Master Cat Character Analysis

Trickster tales were told throughout the ages by different cultures to bring light to dark times. A trickster is a clever animal or person who ploys against other characters in a tale. The trickster tales of, “How Stories Came to Earth,” “Coyote Steals Fire,” and “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” all share the commonality of cunning schemes; however, “How Stories Came to Earth” and “Coyote Steals Fire” have beneficial outcomes, while “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” has a destructive outcome for the other creatures in the story, also “How Stories Came to Earth” and “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” have characters that are considered insignificant, while “Coyote Steals Fire” has a superior protagonist.

In the trickster tale “How Stories Came to Earth,” retold

by Kaleki, cunning schemes are devised to achieve the protagonists’, Anansi and his wife Aso, goals. Anansi desires the stories that are kept by the sky-god; however, the sky-god refuses to give them up because “(His) stories have a great price, four fearsome, elusive creatures” which he wants Anansi to bring to him (Kaleki 40). Anansi and his wife Aso, plot discreet plans to achieve this goal. First, Aso advises that Anansi gather branches from a palm tree and some string. Next, Aso assures that Onini the python, a creature the sky-god desires, will hear Anansi discussing Onini’s length. When Onini does, he will offer to lie down and be measured, only then will Anansi hit him upon the head, creating a foolproof plan to achieve one out of four of the creatures the sky-god wants. After finding success with this cunning scheme, Aso creates another plan to capture the Mmoboro hornets, so they can achieve the stories from the sky-god. She commands Anansi to find an empty gourd and fill it with water. Then, he must drench himself in water, and tell the hornets that since it is raining they must get in his gourd. “Anansi (stops) up the mouth of the gourd, and (spins) a thick web around it” causing the hornets to be trapped, he then whisks the captured hornets to the sky-god (Kaleki 42). Anansi and Aso create and perform cunning schemes that help them to gather the stories from the sky-god.
As well as “How Stories Came to Earth,” “Coyote Steals Fire,” retold by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz, Coyote, the protagonist, devises a plan that will force Thunder to hand over the fire he withholds. In this trickster tale, Coyote is in need of fire, which Thunder keeps. To get the fire, Coyote conceives a plan, and offers Thunder to play a game of dice with him. Coyote, “the master at cheating at all kinds of games” tricks Thunder into looking away, allowing Coyote to turn the dice making Thunder’s points lower (Erdoes and Ortiz 45). Coyote distracts Thunder and steal his sticks that were used to mark the points. Doing so, helps Coyote achieve his goal of gaining fire. Not only does Coyote trick Thunder so Coyote could steal his points, but he cheats Thunder out of death. Once receiving fire, Thunder planned to kill Coyote because of cheating. Thunder, however, did not know that “Coyote could pull the outer part of his body off”(Erdoes and Ortiz 45). With this skill, Coyote made it so Thunder killed his pelt and not him. In this trickster tale, Coyote schemes up strategies that gain him fire and lets him keep his life.
Similarly to the other tales “Master Cat: Puss in Boots,” by Charles Perrault, the cat thought out elaborate ideas to improve his master’s life, so he would not be eaten and used for goods. The cat promises his master, the Marquis de Carabas, that he will drastically improve his life if he does not kill him. To start improving his master’s life, the cat “put a little clover and lettuce into the pouch, lay down next to it, and played dead” (Perrault 48). He waits until a rabbit or other animals climb into his pouch, and then traps it and kills the animal. He then informs the king that the animal is from his master and gives it to him. The cat does these actions time after time and gains the king’s and his daughter’s likings of the Marquis. The cat not only improves the Marquis life with the king and his daughter, but he gives him the Ogre’s castle. Master Cat tricks the Ogre into turning into a rat. Once a rat, “(the cat) pounced on it and ate it up” claiming the castle as his master’s (Perrault 50). The cat gains his master the king’s daughter and a castle, causing Master Cat to keep his life. The cat devises plans that improves his master’s life, so he can live.
“How Stories Came to Earth,” retold by Kaleki, is a trickster tale that has an outcome that is beneficial to the other animals and creatures, as well as, Anansi and Aso. In the tale, Anansi fancies the stories the sky-god has kept. After tricking the animals that the sky-god orders Anansi to bring to him, he announces, “From now and forever , my sky-god stories belong to you” (Kaleki 42). Anansi and his wife gains the stories which is beneficial to themselves. Also, with having the stories they desires, Anansi and Aso spun webs of the stories everywhere. This causes the other animals to read the sky-god stories as well. Kaleki tells, “Everywhere you look, they spin their webs for all to see” (Kaleki 42). The outcome in “How Stories Came to Earth,” retold by Kaleki, has both a beneficial outcome for Anansi and Aso, and with all the other animals. Along with this tale, “Coyote Steals Fire” has a beneficial outcome.
“Coyote Steals Fire,” retold by Erdoes and Ortiz, as well as “How Stories Came to Earth,” has a beneficial outcome. In the tale, “There was a time when people had no fire,” and Coyote, as cunning as he his, won it from Thunder (Erdoes and Ortiz 44). With no fire the people and animals had to eat raw food, and could not warm themselves. Coyote decides that he was to win it from Thunder, or else the people will die. Coyote challenges Thunder to play a game of dice with him and plays tricks on Thunder to wins the fire. With this fire, “Every animals took a little piece of (it)... Bringing fire to every tribe of earth” (Erdoes and Ortiz 45). Coyote won the fire for the animals and the area and tribes thrive again. By obtaining the fire Coyote engenders a beneficial outcome and causes the people and animals to live. However, “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” has a destructive outcome.
Despite “How Stories Came to Earth,” and “Coyote Steals Fire’s” beneficial outcomes, “Master Cat: Puss in Boots,” written by Perrault, has a destructive and selfish outcome.

