Myths and Heroes: the american culture

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Furthermore, all these myths have a big influence for American culture nowadays.

For example, with Thanksgiving, every American celebrates the kindness of Natives when the Pilgrim Fathers came, by eating turkey, which was the food, which was given to them. It is a proof of recognition, even if for the Natives, this day is more an “invasion day”.

On top of these influences, we have also the help of Dan O’Brien in the preservation of buffaloes in the Black Hills. In his book Wild Idea written in 2014, this man explains his indignation toward slaughtering of buffaloes. So this book deals with his personal adventure, which started when he moved-in on a ranch in the Great Plains with his partner Jill, her daughter Jillian, and his oldest friend Erney. He began raising buffaloes with a herd of twelve buffaloes that bred and soon became over fifty. His relation with buffaloes and Natives became important, and he could even learn the Lakota creation story with his Sioux friend Rocke Afraid of Hawks. At the beginning, Indians and Buffaloes used to live together in a cave in darkness in the Black Hills. They were like brothers and sisters. Then buffaloes decided to leave the cave. The men were scared, but the buffaloes convinced them to live outside on the prairie. They made a deal. Buffaloes would provide them with food and clothing, tools, and men would give them love. This myth enabled Dan O’Brien to continue his attempt without quitting.

Moreover, little by little, Indians became American citizens. In 1924, they had the American citizenship, and then they were allowed to leave the reservations. Then with president Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1934, Tribal councils re-established and reaffirmed the values of Indian culture. After their services in the 2WW, they were given voting rights, in 1948, between 1954 and 1970 they were allowed to leave the reservations for the cities and then they became American citizen in the 1960s.

To conclude, we can understand American culture by knowing the history facts that are related with this culture. As we saw, all began with Christopher Columbus in 1492, but the Pilgrim Fathers were the ones to conquer the continent.

For me, the icons the most important are really the Pilgrim Fathers because they were the ones who sacrificed themselves in order to have a better life. This represents also the “American Destiny”, the divine mission of the USA to bring American culture to everybody.

Nowadays, the society is base on the American consumer society because America acquired enough power to be admired and copied.