero. An example of this comparison is Bono from the band "U2" and Beowulf. Both modern day heroes, like Bono and Anglo-Saxon heroes, like Beowulf, try to improve their societies, but do it in different ways and for different reasons.

Emmons, D., & Udall, S. L. (2003). Part II: Settlement in the Old West: Correcting the Record. In Forgotten Founders: Rethinking the History of the Old West. [http://site.ebrary.com/lib/westerngovernors/docDetail.action?docID=10081834&page=154]. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/westerngovernors/docDetail.action?docID=10081834&page=154

American Heroes were inspired by Greek Tragic Heroes, yet both are very different from each other, but American Heroes have very similar traits to those who are Contemporary Heroes.  An American Hero is a person who seeks justice and always defeats the enemy which results in all people having the justice they deserve.  American Heroes also tends to protect all and has the tendency to fall in love with the “ damsel in distress”.  This type of hero goes about his daily life, just like anyone else would, until it is time to fight, and at that time, their “supernatural” powers shine through in their fighting techniques.  On the other side, all Tragic Heroes possess a flaw that will change their life from a life of happiness to a life of pain and despair.   Ordinarily, Contemporary Heroes have nearly the same traits as American Heroes.  Contemporary Heroes save and protect many individuals from violence and harm and lives a normal life until they have to face another obstacle.  Both American and Contemporary Heroes are able to celebrate their victories, while Tragic Heroes can not do so because they are not victorious.

As the 19th century closes, the west held the reputation of mythical proportion and defined the United States’ identity during the gilded age. Promises and dreams of having free land, your own freedom, and wealth for all people infatuate the nation and those who hear of the frontier; these myths created a “golden gilding “ which masks the actual turmoil and issues in the United States. In 1863, historian, Frederick Jackson Turner lectured, “‘The Significance of the Frontier in American History,’ in which he argued that on the western frontier the distinctive qualities of American culture were forged: individual freedom, political democracy, and economic mobility.” These tall tales created in the country a drive to push and inhabit the west

According to the film critic, Phillip French, “The Western has always been about America rewriting and reinterpreting her own past,” if this is indeed the case, then the two most popular Westerns of the early 1990s reveal that many Americans had rejected the traditional interpretation of the Old West. The critically and commercially successful, Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven, repudiated the patriotic frontier myth that had characterised the Western when it was the preeminent genre in American cinema. Informed by new Western historiography, itself an expression of political concerns that had been moving into the American mainstream since the 1960s, the movies display a complex and nuanced understanding of the frontier experience. Dances with Wolves rejected the traditional narrative of the inherent superiority of the Anglo-American hero conquering both Native Americans and the wilderness, and also focused on the environmental destruction that accompanied the ideology of Manifest Destiny. Unforgiven would similarly reject the frontier myth, replacing the democratic, civilised frontier town, with a brutal regime in which white men’s property rights prevail over any sense of justice. The film is noted for its self-reflexive nature, with a writer documenting and embellishing the tales of the Old West before the viewer’s eyes. This self-reflexion indicates that Americans were re-evaluating the myths of the frontier, and seeing them for what they were, creations by the

The hero that I selected earlier was Wonder Woman from the Western Archetypal Hero list.

What does one think of when given the phrase “Wild West?” Is it cowboys and Indians? Bar fights? John Wayne perhaps? Despite various answers, numerous people can agree that the wild west was an eventful and important time period. “The American west had all sorts of people including pioneers, business people, scouts, lawmen, outlaws, gangs, gunslingers, and cowboys. Most of these people had one thing in common… they were looking for an opportunity and they weren’t afraid of adventure.” These people settled in Wild West towns and changed the land, which played a big role in the development of modern-day society. Sacramento, a major historic town, stands as a notable example of

In the nineteenth century, Many Americans saw western expansionism as the nation 's manifest destiny. It is a belief expansionism that was proved to be right. Americans represented the American landscape and how amazing it was. The West is a land known of promise and opportunity. Adventures arise when expanding markets come into play. In 1833 William F. Cody created a great entertainment that the Wild West was a popular culture (Textbook pg.400)

Over the years, the idea of the western frontier of American history has been unjustly and falsely romanticized by the movie, novel, and television industries. People now believe the west to have been populated by gun-slinging cowboys wearing ten gallon hats who rode off on capricious, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the west far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian massacre, avarice, and ill-advised, often deceptive, government programs is even present in the average citizen’s understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the west is epitomized by the statement, “Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the west. The development of the west was, in

Screams filled the air. Only then did Jessie Grant realize they were his. He had been having this dream for some time, his dad’s and mom’s death. Before they boarded a cruiser when he was seventeen, his parents were his best friends, now he had nothing.

The emergence of western history as an important field of scholarship started with Frederick Jackson Turner’s (1861-1932) famous essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American history.”[1] This thesis shaped both popular and scholarly views of the West for the next two generations. In his thesis, Turner argued that the West had to be taken seriously. He felt that up to his time there had not been enough research of what he in his essay call “the fundamental, dominating fact in the U.S. history”: the territorial expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The frontier past was, according to Turner, the best way to describe the distinctive American history and character.

Today, I will be comparing and contrasting Anglo-Saxons to modern heroes seen in today’s novels, short stories, movies, and graphic novels. If you turn to page 84-85 in your British Literature: Traditions and Change textbook, you’ll see two heroes that were featured on the big screen multiple times in the past few years – Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Christian Bale’s Batman. Since these characters were featured in our books and nearly everyone has heard of them, I will use them to make comparisons to the Anglo-Saxons. By doing this, we’ll see the similarities and the differences between the two factions.

During the westward expansion the Indians were the only Texans who had any real knowledge of the land west of the present day Interstate Highway 35. Soon settlers began to push homesteads farther west into this uncharted region. The new explorers faced several dangers such as weather, water shortages, and uncertain relations with Indians. New explorations and developments in transportation and establishments brought more movement to the west. Residents began arriving in the west hoping to get rich land and political representation. The men and women who went out to establish the last frontier lived lives that would decisively shape the American character. The settlement of the frontier was driven by profit and political purpose. U.S. citizens pursued the work and adventure of subduing their country’s last frontier. Settling the frontier brought out the best and worst in people of all varieties that wanted to make their mark in the west.