The legend of John Henry is about a man named John Henry. He made a bet with the captain and salesperson of whether or not he could beat the steam drill. John accepted the challenge, and it turned out John won the race. However, he died because of exhaustion. It was man power vs. machine. At the end the story, man power overcame the machine, but the machine came out anyway.
In Katie's presentation, she mentioned that websites may were not really accurate, because some people believed that John was either a white or black man, and the place where he grew up either Alabama or West Virginia. Whether or not the story was real or fake, these were the conclusions made by Katie. It's really up to the person who believes if it's a legend or not based on other's observations. The point is the story makes us to discuss and spur us to respond.
In my point of view, it doe no matter whether or not the story was real. Actually it is the legend that makes the reader involved in this story. Some people may just believe it's a legend, others believe it is real. I think as long as the story is good enough and spur people’s mind to reflect on it, then it's valid to be either one.
HuiLin,
I agree with you that it does not matter whether the story is real or not. I do however strongly feel that the story was real maybe not all of the story. Over time stories seem to be exaggerated and changed as exemplified by all of the different versions of the song. i enjoyed reading ur blog.
Trisha
Posted by: Trisha at November 28, 2004 12:05 AM