Why Are Myths Still Relevant Today

Myths have three main purposes: they provide an explanation for the unknown, they give humans a sense of ambition, and they serve as a human guide for behavior. Myths provide an explanation for the unknown. For instance, Armstrong notes in her book "But the Neanderthal graves show that when these early people became conscious of their mortality, they created some sort of counter narrative that enabled them to come to terms with it," suggesting that in order to cope with mortality or death the Neanderthals invented a myth that allowed them to deal with the concept of death. Another function of a myth is to give humans a sense of ambition in life. To illustrate, "But human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to

One reason why they are still relevant today is because they still have an effect on children. Examples include, when little girls dress up like the princess from the fairy-tales or pretend to be them when playing with toys. Furthermore, even today children learn how to behave from the stories. Specifically, the character Mulan teaches girls that they can do anything they want to and that they are just as tough as boys. Additionally, they are still relevant in today's society because they still give people hope that there is a happy ending for them whether that be finding the right partner or having a better life. Similarly, people still use myths to explain things that are unknown. An example, of this would be in certain religions like Buddhism and Christianity where the followers believe in some sort of afterlife. Additionally, people still use legends/myths to teach little children. For instance, the myth of babies being delivered by storks is still being told today since the movie Storks was produced which is based on the myth of stork birds delivering babies, suggesting that the stork myth is important to teach