ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The challenge was on, “man against machine.” John Henry was known as the strongest, the fastest, and the most powerful man working on the railroad. He went up against the steam drill to prove that the black worker could drill a hole through the rock farther and faster than the drill could.

Detailed explanation-2: -According to folklore, John Henry was the strongest man in the world. He worked as a steel driver, and his job was to drive his hammer into the mountains and pave a way for a new railroad. It was said he could work for hours without missing a beat, and people said he worked so fast that his hammer moved like lightning.

Detailed explanation-3: -Folklorists have long thought John Henry to be mythical, but historian Scott Nelson has discovered that he was a real person-a nineteen-year-old from New Jersey who was convicted of theft in a Virginia court in 1866, sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary, and put to work building the C&O Railroad.

Detailed explanation-4: -The ballad of “John Henry” tells the story of a railroad worker who challenges a steam drill to a contest to see who can drill a hole through a mountain fastest and farthest. With his immense strength and skill, John Henry wins, but he dies from his efforts. There is much debate about the historical facts of the song.