Who is the Trickster in Native American culture?
In the Native American oral tradition, the vulgar but sacred Trickster assumes many forms. He can be Old-Man Coyote among the Crow tribes, Raven in northwestern Indian lore, or, more generically, "The Tricky One" (such as Wakdjunkaga among the Winnebago or Manabozho among the Menomini), to mention just a few of his manifestations.
Why is the trickster important in literature?
In modern literature, the trickster survives as a character archetype, not necessarily supernatural or divine, sometimes no more than a stock character . Often, the trickster is distinct in a story by his acting as a sort of catalyst; his antics are the cause of other characters' discomfiture, but he himself is left untouched.
What is a trickster According to Hyde?
Lewis Hyde describes the trickster as a "boundary-crosser". The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules: Tricksters "violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis." Often, this bending or breaking of rules takes the form of tricks or thievery.
What is a trickster in the Bible?
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story ( god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior.
What does the trickster represent?
What is the purpose of trickster tales in Native American literature?
What does trickster mean in literature?
: one who tricks: such as. a : a dishonest person who defrauds others by trickery. b : a person (such as a stage magician) skilled in the use of tricks and illusion. c : a cunning or deceptive character appearing in various forms in the folklore of many cultures.
What is the role of the trickster in indigenous cultures?
What do most tricksters emphasize?
What are the characteristics of a trickster?
What is an example of a trickster character?
What is an example of a trickster tale?
Vulture is sick and tired of Jabuti's trickery. He gets his revenge when he flies the tortoise high in the air, then drops him, breaking his shell. But Jabuti puts himself together and comes out on top — with the help of the birds of the rainforest.
What is an example of a trickster archetype?
Who is the trickster in Ojibwe culture?
Are tricksters wise?
What is a trickster figure?
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.
What is the Winnebago Trickster Cycle?
The Winnebago Trickster Cycle frequently demonstrates the naivety of human beings, as trickster fools an entire tribe into thinking he is a ‘handsome woman’ (Norton Anthology, 2011, 106), and does so, it appears, for a long expanse of time.
What is a trickster?
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story ( god, goddess, spirit, human, or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior.
Who is the trickster in Greek mythology?
In some Greek myths Hermes plays the trickster. He is the patron of thieves and the inventor of lying, a gift he passed on to Autolycus, who in turn passed it on to Odysseus. In Slavic folktales, the trickster and the culture hero are often combined. Loki cuts the hair of the goddess Sif.
What is the first fish weir?
In Native American creation stories, when Coyote teaches humans how to catch salmon, he makes the first fish weir out of logs and branches. Wakdjunga in Winnebago mythology is an example of the trickster archetype.
What is the difference between Native American tricksters and Picaro?
One of the most important distinctions is that "we can see in the Native American trickster an openness to life's multiplicity and paradoxes largely missing in the modern Euro-American moral tradition".
What is the Trickster subplot in The Relapse?
Trickster subplot in The Relapse: Tom Fashion, pretending to be Lord Foppington, parleys with Sir Tunbelly Clumsey in a 19th-century illustration by William Powell Frith. Abenaki mythology: Azeban. African mythology: Ekwensu. Afro-Cuban mythology: Eleggua, Eshu.
What is the meaning of the term "trickers"?
The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules: Tricksters "violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis."
Why did humans have tricksters?
Humans had to have tricksters within the most sacred ceremonies for fear that they forget the sacred comes through upset, reversal, surprise. The trickster in most native traditions is essential to creation, to birth. Native American tricksters should not be confused with the European fictional picaro.
Who wrote the Trickster Cycle?
The Trickster Cycle --Dieterle's retelling of the tales Paul Radin identified as composing a "trickster cycle.". Old Indian Legends --trickster tales by Zitkala-sa (Gertrude Bonnin) Native American coyote stories/poems--many examples, plus other information on coyotes.
What did the monster use to make Nez Percé?
He ran out of body parts before he could create a new human animal on the site where the monster had lain. He used the monster's blood, which was still on his hands, to create the Nez Percé, who would be strong and good.
What did Coyote do to the monster?
He climbed the tallest mountain and attached himself to the top. Coyote called upon the monster, challenging it to try to eat him. The monster sucked in the air, hoping to pull in Coyote with its powerful breath, but the ropes were too strong.
What did the Coyote do before the visit?
Before the visit began, Coyote said that he wanted to visit his friends and asked if he could enter the monster's stomach to see them. The monster allowed this, and Coyote cut out its heart and set fire to its insides. His friends were freed.
What is a trickster?
A Trickster is a character who uses wits, rather than strength or authority, to accomplish his goals. Like heroes, Tricksters usually come out of their adventures unscathed, having won the prize they desired and upset the regular social order in a way that will cause lasting effects for the people around them.
What are tricksters? What are their characteristics?
