Trickster Essay

Trickster tales are short stories told by griots all around the world. They are most notably known for surviving for centuries and are traditionally passed down through generations. These tales have been a major part of oral storytelling in plenty of cultures and are still around today. Trickster tales all have a considerable amount of similar attributes. They include a protagonist who most often is an animal of some kind and has human characteristics, and this action is called anthropomorphism.

2003 film starring Jack Black as slacker Dewey Finn, shows the tension between a truly American pair of opposites: laziness vs. hard work. While in other mythologies it is a trickster character who mediates between these opposites, the nature of this American pair, and the surrounding culture, make it necessary that the trickster not remain so; he has to join one side or the other. Claude Lévi-Strauss sought a scientific approach to the interpretation of the meaning of myths. To perform an analysis

is a quote taken from the trickster tale “How Stories Came to Earth.” In this story the sky-god would quote this to the spider about each animal he would catch in which he hoped for the stories in return. In the trickster tales “How Stories Came to Earth” and “Master Cat” there are various similarities and differences. Within the two trickster tales of “Master Cat” and “How Stories Came to Earth” there are multiple similarities. One of the Similarities in these trickster tales are that they both

A trickster is a character that survives by wits and skill. They are also very crafty (Mythology in Literary Culture). Tricksters are everywhere. You never know when they are going to strike. They could do it to make things better or worse. They impact a story in a good way or a bad way but regardless they help create the conflict of the story. There are famous ones and there are normal ones. In this case there are three big tricksters from Greek mythology, Norse mythology, and modern day characters

respectful way. In these stories, one will find many interesting characters, such as the trickster, who make the story not only informational, but also fun. The trickster is a character who tricks another with “clever and endlessly provocative behavior” (Storytelling Traditions of Native Americans). However, the trickster tricks another not to be mean, but with a purpose. In the “How The Sun Was Stolen,” the trickster, Kali-qoo, was sent by the leaders of the poor countries to steal the sun from the chief

python, leopard, and other creatures that are bigger than it. This is from the trickster tale called “How stories came to earth”. Anansi, the main trickster of this story is a spider that looks like an old man who is told to capture four dangerous creatures, after he had done this task he received the sky god’s stories by tricking all of the creatures. Even though “How stories came to earth” and “Master Cat” are trickster tales, they are both similar and different. There are many similarities between

Native American Trickster is usually described as a character that “is a wandering, bawdy, gluttonous, and obscene” (72). The Trickster is “usually male but able to alter his sex at will,” he “may copulate with his daughter or daughter–in-law or send his penis swimming across rivers in search of sexual adventure” (72). He is often characterized as being “selfish, amoral, foolish, destructive, and as his name indicates, given to duping others in his own interest” (72). However, the trickster “is also a

Trickster Tales “If you do not say that the fields that you are mowing belong to the Marquise De Carabas , each and everyone of you will be cut into little pieces until you look like chopped meat”. This quote was found in the trickster tale entitled “ Master Cat”. In this fairytale the cat given to the poor mills son, the cat was trying to get land for the son so he could impress the king. The trickster tales “ Master Cat” , and “ How Stories Came to Earth”, have both similarities and differences

society and memorize them himself. Imagine now, a coyote, and his uncle who is a god, Thunder, playing dice. If coyote wins, he gets Thunder’s fire, if he loses than Thunder gets to kill him. Both these trickster tales have things in common along with things not in common with each other. The two trickster tales, “How Stories Came to Earth”, and “Coyote Steals Fire”, both have things in common with each other. Both these stories have God's, main characters that are animals, and successful endings. In

What challenges did reading these creation stories and trickster tales present?  What surprised you? How do these creation stories compare to others you might know (i.e. the Genesis story from The Bible, Greek Myths, etc.)?  While I was somewhat apprehensive of reading a type of literature that was totally new to me, I actually found this reading to be enjoyable. Tales of penis’s flying off to impreganate women far away certainly were