Mythology Analysis Essay - Unit Assessment As humans, we are drawn to trickster tales because they connect entertainment, wisdom, and morals, and demonstrate our long communal fascination with the combination of cunning and resourcefulness. By using deception, wisdom, and trickery, tricksters can get in and out of challenging situations while simultaneously violating social norms and bonds they have built. While reading the tales of tricksters, one learns valuable life lessons about morality, trust, and the consequences of deceit, as trickster tales generally end with disharmony. Trickster tales feature different characteristics of deception and greed. For example, in the African American trickster tale, Buh Nansi demonstrates a great deal of …show more content…
Characters like Buh Nansi entertain and engage with whoever they wish to deceive, and then completely flip the situation in order to outwit more powerful opponents. This deception and trickery appeal to the enjoyment of storytelling and surprise, as it offers a shock and drift from social norms. On top of this, trickster tales often demonstrate the spectrum of right and wrong and dive into the concept of morality. Often, tricksters' morals are self-centered and based on deceit and humor. Tricksters use shapeshifting and disguises to hide their true selves, as they know themselves to be untrustworthy and poorly reputable. Demonstrating the benefits and consequences of deception shows that cleverness can be a virtue and a vice. For instance, while Coyote uses his ability to disguise himself to feed his village and restore the buffalos to nature, Buh Nansi uses his deception to gain and harm other characters. Both characters betray the bonds they have built, but the reasonings and morals behind the situations are entirely polar. As seen in Coyote’s story, tricksters can be heroic figures who bring about justice and positive
The Tricksters main job of joking usually ends up upsetting the god in some way. The Tricksters are seen as inferior creatures to the gods themselves. At some point in the story the Trickster will engage himself in a battle of wits with the gods. However, for each Trickster archetype across all stories, the battle of wits usually becomes their undoing, and they are punished by the gods for their deeds. This defeat of the Trickster only solidifies the power of the gods as well as the perceived superiority of the Christian religion to Pagan
Tricksters are very important to many stories. They are the energy of mischief in the three tales we read, which are: How Stories Came to Earth, Coyote Steals Fire, and Master Cat. The tricksters add a desire to change to the story. Some of the elements in these trickster tales are anthropomorphism, cleverness, and the use of brain over brawn. These elements are often in stories, you just may not recognize them immediately when you read.
In Native American literature, both creation myths and trickster tales were frequently told and passed down through generations upon generations orally, and then eventually written down. A creation myth is a tale that tells of how the world began or how people first came to live here, while a trickster tale is a short story that tells of a “trickster” with vacuous behavior, whose actions are meant to teach a lesson. Both types of literature are still relevant in modern society, whether it’s through pop-culture or re-told stories, and continue to guide individuals through their life, teach lessons about life on earth, morals, and human nature.
What ancient religion contains infidelity, incest, and life-time long punishments of which were almost, if not, are unbearable? Welcome to Greek Mythology! The Ancient Greeks envisioned higher powers, such as titans, gods and many other mystical wonders to account for every unexplainable thing they saw. As a result, a series of tales of betrayal, humiliation and entrancements sprouted from the imagination of the Ancient Greeks. The international bestseller, Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths, by Bernard Evslin, engages it’s readers, while telling the narratives of the Greek Gods.
Paul Rodin has said that a trickster “is at one and the same time creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes others and who is always duped himself…He possesses no values moral or social, is at the mercy of his passions and appetites.” Trickster tales feature character types that can be found in the literature of many different cultures throughout history. The coyote is often portrayed in Native American myths as being a trickster. This is revealed in Morning Dove’s “Coyote and the Buffalo.
Only Coyote and Anansi had consequences for their actions. Coyote didn't receive another cow and had to go home without one (Coyote and the Buffalo). Anansi is still being chased by death (Anansi and Brother Death), but Brer Rabbit escaped from Sis Cow with her milk (Brer Rabbit and Sis Cow). Also only some of the stories include the trickster roles of numbskull and cultural hero. Coyote is a numbskull when he kicks the skull and spits on it and a cultural hero when he smokes his pipe and calls out to the gods (Coyote and the Buffalo). Anansi is a cultural hero when he gives away his daughter to the old man for a wife (Anansi and Brother Death). These tales have differences in their endings and in trickster
Tricksters are prevalent in multiple folktales and mythological accounts worldwide. Despite variation differences, each of the roles played originate from cultures. Often ostentatious, the persona of a trickster is the opposite of mundane. Coyote and Hermes are two trickster gods that share the common themes of responsibility, gender roles, intent, and morale through diverse personas; their main differences are in translations and impact on Ancient Greek and Native American cultures.
