4 notions en anglais au bac

Anglais Notion 1 : Mythe et Héros

Early explorers

I’m going to talk about the theme « Early Explorers ». This theme can be related to the notion of « Myths and heroes » and « Spaces and exchanges ». But we will focus on the notion of « myths and heroes » because we’re going to talk about three famous early explorers, that is to say : James Cook, christopher Colombus and John Smith of Jamestown.

We will see why these three explorers can be considered as heros. But before let’s me give a definition of « heroes » and « myth »

- A myth is a popular story which tries to guide the society toward certain value. A myth is a universal story in which everyone recognizes himself.

- A hero is defined as someone with great qualities, someone who inspires people thanks to his noble qualities.

In class we’ve studied different documents about « early explorers » and it permits us to wonder why Colombus, John Smith of Jamestown and captain Cook became legendary heroes. But , today, some of these explorers can not be questioned?

In a first part, I will present the three explorers studied in class. Then I will wonder why they are heroes. And in a third and last part, I'm going to question the concept of heroes for one of them.

I Who were early explorers who we’ve studied in class ?

Before starting, I want to give a definition of « early explorers ». Early explorers refers to people who had discover new lands from the end of the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. An explorer is someone who travels to places where no one has ever been in order to find out what it there.

It’s exactly the case of the three explorers we studied in class : Christopher Colombus, captains Cook and John Smith.

First of all I will concentrate on biographical and historical elements of these explorers.

• Christopher Colombus was an Italian-born explorer who left Spain in August 1492 in order to demonstrate that the earth is round. He wanted to show that it was possible to reach Asia by a western sea route. On october he landed in the Bahamas with his three famous caravels ( The Pinta, the Nina and the Santa Maria). Here he met Native American, people lived on the island. Colombus called them Indians because he thought he had landed in the Indies. Even if Christopher Colombus was not the first to have discovered the American Continent, he was the first to establish Spanish colonies in the New World.

• Captain John Smith was an English soldier, explorer and author. He was the Admiral of New England. He was considered to have played an important part in the establishment of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America in the early seventeenth century. John Smith was a leader of the Virginia Colony based at Jamestown. He led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia. His books and maps were important in encouraging English colonization of the new world. After England’s firts settlement in the New World, Smith urged/ encouraged the settlers to farm and work. After returning to England, he spent the rest of his life writing books. He died in 1631.

• Captain James Cook was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer and captain in the Royal Navy. He made three voyages to the Pacific Ocean. He was credited with the discovery of New Zealand, New Caledonia and the Sandwich Islands. Later on his third voyage he discovered the Bering Strait. His voyages provided the first accurate maps of Pacific. Cook was killed by Natives Hawaiians in 1779. He influenced a lot of other explorers and several memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.

Now in a second part I would like to answer the question : Why these three early explorers can be considered as icons/heroes ?

II Why these three early explorers can be considered as icons/heroes ?

First , Colombus, John Smith and Captain Cook were heroes because they were courageous and brave. They dared to cross the seas, to brave the dangers in order to discover new lands. Thanks to them, the following generations have experienced a wider world and have opened their minds. Indeed, in the first document, the painting by John Vanderlyn, we see C. Colombus in the foreground, in the center of the painting. He is raising the royal flag of spanish, he looks like proud while he should be tired by such a long trip. In the background, we can see Natives, they seem to prostate themselves as if Colombus was god. The document 4 with the first sentence : « Columbus Day is a US holiday that commemorates the landing of C. Colombus in the Americas in 1492 » confirms the idea that C. Colombus was considered as an icon. Futher, the text speaks about « an intrepid hero ». The document 5 which is a script explaining why the US celebrate Columbus Day deals with statues, streets and cities named after Colombus : « there are starues in his honor, street and cities are named after him. He’s got his own national holiday ». The text uses the phrase « the brave explorer ». I can quote too : « He discribed him as brave, heroic and a genius ». So many documents insists on the great qualities of Colombus, that’s why he can be a hero.

Moreover,not only these three geat explorers were daring and intrepid, but also some of them are gifted with human qualities. It’s the case of Captains Cook and Smith. The document 6 that is an extract from Cook’s diary is about the relationship between the settlers and the Natives. In this text, we see that Captain Cook had good and peaceful intentions. He wanted his sailors to treat Natives with humanity. The text says line 20 : « to endeavour by every fair means to cultivate a frienship with Natives, and to treat them with all imaginable humanity. » That ‘s why he established several rules to protect them. For example, he forbade his men to trade with Natives : line 29 « the same penalty will be inflicted upon every person who is found to trade with any of the ship’s stores of what Nature so ever. » Cooks forbade his sailors to exchange iron and clothes for anything but provisions.

At last but not least, the last document which is an article from a webside, written by Christopher Woolf underlines Captain Smith’s great qualities. The author emphasizes the fact that Smith was no cruel, not judmental, not repressive with the Natives unlike the others Bristh’settlers. : « when Smith was in Jamestown, he did write quite a lot about the culture of the native people, and he did so in a very independent style, which was unusual for

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