Eli Pardue
3/31/08
AP Lang Comp
LaMags
Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan is the quintessential folktale told to little boys. Why? Because Paul Bunyan represents everything that a little boy wants to be: big, strong, trouble causing, nice, and big-eating. Paul Bunyan was brought to his parents by five cranes because he was so big. He needed to be fed ten barrels of porridge every two hours so that his rumbles of hunger didn't shake the house down. When he rolled around during his nap one day, he cleared 4 square miles of timber. When his parents got fed up, they sent him off the Maine coast, where he fell out of his cradle and created a tidal wave seventy five feet high. when he didn't wake up, the British navy had to fire their cannons for seven hours straight to wake him up. And that was just the story of his birth. Later on, Paul befriends a giant blue ox. and Ox, one of the biggest mammals in North America, that just happens to be blue, the stereotypical favorite color of little boys.
So we have established that Paul Bunyan is a tale targeted at little boys for several reasons. But what does he represent about males? Paul Bunyan is represents everything a man was supposed to be in the colonial era, minus his enormous size. He was a hardworking lumberman and a loyal companion. He was soft spoken, kind, and caring. And he was prine to making little mistakes (shown in his accidental creation of the Grand Canyon by dragging his pick along the ground), which is a theme that has transcended time. Overall Paul Bunyan represents males as what "every little boy" wants to grow up to be. In other words, he was created to be a role model of what men are supposed to be.
So we have established that Paul Bunyan is a tale targeted at little boys for several reasons. But what does he represent about males? Paul Bunyan is represents everything a man was supposed to be in the colonial era, minus his enormous size. He was a hardworking lumberman and a loyal companion. He was soft spoken, kind, and caring. And he was prine to making little mistakes (shown in his accidental creation of the Grand Canyon by dragging his pick along the ground), which is a theme that has transcended time. Overall Paul Bunyan represents males as what "every little boy" wants to grow up to be. In other words, he was created to be a role model of what men are supposed to be.
1 comments:
Of course Paul Bunyan is the classic story for little boys. Every parent wants their son to want to play with truck, and sticks and rocks, manly things. They want them to want to be strong and fearless. Little boys hear these stories and then want to be like them, which is totally fine, I just think its a little crazy then when a parent or other adult flips out if a boy wants to play with a doll. I don't understand why it matters? Perhaps the kid wants to be a dad? Playing with dolls might make him a better dad who knows? I haven't done any scientific study or anything. Or when a boy asks for an Easy Bake Oven for his birthday and his dad won't let his mom buy it because it isn't manly. There are hundreds of male chefs in the world, some of the greatest chefs are males.
I also think its interesting that its ok for girls to play with 'boy toys' but it isn't as ok to for boys to play with 'girl toys.'
But, Eli one thing that you pointed out that I honestly never thought of was that Babe the ox is blue not a coincidence that that is the color that boys are supposed to prefer. I'm sure little boy wouldn't like the story as much if the ox were pink.
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