Mythological "Trickster"

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• The Native American Trickster Tales a Different Kind of Hoax Essay

  ...American Trickster Tales: A Different Kind of Hoax The differences in each of the Native American Trickster Tales. Trickster Tales may be humorous because of all the chaos the Trickster causes, but the Trickster helps cultures in many ways. These tales entertain as well as teach valuable life lessons to the reader or listener. Trickster Tales are very diverse, and the Trickster character changes, depending on the region the tale comes from. One of the only things all Trickster Tales have in common is that the Trickster is always male, but can alter his sex at will. He may cause chaos, but also can create order and meaning. A study of selected Native American Trickster Tales will show their characteristics of diversity, entertainment, and didacticism. The Native American Trickster differs from region to region and from tribe to tribe in many ways. To begin, the Trickster has many names; the Winnebago Trickster is Wakjankaga as well as Kunuga, whereas the Sioux call him Iktomi. However, the difference does not stop there, “The term Trickster has no equivalent in any Native language” (100). He is mostly referred to by an animal name, “Coyote in California, Oregon, the inland plateau, the Great Basin, the Southwest, and the southern plains; Rabbit or Hare in the Southeast;...

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• Ferris Bueller Eighties Trickster Essay

  ...Ferris Bueller: 80s Trickster In folklore the trickster is vastly important; they are often times both the hero and the villain in their stories. Their classification is also one of the most specific in storytelling, needing to be a mediator, a shape shifter, and display amorality to be classified as a true trickster. Every culture seems to have their own version of the trickster; the Norse had Loki, the people from Ghana had Anansi, and the Greeks had Prometheus. Just as it is in folklore, films often utilize the trickster archetype and none more so than John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Ferris displays the classic characteristics of a trickster; he mediates between parties of people, applies “shape shifting” by the way of disguises, and displays quite a bit of amorality throughout the film. These actions call to mind the myths of Loki and Anansi as they both have stories that possess similar elements to Ferris’ adventure. As the classification demands, Ferris has moments when he acts as a mediator, “shape shifts”, and behaves quite amorally. Over the course of the film, Ferris acts as a mediator between all types of parties: between different cliques, students and administration, adults and teenagers, high brow and low brow alike. “Well, he's very popular, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads — they...

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• Trickster Old Man Coyote vs. Legba Essay

  ...Trickster: Old Man Coyote vs. Legba The trickster breaks rules of the gods or nature which in the end may have a positive effect. In many cases the rule breaking performed by these folks are often the reason they are in the form of tricks. The role tricksters often play may intend cunning or foolish actions, many times both. Depending on society their actions can be humorous even if it is sacred or cultural. In the trickster myths Shoshoni: Old Man Coyote and Fon (Dahomey): Legba the main characters perform sacred and cultural tricks. In the myth Old Man Coyote, the “Old Man” is about an older coyote that is weak, patchy and wrinkled with no teeth. With all these negative features he degrades himself to a lower standard of civilization. He cannot hunt anymore because he gets tired too fast and if he did catch anything he does not have strong teeth to chew. Before he depended on his grandchildren who did all the work for him but they have grown and have their own families to assist. In admiration, he saw a buffalo bull standing in the prairie from afar that he believed he used to be like before, young and strong. The “Old Man” approached the buffalo and asked a favor of becoming like him, young, strong and beautiful again in his life. The buffalo granted him his wish without powers and there the Old Man Coyote became a Calf-Coyote without powers. For the next few years in his new life he roamed the wilderness...

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• Explore the Role of the Trickster Figure in Native American Literature Essay

  ...Who is the trickster figure in Native American culture? What roles do the tricksters play? Drawing on the readings we have done so far for this course, explore what types of language or symbols the trickster is associated with and their relation to cultural values. In your answer, be sure to consider how the trickster figure relates to native American oral culture (the role of ‘stories’ for example). It sounds simple enough to consider the role of the trickster in Native American culture, but examination of various literatures from The Norton Anthology of American Literature leads one to discover the ambiguity of the term ‘trickster’ within this individual culture. The trickster figure can be seen on one hand simply as a composition of amusement, a form of entertainment within a culture of oral storytelling which held, and still holds, great prominence in the culture of Native Americans. This amusement does, however, create moral messages, potentially forming an educational portrayal, widening the perspective of the trickster’s role. The appearance as a powerful and potentially dangerous figure is emphasised in the texts which I have studied. Often the trickster appears to hold superiority and wisdom over others, presenting its commonly perceived role as a powerful creator, present since time began. This is especially prominent in the Coyote...