What is a trickster? A trickster typically breaks the creeds of the divine or nature, most of the time this is doomed maliciously, but sometimes with positive results. More frequently than not, the rule-breaking will capture the pattern of tricks, or thievery. Tricksters are generally cunning, foolish, or perhaps both. They are usually very funny even when they are scared. In diverse cultures the trickster and humanizing hero are often merged in one. Tricksters are particular to their own cultures. However, tricksters are naturally bound by undeniable attributes no matter what their religion is or what culture they have come from. It is thought that all of us have some type of trickster within us, whether it may be conscious or subconscious. One of today’s best known tricksters is perhaps the infamous Wile E. Coyote. Even though Wile E. Coyote is a trickster whose tricks never seem to work, he is considered to be a modern-day fictional trickster because he is always plotting and cheating to catch the road runner, two of the most common attributes of a trickster. However, there are many other common elements to a trickster.
From before the dawn of civilization as we know it, humanity has formed myths and legends to explain the natural world around them. Whether it is of Zeus and Hera or Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-mikoto, every civilization and culture upon this world has its own mythos. However, the age of myth is waning as it is overshadowed in this modern era by fundamental religion and empirical science. The word myth has come to connote blatant falsehood; however, it was not always so. Our myths have reflected both the society and values of the culture they are from. We have also reflected our inner psyche, conscious and unconscious, unto the fabric of our myths. This reflection allows us to understand ourselves and other cultures better. Throughout the eons of humanity’s existence, the myths explain natural phenomena and the cultural legends of the epic hero have reflected the foundations and the inner turmoil of the human psyche.
Kind and selfish, deep and shallow, male and female, and foolish and wise aren’t always words that are associated with each other, quite the opposite in fact. However, when it comes to the trickster tales of Native Americans, each word is associated with the other and describes more or less the same person or animal. To Native American people a trickster affects the world for an infinite number of reasons, including instruction and enjoyment. A trickster, like the name implies, is a cunning deception. A trickster can be a hero. However, at the same time he could introduce death. How is that heroic? Why would a group of people want to remember a person that brings punishments such as death? The function the trickster tales have/ had on Native American communities is still powerful today quite possibly because of their context, the lessons they reap, and the concerns they address. As the tales are told, the stories unravel showing the importance of a trickster and the eye-opening experiences they bring.
These actions are complex though, because they don’t just give something to the trickster, they also can give something to the culture. Coyote, the trickster character in many Native American myths is a good example of this kind of trickery. In How Coyote Placed the Stars, Coyote is a creator, because he creates constellations. Coyote leaves the wolves, dog, and bears in the sky by trapping them up their with the mindset that stories will be told about him (How Coyote Placed the Stars). In this myth, what defines coyote as a trickster rather than just a creator is because he is placing the stars for his own benefit. Another example of a selfish trickster is Anansi the spider from Africa, who tricks multiple species for the sole purpose of stories being told about him (Why We Tell Stories About Spider). While Anansi doesn’t create anything like Coyote, he does demonstrate humans’ ability to be cunning, manipulative, and selfish. This shows that though they are both tricksters and both act selfishly for their own benefit, the outcomes are different. But they both accomplish being models for the human capacity to be a trickster by demonstrating traits that all humans experience in varying ways at some point in their
Myths relate to events, conditions, and deeds of gods or superhuman beings that are outside ordinary human life and yet basics to it” ("Myth," 2012). Mythology is said to have two particular meanings, “the corpus of myths, and the study of the myths, of a particular area: Amerindian mythology, Egyptian mythology, and so on as well as the study of myth itself” ("Mythology," 1993). In contrast, while the term myth can be used in a variety of academic settings, its main purpose is to analyze different cultures and their ways of thinking. Within the academic setting, a myth is known as a fact and over time has been changed through the many different views within a society as an effort to answer the questions of human existence. The word myth in an academic context is used as “ancient narratives that attempt to answer the enduring and fundamental human questions: How did the universe and the world come to be? How did we come to be here? Who are we? What are our proper, necessary, or inescapable roles as we relate to one another and to the world at large? What should our values be? How should we behave? How should we not behave? What are the consequences of behaving and not behaving in such ways” (Leonard, 2004 p.1)? My definition of a myth is a collection of false ideas put together to create
Deception is a part of everyday life. Whether it be a couple lying to each other or an infomercial claiming something is true when it is false, deception has always been an oppressing member of society. For years, people have lied to each other. Ancient and modern day relationships have experienced turmoil caused by deceit. In these myths, characteristics of present day humans shine through because they are the ones writing the myths. The myths resemble everyday life. Therefore, it is no surprise that mythology prominently features a theme that plays an important role in present day life.
Thury, Eva and Margaret K. Devinney. “Theory: Man and His Symbols.” Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. 519-537. Print.
Cautionary tales typically follow what their name might suggest, in that they warn how consequences affect those who might think themselves above the rules. This is often seen in cases regarding self-centered animals, overly naïve children, and to a degree those who are deemed ‘tricksters’. It is common for animals to become the subjects of stories, as the author can then apply human philosophy to the actions of creatures in order to warn against behavior that might otherwise be seen as common.