Clownish Elements In Trickster Tales

The stories “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket”, “The Leap”, and “The Trip” all explore aspects that are drastic for the characters and are thrilling to the audience to read. Common elements can be found in each story. Even though each story is similar, each story has a unique way of hooking the reader that stays true to the theme and plot.

The trickster character appears in many cultural mythologies across the world and across the span of time. Despite the individual personalities of a trickster being unique across time and cultures there are unchanging characteristics belonging only to tricksters, which still appear in our modern day media. A wonderful example of a modern day trickster, who has lived within our society for the past 85 years, would be Bugs Bunny. Bugs has undergone a few minor changes within his personality and outward appearance throughout his life, yet he is recognizable to the current three generations living within our society today. Bugs is a fearless, creative, and sassy individual who is able to break barriers, not only between generations but also

He often makes statements discussing how humor allows Alexie’s characters to show strength and connect to their Indian heritage. “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, humor allows his characters to display strengths and hide weaknesses, to expose prejudices and avoid realities, and to create bonds and construct barricades.” (Coulombe) He also writes about how Alexie uses humor to express stereotypes. He pokes fun at them in his short stories, as well as allowing readers to be able to see that some stereotypes can be disputed. Coulombe continually expresses how humor is used for various reasons: to allow readers to recall social injustices, to allow Indians to show their strength, and showing the bonds that can be created. Coulombe jumps from various different stories by Alexie, but he always has the same basic idea.

I have a major fear of clowns. It started with a terrible occurrence in my youth. Everytime I see one I have this horrible feeling that makes me sick. Of my experiences, I had one encounter that made my fear somewhat decrease. Most of my fear from them is what I didn't know or see. But I'm still not afraid of the circus.

Clowns are draped all over social media and the news. People are using clown outfits just to get a popular video up on the internet. Clowns showing up by lampposts and chasing people around city streets. They send a mind crippling fear into people when they think of being in a situation with a killer clown. Imagine walking down what could be any street when you look down an old dirt road that you have passed a million times; You see it, it is what looks to be a blood thirsty clown waiting for a victim. Ironically it is most likely a guy who wants a funny video or just trying to get a good Halloween scare. A killer clown who is actually just a regular guy in a clown mask from Target... wait Target has missed out on huge clown mask sales due

A great American mathematician, John W. Tukey, once said “The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.” This quote relates to stories because the author can use figurative language and descriptive language to paint a picture in the reader’s head. By using these, the author can almost assure the reader that they have the same vision as the author has. In the novel The Pigman by Paul Zindel, many examples of figurative language and descriptive adjectives are present to help the reader envision the story in their minds and to develop characters.

Authors use literary elements dramatically in short stories to influence a certain feeling on the reader or to send out a certain message to the audience. Throughout the stories, “The Interlopers” and “Lamb to the Slaughter”, both authors use elements to make their story appealing to the reader. Saki, the author of “The Interlopers” uses his examples of literary elements precisely and tremendously, which makes his story better than Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter”.

This moral is illustrated by the events of the tale; Sir Russell flatters Chanticleer by complimenting his singing, and he tells him to sing with his eyes closed. Chanticleer is very flattered by this and does what Sir Russell says, allowing Sir Russell to grab Chanticleer and bring him to the woods. After Chanticleer escapes, Sir Russell tries to trick him once more, but Chanticleer has learned his lesson, stating “ I will curse myself . . . if you trick me once more. Never again shall you with your flattery get me to sing with my eyes closed,” (164). Chanticleer singing with his eyes closed is representative of the ways in which humans can be fooled and deceived when faced with flattery. The moral of the tale is reinforced by these events, again demonstrating how the story of the animals is representative of human nature. Moreover, within the main story, there is a discussion of other stories, including different perspectives on the importance of dreams. Though Partlet believes that “there is nothing but vanity in dreams” (154), Chanticleer explains how this is untrue, and in the process, he discusses two other stories he knows that reinforce his belief that “dreams are significant of joy as well as of trouble” (156). The inclusion of these stories reaffirms the depiction of the animals as having human qualities, as Chanticleer and Partlet discuss the importance of dreams in an intellectual style. This also reinforces the tale as more than just a story about animals, but rather an important tale about human

However, Stevenson uses the graphic novel form to subvert these stereotypes of hero, villain, and monster through Nimona’s cute character design and visual comedy. As Mihaela Precup notes, Nimona’s round figure, boisterousness, and “deceptive smallness” make her an endearing character, and the reader identifies with and supports her despite her supposed monstrousness (Precup, 7). By depicting Nimona as a funny, cute character, Stevenson not only subverts the hero/villain binary in the novel but also the process of labeling others based on appearances, an

Another aspect of Magical Realism that Franz Kafka uses is dark humor. Once Gregor finally got up from his bed, he walked to the kitchen, but his father “had filled his pocket with with fruit from the dish on the sideboard and was now shying apple after apple” (1135) at Gregor. Gregor’s father doesn’t accept that Gregor is a bug, so he tosses apples at his own son. Since this action is very unusual, this can classified as humor. But since Gregor’s own father is throwing apples that will actually hurt Gregor, it is dark humor. Similarly, in “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel García Márquez, there are several instances where dark humor is used. At the beginning of the story, the children “had been playing with him all afternoon, burying and unburying [Esteban] in the sand” (1348). Since the children are not aware of who this body is or why he is there, make this scene funny. Additionally, since these children are burying a dead body and digging him back, it can be seen as dark humor.

In Jenny Allen's essay "The Trouble With Nature" humor is utilized in order to entertain the reader and inform them, and let them know that in nature no matter what you try to dodge and ignore there is always going to be something else. This is because nature goes as it pleases and there really is no boudaries or rules that it has to go by.

This clever story is crafted down to the smallest detail - every word and expression implies something, often has a second meaning and so manipulates the reader's opinion. The factor that makes this story even more

The story Don Quixote is a burlesque, mock epic of the romances of chivalry, in which Cervantes teaches the reader the truth by creating laughter that ridicules. Through the protagonist, he succeeds in satirizing Spain’s obsession with the noble knights as being absurdly old fashioned. The dynamics of the comedy in this story are simple, Don Quixote believes the romances he has read and strives to live them out, and it is his actions and the situations that he finds himself in during his adventures that make the reader laugh. We can define comedy as something that entertains the reader and that makes us want to laugh out loud and Cervantes succeeds in doing this through his use of

Trickster stories were important because they taught morale rules and boundaries. The purposes of the stories were to teach the young certain lessons about life and how they should act.

Horror stories focus on creating a feeling of fear and shock using many sources. There are many sources of horror besides monsters and there are more factors involved in making stories part of the horror genre, including supernatural elements, hubris, and setting. Stories including the “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Outsider” by H.P. Lovecraft, and “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs include these elements.