CULTURE 2 = album of the year- reflective major challenge

Will Lacy

ENGL 250

Team Herodotus

Analytical Reflection on the Daughter of Time

Every American knows the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. The classic tale of how our nation’s first president was such a great guy that he owned up to chopping down his father’s cherry tree. Most historians agree, that this story was merely a tall tale, however. This story is merely propaganda. George Washington led a successful rebellion against the British Empire, and it is the victors who get to write history. Had Washington been defeated by the British, the stories that we tell about him today would probably not be as heroic. Propagating your leader isn’t simply an American thing, all bureaucratic powers throughout history have done this. The British, whom Washington was rebelling against, are no exception to this. Not only did they exaggerate the accomplishments of their leaders, but they spurned those they defeated with equally exaggerated stories. The most famous of these negative stories is the tale of the two princes. This British fable claims that King Richard III locked his predecessors sons in a tower and had them murdered to attain the throne after the death of their father. The novel, Daughter of Time, investigates the legitimacy of this tale. This mystery novel follows Allan Grant, a British investigator, as he forms an argument against this story being true. With the help of a British historian, Grant was able to break down the personality of King Richard, and the events leading up to the disappearance of the two princes. By the end of the novel he concluded that Britain was the victim of a tall tale surrounding their last king to die in battle. This staple of British lore is merely just part of British propaganda. One big piece of evidence that grant held to in the book was the fact that Richard III was the last English King to die in battle. His death marked the end of his family’s dynasty, and ushered in the reign of the Tudor family. The rest of the evidence surrounding King Richard was too sketchy and so Grant concluded that the Tudor family fabricated much of the story of the two princes in order to gain more public support for their rule. This story is just more proof that you shouldn’t always believe what you hear. Human beings are motivated by power, and so unfortunately in our world we have to question not what a person is saying, but why they are saying it. Everything that leaves your mouth does so for a reason, because something motivated you to speak. Weather that is telling a joke, asking someone to borrow a pen, or smearing the name of your predecessor, you will always speak in a way that will benefit yourself. Those who hold power in society are no different and so that is why we must always examine the motives behind those that we listen to the most, the privileged few that hold government office.