Mark's Gospel as a Folktale
...t He did while he was here and the life He had led. Mark’s Gospel discloses Jesus Christ as a hero who came to save the people from their sins. Everyone around him was not important. “Mark’s Gospel consistently renders all Jesus’ Palestinian associates as incredibly obtuse, unable to grasp his teachings, and blind to his value” (Harris 366). In researching Davy Crockett, he is celebrated as one of the American folk heroes through songs, novels and films. Constance Rourke’s book Davy Crockett chronicles Davy Crockett’s life through his political career and being frontiersmen. Many authors have written about Davy Crockett find it hard to interpret his character more problematic than determining the details and proper chronology of his life. This could be due to the many stories that about him which different accounts of his life as a frontiersman are often changed with each retelling of his Davy Crockett’s life. Author Constance Rourke describes Davy Crockett as, “The legendary Crockett often resembles the heroic figures of established folktale—leaping across great spaces and moving about readily among the planetary bodies” (248). The author traces Davy Crockett’s life when he was a boy until his death at the Alamo and includes a family background of Davy Crockett. The author portrayed Davy Crockett as a hero who took risks to save others. In the author telling of Stanley 3 the battle of the Alamo, Crockett’s actions were heroic. “…Crockett was everywhere at once with the swiftness of the hunter of the forest, taking shot after shot over the parapets, hastening below to reeforce the doors still further, mustering more men to take position above and hurrying there again to use his own sure aim” (Rourke 210). He does not end the battle by him being taken prisoner and then killed by the enemy, the author describes Davy Crockett’s death by commenting on the many stories that have come out about the way Davy Crockett dies at the Alamo leaving the reader to its own imagination of his death. “They evoked scenes as sharply as though they had been present, and told of them as though each episode in stories they had heard contained the entire truth” (Rourke 219). The legend of Davy Crockett is one of many popular folktales. I found similarities in Mark’s Gospel about the story of Jesus Christ. In the similarities between Jesus Christ and Davy Crockett they performed amazing things that common people would not be able to do. Examples of these is, in the Mark’s Gospel Jesus is healing people from incurable diseases. No one has ever done this before so he amazed people. Davy Crockett was described as a great hunter when he killed up to hundred and something bears one winter something nobody in his time was able to do. Even though Davy Crockett and Jesus Christ become heroes throughout their stories, it is the end of their lives where it plays great significance of their tale of being a hero. In Mark’s Gospel, the author presents Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and becomes a savior to the people. In the story of Davy Crockett, Crockett risk his life to fighting at the Alamo with overwhelming odds and later dies fighting to defend Texas and so becomes a hero for his bravery. Stanley 4 Other similarity between the two stories is the way Jesus Christ and Davy Crockett are treated by the adversary. “Mark presents his hero as universally misunderstood, rejected by his own people and condemned by Romans…” (Harris 365). Davy Crockett’s opponents frequently criticize Crockett just as the Pharisees criticize Jesus Christ. “Crockett was constantly attacked by his opponents, who charged him with corruption, drunkenness, adultery, gambling and consorting with the enemy” (Derr 20). Davy Crockett received much criticism for his lack of a formal education when he entered the political arena. During Davy Crockett’s lifetime most men in the political life had properties but here was Davy Crocket who had no property. He spent his time hunting and still was able to become a Congressman. The Pharisees and the scribes constantly confronted Jesus Christ about His actions. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus Christ was accused of performing acts of the devil when he cast demons out. “And the scribes which came down from Jeru...