Keats’s use of swirling backdrops adds another layer of intrigue as the reader’s eye is drawn deeper into the picture. As a “hush settles over the hills” in the opening of the story, the reader can see the silhouette of John Henry’s childhood home against a swirling night sky. Keats’s illustrations are fascinating with his use of color and bold figures. John Henry goes on to prove that his strength and determination are a force to be reckoned with. After a close call with some dynamite, John Henry faces off with a new steam engine chipping a path through the mountain. While carving a path for the railroad, the workers come across a mountain that they must blast through in order to continue the line. John Henry drives spikes faster than anyone and sings to the clanks of his hammer. One-day John Henry sets out into the world and finds himself working on the railroad. John Henry is born with a hammer in his hand and grows up stronger and taller than anybody around. Summary: This is Keats’s version of the American tall tale of John Henry. The students would have a chance to analyze the change in the John Henry story and compare to see if the moral has remained the same. Part of legend is that they change and morph to the needs of the times. We can examine the book and the film to see how the legend has evolve and been changed. Analyzing this legend could be used as a powerful tool in teaching and learning about the Civil Rights Movement.Īnother way to integrate not only the book of John Henry and the Disney film of John Henry. Published in the Civil Right era, John Henry's legend could be seen as motivating, and empowering for many African Americans. While written in the pre-Civil Rights, John Henry's work on the railroad is seen as brave and strong. One way to integrate this story into a classroom could be to analyze this story as it related to the era it was written about and the era it was published in. John Henry is depicted as a strong, powerful force of nature that was a a driving force in this story. Like most legends, John Henry has a simple plot with a clear moral and little character development. Since it was published during the Civil Rights era, the legend was an empowering history of how strong African Americans could be. John Henry is the perfect example of a legend, as a book published 1965, this story was a publication of a legend most likely passed down through the word of mouth. Oh well, everyone has their own opinions. The nephew gave this 2 stars and the niece 3 stars. The nephew didn’t care about beating a machine as he wants to live with robots and the niece thought it was pointless that John Henry died at the end. You had to turn each frame as it was read aloud by a tape player that pinged when it was time to turn the film. I remember being in grade school and John Henry was extremely popular among kids and everyone wanted to check out this story and watch the films on the story they used to show. I do love Keats artwork, but I thought some pages were amazing and some drawings simply ok. It’s also about industrialization and we see the economic hardships it has caused this country and nations of the world as more people are put out of work. The truth about this is John Henry won the battle, but the machine won the war.
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