"The Story of the Eagle, A West African Folktake"

While reading “The Story of the Eagle, A West African Folktale” that was retold by Edward Robinson, I found that Uncle Tom was the antagonist. The main character, Turk, was a young eagle born among chickens. He believed himself to be a chicken because Uncle Tom told him so, but was told otherwise by the old eagle that had spotted him from the sky. Turk finally learned the truth about himself.

The first value I noticed in this story was the value of being yourself. Dr. Seuss always said, “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” Every single person in this world isn’t exactly the same. We are all unique with our own different characteristics. For example, Uncle Tom tried to be just like the chickens and ended up losing his identity as an eagle. I believe you shouldn’t try to be like someone else because then you lose your own identity. The other value that I found was learning about your family’s culture and history. Learning about your family culture can teach you a lot about yourself and where you came from. It can also help teach you about the struggles your ancestors experienced to get where your family is today. Turk may never have met his parents, but learning about them showed him who he truly was.

I found value in this story because it reminded me of how I need to be true to myself. I shouldn’t worry about what other people think and try to impress them. This story can still relate to our modern day society because there are still many people out there trying to be someone who they aren’t. Therefore, I believe that instead of trying to be someone they aren’t, they should learn about their family history and who they truly are underneath all the materialistic objects.