Exemple de présentation Myths and Heroes

Myths and Heroes

The notion I’ve picked to present is the notion of Myths and Heroes. A hero is a person that we admire, because of his achievements and his qualities, and with whom we want to identify. To analyze this notion I’ll answer the following question: What are the different values and qualities that we look for in a hero? For my presentation, I chose to refer to 3 different documents studied in class, two articles about two modern day heroes: an online article about Alan Turing entitled “8 things you didn’t know about Alan Turing” and an article about Katherine Johnson published in the Washington Post whose title is: “Hidden no more: Katherine Johnson, a black NASA pioneer, finds acclaim at 98”. Finally, I also chose to refer to the ancient Greek myth of Phaeton.

In fact, by decoding the Nazi’s enigma machine, thanks to his knowledge of mathematics, Alan Turing played a significant role in the Allies’ victory during the 2nd World War. One of a hero’s main qualities is altruism: he puts other people’s needs before his own and offers as much help as he can. Also, a hero always remains strong despite the difficulties with which it is confronted. Alan Turing shows bravery and strength because he doesn’t want to hide his position as homosexual - homosexuality was then a crime in the UK- and remains strong even after the terrible fate which was imposed on him : chemical castration as we see in the article : “But in no way did he just succumb and decline. He really fought back...” But, at the end, unfortunately, he broke, and decides to end his days in a very painful way: he died from eating an apple laced with cyanide. Finally, another quality of a hero is the fact that he can leave a mark in history. It is the case of Alan Turing without whom our lives might not be as they are today. In fact, in 1936, he developed the idea for the Universal Turing Machine, the basis for the first computer. Much of his work was related to creating machines that could learn and think. Some consider that Apple’s logo is a tribute for his work, the bitten apple representing Turing’s terrible death.

We can see similar qualities in Katherine Johnson, a black NASA mathematician and physicist. With her work on different missions, she helped in the development of human knowledge in space. There is one mission in particular for which she is considered a hero: the rescue of Apollo 13. With her calculations, she established a backup plan that allowed the astronauts on the vessel to return safely to Earth. She is also very strong and fights prejudices by revolting against discrimination and inequalities between men and women. For example, she insisted on attending the editorial meetings at the agency, meetings that were then only reserved for men: “Is there a law that says I can’t go?”

On the other hand, we can see opposite values of those of a hero in the mythological character of Phaeton. In fact, he is jealous of his father’s power because he is the god Helios. He is reckless and puts his own desires first without thinking of the consequences of his actions. In fact, he refuses to listen to his father’s warnings and demands to drive his chariot. The chariot driven by Helios here symbolizes the movement of the Sun during the day. His father who can’t resist his sons’ desire accepts. Phaeton loses control and brings chaos to Earth, destroying everything

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