Identification and the Analysis of the Myth

Introduction

In the past, communities developed stories with an intention to educate or discourage some actions in the society; hence the development of myths. Typically, a myth is a false idea or a belief intended to communicate a specific message. In this case, I choose the cherry tree myth. The myth was about George Washington when he was a little boy; he received a gift of a hatchet that he used to damage his dad's cherry tree. The father discovered what his son had done, and he became outraged. He confronted his son, and a young Washington decided not to tell a lie by admitting that he cut the tree with his hatchet. The father was proud of his son's honesty to the extent that he said the honesty was worth more than a thousand trees.

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Elements of the Story That Makes It Mythical

One aspect of a myth is the presence of a narrator, and in the case of the above tale, there is a narrator who explains the flow of events in the story. The second element of a myth is that there is always a different situation that results in a good resolution. For instance, in the Cherry tree myth, Washington cuts down a tree, and everyone one expects his father to be mad at him. Instead, his honesty changes the whole situation where his dad becomes more proud of him. The third element of a myth is that the story is always intended to teach something, and in this case, the Cherry tree myth explains honesty.

A Reflection on What the Myth Does

The above myth aims at teaching the value of honesty. After the death of George Washington, people were eager to learn more about him. At any given moment, especially after the death of an iconic figure, people will always want to know how a person lived and how they behaved. The writer of the book acknowledges that millions of people wanted to read something about Washington. Hence, the writer wanted to take advantage of the situation to explain that the rise of George Washington was as a result of his great virtues.

The myth is intended to communicate to the reader that Washington's unique character was as a result of his private virtues. People are always familiar with Washington's achievements, but little is known about his relationship with his father, who died when Washington was a little boy. Nonetheless, the myth induces emotions of love, for instance, one expected Washington's father to become angrier; instead, he loved his son because of his honesty.

On the other hand, the myth provides an example of bad behavior where Washington cuts down the Cheryl tree. However, the response is intended to communicate honesty as a moral lesson. For instance, it is not a coincidence that the writer of the story is a professor who liked to teach about religion and morality. More so, the writer believes that the best way to recover the moral strength of society was by educating children. George Washington served as the perfect role model, hence the use of the character in the cherry tree myth.

In the past, the cherry tree was highly treasured, and it was a taboo to cut down the tree in some communities. Hence, the idea of Washington cutting down the tree was supposed to be followed by a thorough punishment. However, the story shows that honesty is a higher value compared to the value of the cherry tree.

The cherry tree myth is essential in the American cultural heritage. The story has often been used in cartoons and comic strips. Not only has the myth served as a moral lesson for children in the American culture, but also it has been used as a standard for politicians, for instance, American presidents like Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Richard Nixon have appeared in cherry-tree themed cartoons. Furthermore, the myth demonstrates Washington's legacy as well as American ideals.

Ways in Which the Cherry Tree Myth Fits or Does Not Fit With the Definitions and Examples of Greek Myths

The Greek myths play an essential role in the education of Greek citizens. The unique feature of the Greeks is that they were recited loudly, not only for entertainment purposes but to teach other things such as responsibilities of individuals, emotions, right and wrong behaviors, strengths and weaknesses of humans, explanations of nature and physical worlds, attitudes on heroism and courage and anecdotes about life mysteries amongst other factors (Pollard, 2018).

There exists a similarity between the cherry tree myth and the Greek myths. For instance, as discussed earlier, one feature of Greek myths is that they teach on excellence and moral behaviors, and this is the central theme in the cherry tree myth; the story discourages the lousy behavior of lies and at the same time encourages truth or honesty.

A majority of Greek myths encompass elements like fantasy, violence, and adventure (Pollard, 2018). Many of the tales were used to educate individuals while others were used to warn human beings about the behaviors that the gods could not tolerate. Further, the gods personified events in human life that were difficult to understand, such as death, fate or time. The cherry tree myth serves the purpose of educating the American culture, but it lacks the application of gods as well as death or fate. Nonetheless, the cherry myth does not concentrate on what gods perceive unacceptable, but it focuses on what the society likes or rather how the good virtues that one should possess.

Additionally, most of the myths talk about gods, where gods exercised power on human beings or one another for their pleasure or vengeance (Pollard, 2018). For this reason, it was important to pay attention to the gods and appease them; hence a majority of the Greek myths involved a spiritual world where human would sacrifice animals to satisfy them. About this argument, the tale of the cherry tree does not fit in the context of the Greek world in that there is no mention of the spiritual world. Nonetheless, the Greek myths gave stories of heroes and demigods who held special powers like the gods but were not immortal, for instance, Narcissus, Icarus, Achilles, Atlas, Heracles, and Daedelus. In comparison with the above argument, the character in the cherry myth is a hero in the American culture. Washington did not possess special powers, but he had significant influence on the American citizens.

Conclusion

It is evident that myths were mostly used to discourage bad behaviors in society. Nonetheless, most myths use heroes or supernatural beings in community. However, regardless of the myths using different characters, they all share a common similarity of educating the community. Myths play an essential role in society, and the stories are repeated from one generation to another despite the stories having false beliefs or ideas. For instance, the myth of the cherry tree is a mistaken belief whose purpose is to educate the children on the importance of honesty even after doing a wrong thing. Nonetheless, Washington was a great hero in American history; hence his character in the story attracted readers, especially amongst children where he appeared as the perfect role model.

Reference

Pollard, J. R. (2018). Greek Mythology. Retrieved from Encyclopedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Greek-mythology