Christian O’Connor

Fino-Murtaugh

ENG170

3-6-24

Henny Penny Rhetorical Analysis

The Folktale, Henny Penny is more than just a kid’s story. It emphasizes the lesson to not believe everything that you see and hear. This idea is relatable to today with the large amount of misinformation on the internet. More specifically, the dangers of the internet for older people and people who do not know how to use the internet well.

This story has been told in many different cultures and time periods but, “This English version of the famous story started as an oral folktale. The earliest example of the basic story is twenty-five centuries old and found in India in the Jataka Tales where a hare spreads panic after a fruit falls on him, teaching that everyone needs to think for themselves.” (The Story Museum.) This article shows that even though the story has been changed in many ways and told over many years, the lesson stays the same. This is because of the importance of free thinking and independence. This folktale uses logos to get its message across to the readers or listeners. The story is about a chicken, a notoriously unintelligent animal, getting hit in the head with an acorn which makes her believe the sky is falling. This is obviously ridiculous and impossible thing to happen but when Henny Penny runs around telling other birds the sky is falling and they all believe her. While the birds were on the way to tell the king that the sky is falling, they ran into a fox. The fox asks them what they are doing and when they tell him, he says that a cave is a shortcut to the king. The birds believe him and follow him into the cave where he kills them one by one as they enter the cave (Jacobs). The fact that a bunch of birds believed a chicken that the sky was falling and then believed a fox, which is known for eating birds, to go into a cave shows that the author uses logos to appeal to the audience because everything leading up to their deaths was a completely illogical thing to believe and do.

This story can relate to the dangers of misinformation today that take place on the internet. The internet is filled with false information and scams that can be used to take advantage of people. People can be tricked into getting their information stolen or convinced to take a side in a situation because they read something that is not true and believe it. For example, in the book, “The Propagation of Misinformation in Social Media: A Cross-platform Analysis”

It is stated that, “Official sources are hardly in evidence in Google Web Search results for queries related to the 2020 U.S. presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Overall, the presence of official sources, such as “.gov” sites or official campaign sites is quite low. For the first period under research (February 12, 2019 to March 23, 2020), official sources make up only 1% of the total.” (Torres). This evidence shows that people will make claims and slander people online without any facts or evidence to support their viewpoints and their agenda’s. When people make things up like this to win an argument, two things can happen. Either whoever they are arguing with will believe them and start spreading false information or it will continue to create division in people with different opinions, making it harder to find common ground when having a disagreement with someone. This source will further show the reason misinformation is a problem facing society today. This can relate to Henny Penny because the other birds believe that the sky is falling without seeing it or even questioning it. Making sure something is accurate and supported by evidence is important, otherwise how do you know that it is true. This evidence also shows that the story’s moral is relevant and important in the modern age.

These two images show how Folktale has changed over time. The image on the left is a picture from Henny Penny, one of the earlier versions of the folktale. On the right is a picture from the movie “Chicken Little” a newer version of Henny Penny. Over time, the images, endings, and even morals of this folktale have changed. For example, in the movie, when chicken panics about the sky falling, it is due to an alien invasion. Also, instead of everyone believing him, no one does. (Dindal) The movie Chicken Little, by Disney, is a movie that shows how the message of a story can change over time. Stories change because of different viewpoints, cultures, or to send a different message to an audience. As a movie, the purpose of this version is to entertain people. Being a children’s movie in modern times, the story takes a less violent approach and a happier ending. That is not the only change though. The story’s message goes from “do not trust everything you hear” to” trust your friends and work together.” These are clearly vastly different messages from the same story at its core. Changes like this are expected not only because of the time difference, but the movie was an American film. This emphasizes the fact that different cultures have different values and messages to send.

Although misinformation is everywhere, there are ways to avoid it. For example, the article, Enhancing Misinformation Correction: New Variants and a Combination of Awareness Training and Counter-Speech to Mitigate Belief Perseverance Bias states, “The awareness-training technique involves raising misinformation recipients’ awareness of BPB and its potential negative impact on their opinions when exposed to misinformation. They applied awareness training as a debunking intervention but suggested it could also be applied as a prebunking intervention.” (Siebert). This article shows that misinformation can be avoided and that it is possible to stay away from it. It also shows how researchers put in work to limit misinformation. It also shows that there are techniques people can use to avoid being misinformed on the internet. However, there is far too much false information on the internet, and it is impossible to get rid of a significant amount of it. Even though there are ways to avoid getting bad information, there are many instances that show many people are still fooled and taken advantage of. For example, older people who are not as aware of the dangers of the internet can end up easily clicking on a link that steals their information or hacks them. Even younger people who use shady websites or want to research something quick can get hacked or not realize the source they are using is bad. While there are ways to not be fooled, most people use the internet for quick easy access to information. Most people are clicking the first link that pops up when looking for something instead of searching multiple websites to find repeating information to increase the chances of it being accurate.

Another way misinformation affects people today is educationally. People go to the internet to find ways to learn and educate themselves. There are many things posted online like tutorials and information by people who are not qualified or knowledgeable enough to teach the subject. This can lead to people breaking items they are trying to fix, panicking about an illness that they may not have, or even hurting themselves or others. For example, the article, An analysis of misleading YouTube videos on urological conditions: what to do about the danger of spreading misinformation of the YouTube videos? States, “Among the first 300 most viewed videos, we found that 112 videos were relevant to our inclusion criteria. Although 63.4% of the included 112 videos contain useful informations, ideal videos with useful information actually make up 26% of the 300 most viewed YouTube videos.” This shows that it is difficult to find accurate and useful information online. Many people post things for views and money, not to educate the public.

Henny Penny is a folktale with great meaning and authority in today’s society. The message it sends is crucial for people to know in order for them to stay safe and informed on the internet. Although this is a folktale, originally made for kids, when it comes to the internet, older people need to not believe the chicken. Elderly people today are not great with the internet and need to learn to not believe scam calls and fake news that they see online.