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• The Representation of Tricksters in the Works of Charles W. Chesnutt Essay

  ...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 trickster motif in many of his published works. Traditionally, the role of trickster often presents itself when there is a powerless group who longs to transcend an oppressive social order (Jefferies, Schramm 20). In African American literature, the trickster is often depicted as someone who has the ability to manipulate situations in his/her favor, despite having little or no power. Rhonda B. Jefferies states that “the primary goal of the trickster in is social nonconformity by redefining the norms of life and existence in mainstream American society (Jefferies, Schramm 20).” Since its origin in West African culture, the trickster figure has evolved from a folklore icon, mainly in the form or various...

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• Mythological Tricksters Essay

  ...The trickster deity breaks the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously like Loki, but usually, albeit unintentionally with ultimately positive effects. Tricksters are characterized as selfish, mischievous, impatient liars who show no remorse. Some tricksters have hidden meanings behind their rudeness that carry good intentions. All cultures have archetypal, male tricksters. In the Greek and African myths, Hermes and Legba are both messengers of god. Hermes, through is intelligence, makes a convincing appeal to Zeus who gives him the duties of “making of treaties, the promotion of commerce, and the maintenance of free rights of way for travelers on any road in the world” (165). Even though the myth started out with Apollo fiending to kill his cow-thief, Hermes trickery lands him a top position with the top dog Zeus. In the African myth, Legba was God’s donkey boy. He followed the orders of God and neither gained credit nor the respect of the people. When he finally revolted and turned to trickery, God, in his embarrassment, left the world but told Legba “come to the sky every night to give an account of what went on below,” making him an articulator of the divine (172). In the Indian and Native American myths, both tricksters possess selfish characteristics. The Indian myth, Krishna, tells of the girls of the Nanda village who are so obsessed with their Prince Krsna that they are blind to...

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• The Trickster in Myth Essay

  ...The Trickster in Myth Trickster myths, a significant part of most cultures if not all, have permeated the legends and folklore of peoples since the early days of civilized man. The ancient Greeks had Hermes, the Chinese the Monkey King, and the Native American Indians the coyote. These diverse tricksters found within cultures often have many commonalities with each other, and then, often they do not. But this illustrates the very nature of the trickster; ever changing, shifting, shaping, disguising, and tricking his or her way into the lives of the Gods as well as the mortal people. The trickster is often seen as a physical presentation of a God, or an anthropomorphic animal, that which can walk and talk; breath and die. However, as societies developed and cultures became more advanced, newer, more advanced ideologies of the trickster began to appear. No more are we, "of the time of millions of years ago to the magic moment of fist creation, that, dawn time, ‘when first the world was born', and we, ‘walked with the gods'."(Crystal, The Trickster) Today the evolution of the mind allows us to seek alternative explanations. Paul Radin, I believe, said it best when he asked the question, "Is this a speculum mentis, wherein is depicted man's struggle with himself and with a world into which he had been thrust without his volition and consent?"(Crystal, The...

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• Tracks Trickster Essay

  ...Trickster Characters in Tracks The novel Tracks by Louise Erdrich is a story written but of oral tradition in the classic Native American way. The novel is narrated by two characters Pauline and Nanapush. In this story there is much symbolism and trickery. A trickster character is one who can take various forms such as animal and human or play tricks with their words using them as a form of verbal torture or trickery. A few characters in Tracks could be considered as trickster characters such as Nanapush, a Native American man who plays a more traditional character and Pauline the other narrator of the story. Pauline comes off as a trickster character to me because she seems to lie not only to others but also to herself. Pauline comes off as a narrator you can not trust to be fully accurate or truthful about events. Part of the reason I feel Pauline fills the part of a trickster character is with her lying, but I feel she does this in part because she is unsure of her place in this world. She does not fully fit into the white world or Native American world. Pauline is stuck in between two races, two cultures and she tends to identify more with the whites and their ways. Pauline becomes very into the white religion of Christianity. Pauline in part hates her Native American side and those associated with it, such as Fleur, but yet is fascinated with her at the same time. Pauline rejected the...

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