Example Of A Trickster Tale

Throughout Act I of The Crucible, Reverend Parris’s selfishness and Abigail’s manipulation becomes apparent. Giles Corey and Parris get into an argument about Parris’s income before Reverend Hale arrives. In this argument, it is revealed that Parris demanded the deed for his house. Traditionally, the minister does not own his house, but Parris wanted the wealth associated with owning land. Reverend Parris also demonstrates his self-serving mentality when questioning Abigail. Parris explains, “Now then, in the midst of such disruption, my own household is discovered to be the very center of some obscene practice. Abominations are done in the forest-”. Instead of worrying about Betty’s health, he cares about his reputation and employment.

Integrity and honesty are virtues that are highly valued within the society we live in today. Society honors those that do the right thing and those that show integrity. Most of the population perform acts of righteousness in the hopes that they would be rewarded for their actions. However, there are some who still perform good deeds and maintain their integrity, knowing they would not be rewarded for their actions. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is the most admirable character because he always does what is right, damaged his reputation to end the witch trials to save others, and stayed true to himself in the name of human dignity and justice even if it meant his death.

Even tho Coyote in one tale contrasts Coyote's character from the other they both did well people. Coyote from "Coyote and the Buffalo", got out of dieing by offering Buffalo Bull new horns. Buffalo accepted, so it was a win-win situaton for Coyote. In the other tale, Coyote helped find Coyote's wife by decieving the water maidens, and getting information before killing them. This helped regain Fox's wife's love. The coyote in these tales had diiferent mentalities from one another, one being an idiot and one being smart.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play set in 1962 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. As you may know, you've all placed your trust in the words and actions of someone close to you. And what do they do? They betray you! It's rarely justified, and can happen to the best of us. Based on authentic records of witchcraft trials in the seventeenth-century this play explains how a small group of girls manage to create a massive panic in their town by spreading accusations of witchcraft. These rumors in turn are the causes that many citizens are hung for. This essay will show how the lies and betrayal of a few individuals eventually leads to the downfall of Salem and its society.

For example, in the first tale, Anansi and the Sky God have a deal that Anansi must complete to get the stories and Anansi completes the task truthfully. In the other story, Coyote makes a deal with Thunder, but he cheats to win and Thunder still tries to kill Coyote, causing trouble. In one story, the goal is reached truthfully, and in the other, it is reached with lies and trickery. Next, in “How Stories Came to Earth”, the main character is a spider, who spins his webs of stories to the people so they can have the stories he obtained. In “Coyote Steals Fire”, the main character is a Coyote who fights the God, Thunder, so the animals can have fire. These stories go about giving their prizes to society in different ways, Anansi being the nonviolent way, and Coyote being the violent way. Finally, “How Stories Came to Earth”, is of African origin, while “Coyote Steals Fire”, is of Native American origin. This make both the stories different because the origins of the stories tell them differently than each other. Both these trickster tales have things that are different about each other that make them

The Alchemist uses parables like the Bible to explain life lessons and the journey that Santiago goes on is similar to Jesus’ journey. A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels (Oxford Dictionary). Parables are among the oldest and most common forms of teaching. Jesus’ stories were filled with eternal, spiritual truth and we have to understand the truth behind his story. Parables and The Alchemist go accordingly together because parables are used to tell a story and The Alchemist is a story of Santiago’s journey.

Imagine this, what would it be like to end up in jail because of a rumor? That is what happened during McCarthyism and the Red Scare, people were arrested for rumors of being communist and put in jail when they really weren't. The authors of USHistory.org mentions how the government steps up in the investigations. In this article the authors are talking about how they stepped up their role in the investigation. It states, “The U.S Congress created a committee that sought to find “Un-American activities” in the hollywood film industry” (USHistory.org). The U.S Congress thought there were “Un-American” things happening in the hollywood industry so they created a committee to investigate more. The people who were accusing others of being communists were allowed to go free. With all of this happening it caused others to get fired from their jobs in local governments. Another article states, “McCarthey later gave Congress the name of the State Department employees the he claimed were traitors” (McCarthey). McCarthy used this to scare the people, he then took advantage of it, and turned in the traitors to Congress. Not long after the government acted on the list of traitors which led people to getting fired or jailed. These articles are very similar because of the many rumors causing deaths, and problems with other people.

“Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies” (Dorothy Allison, Bastard out of Carolina). In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem is being held together by false truths, and the people of the Salem witch trials are to be prosecuted for it. Lying is to blame for the Salem witch trials because it lead to the deaths of many innocent people.

Fraud, con-man, and hustler are all modern day terms to describe the age old character in African American literature known as the trickster. Today’s working definition of a trickster is one who swindles or plays tricks; often a mischievous figure in myth or folklore, who typically makes up for physical weakness through cunning and subversive humor. In African American literature the role of the trickster is a reoccurring theme, especially in the time period spanning from post Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance. During slavery and the years that followed the image of a trickster changed from a humorous amoral figure to a cunning and socially conscious icon. Charles W. Chesnutt is a primary example of an author, who faithful employs the

Sneakiness and manipulation are tools used to take advantage of others. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible sneakiness and manipulation are used throughout the novel with the characters. In the book Abigail Williams and John Proctor have an affair. Then when everyone in the town finds out that John had an affair with someone other than his wife is in shock because everyone thought that he was a good person.The Crucible symbolizes the transformation of good to evil. One evil manipulative character and her actions represents how the town is torn down. The characters of the crucible are tightly involved with witches and this fact makes the plot dramatic.

Mary’s inability to faint on command for the members of the court was because she tries to make a point that witch accusers are not in fact what they seem. She tells the judge that “HATHORNE: And yet, when people accused of witchery confronted you in court, you would faint, saying their spirits came out of their bodies and choked you, (Miller 106).” “MARY: That were pretense, sir.” (Miller 106) based off this she tries to persuade the judge that the girls got carried away and just don’t want to get into trouble from the dramatic scene where they were dancing in the woods and doing other demonic things. The judges get into the mix of this and claim to have seen her faint before, “PARRIS: Why not? Now there are no spirits attacking you, for

Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare, is a comedy about love. Love can be things that are not always what they seem and or it can be foolish and it can also be a weakness. Foolishness and weaknesses are the most of what we see in the play, Twelfth Night, the audience sees that, yes there is a tragedy but, that is not what the play revolves around. The audience sees that later on in the play all the love that is being described is foolish as well as something a child would do. The love that is being described can not happen for a certain reason and when the characters find out that someone loves them and they were not just saying that they would do something for them, the character just sort of accepts it and let fate intervene and take place. Everyone in the world has a weakness or have done something foolish in their life. It only counts

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.

Archetypes are used in literature to portray a certain meaning, that helps create a better and more meaningful story. The archetypes used can be embedded in the characters, symbols, or even rituals involved in a story. These archetypes can help give deeper meaning to the story by giving a underlying reference to concepts that are used over and over again in literature throughout history. When an author uses an archetype in his or her writing, they link it to many other stories that use that same archetype. Some do this for a reason, to give an underlying meaning, to symbolized something of importance, or even just to make their story more interesting. Many readers may not notice the underlying archetype, but sometimes the author uses them because he or she knows that the reader will.

As we grow up, we hear fairy tales and we read them into our lives. Every word and every image is imprinted into our minds. The fairy tales we read are never abandoned. They grow with us and our dreams become molds of the many morals and happily ever afters fairy tales display. We tell children fairy tales when they go to sleep and they read them in school and we even have them watch Disney adaptions that reinforce them further. Generally, they were everywhere while we grew up and they continue to be present while children are growing up now. But what influence do these stories have? We casually expose our children to these tales, but in some cases they can have particularly, harmful personal effects on them, although there is nothing completely or visibly “bad” about them or about the characters in them. Before we divulge our youth to these stories, we should assess their substance and see what sort of effect they may be having on them. They have received so much scrutiny and have been studied by many. Recognizing fairy tales effects on the minds of children is vital in their development. This paper will focus on the underlying messages that the average person wouldn’t recognize in these everyday stories. There’s a modern distort with fairy tales because while they still are widely popular with the youth, they influence children’s self images, outlooks on reality and expectations for their futures, especially for young women.