Myths and heroes : to what exten could the rags-to-riches myth portrayed in literature become reality ?

     Hello !

     Today I will talk about the notion « Myths and heroes ».

First of all, I would like to define of the notion. A myth can be defined as a popular story which tries to guide the society toward certain values, or some ideal. Heroes are people admired for what they achieved: they can be real or fictional. It is the same for myths: some may have factual origins, while others are completely fictional. But could myths become reality? Today, we will focus on the rags-to-riches myth, which is a very common archetype in literature.

Therefore, we are going to wonder: “To what extent could the rags-to-riches myth portrayed in literature become reality?”

First, we will study the place of rags-to-riches stories in literature, and then, we will see examples of people who have achieved the rags-to-riches myth in our society.

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     Firstly, the rags-to-riches myth in literature.

The first and principal example is the writer Horatio Alger. As we can read in this article, the rags-to-riches stories that he wrote in the late nineteenth century helped the population of the United States believe the myth that anyone could work hard and become a "self-made-man” (doc 1). For example, in his novel Ragged Dick, the main character is a simple bootblack at the beginning of the story, and he becomes very rich at the end. Therefore, this is a rags-to-riches story. Here is the cover of the book (doc 2).

Another example could be the character Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, of which we can see the cover there (doc 3). Indeed, Jay Gatsby was born in North Dakota into a poor farming family. He makes his fortune after the war. This is the American dream: Gatsby starts from scratch and achieves a lifestyle envied by most of the population. However, Gatsby’s story is also a way to criticize the American Dream and to show that it is just an illusion.

But is a myth a simple illusion that could only happened in literature?  It is not so sure: there are also some rags-to-riches stories in real life.

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So now, we will see examples of people who have achieved the rags-to-riches myth in our society.

The first example is Steve Jobs. In an unofficial biography, the author writes: “The Steve Jobs story is the stuff of legend” (doc 4). Indeed, Steve Jobs has been adopted and he had many difficulties with formal education. However, today, he has created one of the world’s most successful companies. In an article from 2011, the Economist compares Steve Jobs’ life to a “Hollywood movie” because even if he had to deal with many difficulties, he succeeded at the end (doc 5).  

Besides, we can also talk about J.K Rowling. In an article published on the website Business Insider, she is also taken as an example of the rags-to-riches myth (doc 6). The article is called “The incredible rags-to-riches story of J.K. Rowling”. It explains that for many years, J.K. Rowling struggled as a single mother without money. Moreover, even after writing Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, she was rejected by many publishers. But, once published, Harry Potter soon became one of the best-selling books on record. Therefore, today, J.K. Rowling is one of the best paid modern writers.

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