- •National mythology as a nation-forming factor
- •Principal mythologems in American culture and literature
- •1. Christopher Columbus and the Myth of ‘Discovery’
- •2. Pocahontas and the Myth of Transatlantic Love
- •3. Pilgrims and Puritans and the Myth of the Promised Land
- •4. The American Dream
- •5. The American Way of Life
- •6. American Independence and the Myth of the Founding Fathers
- •7. The Myth of the Melting Pot
- •8. The Self-Made Man
- •Puritan concept of Covenant (agreement/завіт) with God
- •Puritan vision of future America as a New Jerusalem
- •Puritan perception of American as New Adam
- •Secular transformation of Puritan idea of America’s special mission in the period of Enlightenment
- •Mythologization of Founding Fathers in American culture
- •American Dream as a socio-political ideal
- •Stereotypical treatment of American Indian in national culture
- •Mythologizing Native American spirituality
- •Native American as a metaphor of American past
- •Indian cultural characteristics – a view from within
- •Scientific and mythical justifications of slavery in American public opinion
- •Stereotyping African Americans in the us culture
- •Actualization of Biblical imagery in African American culture
- •Development of self-made man myth in American consciousness
- •Personal enrichment as American “secular Gospel”
- •Impact of Darwin’s, Spencer’s and Nietzche’s ideas on shaping American identity
- •Various facets of American Dream
- •Wild West as an American myth
- •The role of frontier in shaping American identity
- •American myth of “manifest destiny”
- •Southern plantation myth in national consciousness and culture
- •From “melting pot” to “salad bowl’: transformation of American self-identification
- •Statue of Liberty as America cultural symbol
- •Diverse ethnic myths in contemporary United States
- •Popular culture as a myth-making phenomenon
- •The myth of Superman in American consciousness
- •Archetypes in the genre of Western
- •Thriller and action film as typically American genres
- •Hollywood as a myth-maker
Secular transformation of Puritan idea of America’s special mission in the period of Enlightenment
Puritanism gave Americans a sense of history as a progressive drama under the direction of God, in which they played a role akin to, if not prophetically aligned with, that of the Old Testament Jews as a new chosen people.
Perhaps most important was the strength of Puritanism as a way of coping with the contradictory requirements of Christian ethics in a world on the verge of modernity. It supplied an ethics that somehow balanced charity and self-discipline.
By the beginning of the 18th century, Puritanism had both declined and shown its tenacity. Though “the New England Way” evolved into a relatively minor system of organizing religious experience within the broader American scene, its central themes recur in the related religious communities of Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists and a whole range of evangelical Protestants.
Puritanism, however, had a more significant persistence in American life than as the religion of black-frocked caricatures. It survived, perhaps most conspicuously, in the secular form of self-reliance, moral rigor, and political localism that became, by the Age of Enlightenment, virtually the definition of Americanism.
pilgrims were supplemented by the slogans of the founding fathers ”. Now America's special mission is seen not so much in returning to biblical norms as in building a just and democratic society here on earth that provides each individual with the freedom to realize himself.
Mythologization of Founding Fathers in American culture
The Founding Fathers of the United States, or simply the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of American leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, led the war for independence from Great Britain, and built a frame of government for the new United States of America upon liberal and republican principles during the latter decades of the 18th century. In general, they include the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and those who worked on drafting the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights eleven years later.
The Founders are depicted as heroic icons or despicable villains, demigods or devils, the creators of all that is right or all that is wrong with American society. The mythologization of the Founding Fathers forms an important aspect to American exceptionalism. In reality, it shouldn't need to be said that the Founders were all very flawed human beings who disagreed with each other on any number of issues.
In recent years the Founder whose reputation has been tossed most dramatically is Thomas Jefferson Most respect him as the creator and narrator of the American democratic system.Still, people disrespect him for his the most explicit assertion of the supposed biological inferiority of African Americans.
The Founding Fathers played key roles in the founding of the country, but some played particularly critical parts. As with any group, their strength was often gained from their differences.