Tricksters come in all forms, shapes, and sizes. They can be men, gods, magical creatures, or animals, as the qualities that unite them come from their personality, not their physical appearance.#N#Still, there are some norms about the appearance of these social deviants. They are usually male characters, a little bit on the small side but attractive nevertheless. What they lack in brawn, they make up for with their agility and their expressive faces. When animals appear as Tricksters, they are usually small predators like foxes or coyotes.
What does Loki do in Asgard?
In one story, an angry giantess threatens to destroy all of Asgard unless the gods can make her laugh. Of course, the gods elect Loki to sooth the giantess’s wrath, which he does successfully. Not only does Loki run afoul of the social rules of Viking culture, he also defies the rules of nature.
What is the monkey king?
The crafty King was born with incredible intelligence, which allowed him to master a deck of magical tricks, including shape-shifting into 72 images and somersaulting across the clouds. Eventually, he grew so powerful that he began getting into scuffles with the Jade Emperor, the lord of heaven itself. None of heaven’s warriors could lay a finger on the Monkey King.
What are the special abilities of a trickster?
Special Abilities. Tricksters are, of course, well known for their scheming brains. Outsmarting one of these characters is next to impossible, but brains aren’t the only weapon in their arsenal. They are masters of disguise.
Why is Trickster important?
One of the Trickster’s most important roles is to undermine authority. These clever characters love to break rules and make leaders or social norms look silly. In doing so, they may give more serious social reformers the courage to step forward.
What is the name of the mouse deer in Indonesian culture?
None of heaven’s warriors could lay a finger on the Monkey King. In Indonesian and Malaysian culture, a tiny mouse deer, named Kancil, outsmarts larger animals time and time again.
What is Native American literature?
Native American literature, also called Indian literature or American Indian literature, the traditional oral and written literatures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
What is the significance of folktales?
The effect was derived not only from the novelty of the tale itself but also from the imaginative skill of the narrator, who often added gestures and songs and occasionally adapted a particular tale to suit a certain culture.
Why are there so many versions of a good tale?
Because the effect of the story depended so much on the narrator, there were many versions of every good tale. Each time a story was told, it varied only within the limits of the tradition established for that plot and according to the cultural background of the narrator and the listeners.
How do tricksters succeed?
In other words, tricksters succeed by outsmarting or outthinking their opponents. In executing their actions, they give no thought to right or wrong; indeed, they are amoral. Mostly, they are pictured in contest or quest situations, and they must use their wits to get out of trouble or bring about a particular result.
Who is Uncle Julius?
In a series of stories that he finally collected as The Conjure Woman (1899), Chesnutt created Uncle Julius, a raconteur left over from days of slavery, who entertains his white employers with tales of enslavement.
Do Uncle Toms separate themselves from the mask?
Uncle Toms, however, do not separate themselves from the mask or from the society of which they are a part.
Was Roberts a hero or a trickster?
African Americans celebrated his trickster exploits and considered him a heroic figure. As Roberts points out at the beginning of his text, “We often use the term ‘hero’ as if it denoted a universally recognized character type, and the concept of ‘heroism’ as if it referred to a generally accepted behavioral category.
Overview
In Native American tradition
While the trickster crosses various cultural traditions, there are significant differences between tricksters in the traditions of different parts of the world:
Many native traditions held clowns and tricksters as essential to any contact with the sacred. People could not pray until they had laughed, because laughter opens and frees from rigid preconception. Humans had to have tricksters within the most sacred ceremonies for fear that t…
Mythology
Tricksters, as archetypal characters, appear in the myths of many different cultures. Lewis Hyde describes the trickster as a "boundary-crosser". The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules: Tricksters "violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis."
Archetype
The trickster or clown is an example of a Jungian archetype.
Trickster or clown
The trickster is a term used for a non performing 'trick maker'; they may have many motives behind their intention but those motives are not in public view largely. They are internal to the character or person.
The clown on the other hand is a persona of a performer who displays their actions in public intentionally for an audience.
In oral stories
• Abenaki mythology: Azeban
• African mythology: Ekwensu
• Afro-Cuban mythology: Eleggua, Eshu
• Akan mythology: Kwaku Ananse
In literature and popular culture
In modern literature, the trickster survives as a character archetype, not necessarily supernatural or divine, sometimes no more than a stock character.
Often, the trickster is distinct in a story by their acting as a sort of catalyst; their antics are the cause of other characters' discomfiture, but they are left untouched. Shakespeare's Puck is an example of this. Another once-famous example was the character Froggy the Gremlin on the earl…
In Internet and multimedia studies
In online environments, there has been a link between the trickster and Internet trolling. Some have said that a trickster is a type of online community character.
Anthropologist James Cuffe has called the Chinese internet character Grass Mud Horse (草泥马）a trickster candidate because of its duplicity in meaning. Cuffe argues the Grass Mud Horse serves to highlight the creative potential of the trickster archetype in communicating experiential under…