Paul Bunyan: Is Bigger, Better?

"Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox" is a classic American myth found in many homes and classrooms. The myth presents a boy who grows up to be so large that "Paul's clothing was so large they had to use wagon wheels for buttons" ("Paul Bunyan: The Giant Lumberjack"). Paul, with his giant ox, travel around the northern United States clearing forests, upsetting ecosystems, introducing, and destroying insect populations, and they are praised for it. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, "the earliest reliably dated reference to Paul Bunyan comes from a logging camp north of Tomahawk during the winter of 1885-1886" ("Paul Bunyan"). In the late 1800's, when this myth was developed, the general populace was not worried about global warming, running out of oil, or over population. While this may seem irresponsible now, back then it was the social norm and considered environmentally moral.

Today, many of the myths our children hear are in the form of a Disney movie or computer game. These stories are filled with greed, violence, and now more often then not, sexual innuendo. More and more parents are accompanying or allowing their young children to watch movies that are rated PG-13 or R; these films are "numbing" the youth of this generation minds. A major modern myth that many of these movies present is that morals are meaningless. The "tough" guy or "slutty" girl always gets the best car, most friends, and wads of money at the end.

The popular music the children are listening to (again with the parents permission or ignorance), also promotes this idea that morality is dead. There are very few songs that get produced now that are void of curse words. Why should they? They can sell twice as many albums by releasing an explicit and a clean version of the album. Another "myth" that pop culture is promoting is that bigger is better. John P. Getty, a deceased oil tycoon, once was asked "how much money is enough?" His answer clearly states our current cultures standpoint; "Just one dollar more."

The myth of Paul Bunyan may have provided a sense of adventure, intrigue, and exploration to the people of the early 1900's, by taking on the vast wilderness of Wisconsin and North Dakota. This myth also could be a mirror image of todays quest for more, more, more. If a twenty ounce soft drink is good, then a sixty four ounce soft drink is better, way of thinking. In the myth, Paul and his companions find themselves going around the Circle River and run out of wood to cut, so Paul digs out the land in the center of the river and makes it Circle Lake. This can be compared to people never being happy with what they have. People have to buy a fancy car they know they cannot afford because it is the "in" thing to have. Perhaps everyone else at the office is getting the new Iphone, if following the way of popular culture, it would require they get the Iphone as well to stay up with the times even though they may not need or use it. The money spent on the phone and the expensive monthly contract can be put to better use elsewhere, perhaps donated to need families in the neighborhood.

The lower class is one of the groups this myth affects adversely. They see other people driving BMW's, Mercedes, and Hummers, but cannot afford more then their 1987 Toyota Trecel and it makes them feel inferior. The myth of Paul Bunyan boasts that anyone can obtain big things if they work hard, as Paul did cutting down the vast forests. However, that is not always true, as there are many immigrant farm laborers who work much harder than many in the "white collar" work force. Yet, they do not get to see the big payoff. In today's world, it is not based on hard work alone; in fact, I would argue that most "hard" jobs are getting paid less and less. The jobs getting the best salaries are those which are intellectually taxing, those requiring many acronyms following your name and half a decade or more in college.

There is a good message for those lower class individuals in the myth of Paul Bunyan. Paul takes a hard situation and turns it into a good one; he also takes pride in his work. He may only be able to cut down trees, or pick oranges for a modern twist, but he is going to be the best log cutting orange picker to walk the land. While these views may pertain to only a few groups, there are other general ideas that the myth presents that represent or misrepresent our current culture.

Paul tears through trees, rivers, and insect species without regard for his effect on the environment. If the Paul Bunyan myth was published today, it would probably not be used in schools because it is not environmentally friendly. It promotes the clear cut logging and deforestation that is beginning to take its toll on Earth and many people in our current culture are strongly against these techniques.

Another strong issue in todays culture is anti-feminism. The strong feminist types push to have females represented in everything it seems; if there is an NFL then there has to be an WNFL. When reading or being told the story of Paul Bunyan, people will probably notice the lack of female characters. One reason is the time period it occurs in and another is the occupation depicted in the myth. In that day, women did not become lumberjacks, and rarely do today. However, this story would have a problem being published today because of this bias towards men and the culture today demands that women be represented fairly.

Since the early 1900's, America's culture has gone through many changes: Prohibition in the 1920's, the Great Depression in the 1930's, the free love hippie movement in the 1960-70's. Each time it goes through a change, the cultures view of a myth changes as well. They glean different things from a myth based on what the current situations are, but it remains that the myth is still important in their culture and lives. A myth is not always good, but can teach a lesson from a non-favorable ending. Perhaps in the future, culture will realize that bigger is not always better.

Works Cited

"Paul Bunyan". Wisconsin Historical Society. 10 Jul. 2008

"Paul Bunyan: The Giant Lumberjack". Paul Bunyan Trail. 1997. Bang Printing. 10 Jul. 2008 http://www.brainerd.com/pbtrail/tale.html>