Myths/Narratives (English) In order to better understand the past roots and modern implications of racism
***********MUST FIND TWO EXAMPLES IN TWO BOOKS, READING NOT REQUIRED JUST SKIM THROUGH THE BOOK TO FIND ANY EXAMPLE (1 example each book)************
I will provide links to the books! Just copy and paste into your URL.
Books you can choose from: (CHOOSE ONLY 2)
Between the World and Me — Ta-Nehisi Coates
https://www.mercerislandschools.org/cms/lib3/WA01001855/Centricity/Domain/640/Ta-Nehisi%20Coates%20PDF.pdf
A Letter to my Nephew (easy, not really a book, more of a passage) — James Baldwin
https://progressive.org/magazine/letter-nephew/
Born a Crime — Trevor Noah
https://aderie.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/born-a-crime-trevor-noah.pdf
King Leopold’s Soliloquy — Mark Twain
http://diglib1.amnh.org/articles/kls/twain.pdf
Bug-Jargal — Victor Hugo
https://learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/5b000e5353fae/3005445?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27Bug-Jargal%2520pdf.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20191217T162459Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21599&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIBGJ7RCS23L3LEJQ%2F20191217%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=940ceb25dfe04ca7ae133ab2aeb8e2e6cadef9d562098e26fb0f6f14d52fa529
Myths/Narratives: “You still believe the injustice was Michael Brown. You have not yet grappled with your own myths and narratives and discovered the plunder everywhere around us” (Coates 21).
National narratives and myths are often used to explain history neatly and bolster patriotism, but often obscure reality and create ignorance surrounding societal issues. Using at least two texts, explain what “myth” or “narrative” is being critiqued (come up with one controlling idea that can apply to both books or argue that the two myths are different but somehow related). What does the author believe the “myth” is? How do they believe the myth has been perpetuated from generation to generation? How does their work help to dismantle this myth?