Master Cat devises plans that will keep him alive and his master happy. He does not have a care for the other animals, and does what he wants to achieve his goals. First, the cat kills animals to obtain good humor with the king. Therefore he devises a plan to catch the rabbits. Once the rabbits are in his pouch, the cat “pulled the strings in a flash, grabbed the bag, and without feeling the least pity for his prey, killed it” (Perrault 48). Since the cat kills animals for his benefit only, it is a destructive and death ridden outcome. Another example of a destructive outcome is when the cat forces others to say their property belongs to the cat’s master. The cat instructs, “If you do not say the fields you are mowing belong to the Marquis de Carabas, each and everyone of you will be cut into little pieces until you look like chopped meat!” (Perrault 49). This is a selfish act, and a destructive outcome. The cat forces the workers to lie to the king, which only benefits the Marquis and the cat. In this trickster tale, the cat performs schemes such as lying and killing, that are destructive and

selfish.
The subordinate and underestimated characters of the spiders, Anansi and Aso, belong to the tale, “How Stories Came to Earth,” retold be Kaleki. In this tale, Anansi and Aso are spiders, which are considered lesser or insignificant animals that all the other characters think can not do as much. The spider wishes for the stories held by the sky-god. When the sky-god sees the tiny, insignificant character, he says, “What makes you think that you, of all creatures, can pay the price I ask for my stories?” (Kaleki 40). The sky-god sees how small he is compared to the rest of the animals. Not only did he think that Anansi was lesser of the animals, but all the elusive creatures that he had to capture did, too. The creatures thought that the spider could not fool or do them any harm because of how small and insignificant he is which is one of the reasons why Anansi captured them more easily than others. In the tale, “How Stories Came to Earth,” retold by Kaleki, the protagonists, a spider named Anansi and his wife Aso, are considered insignificant or trivial because of their size and ability. As well as Anansi, Master Cat in “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” is an underestimated and smaller animal.
As well as Anansi and Aso, Master Cat, in “Master Cat: Puss in Boots,” by Perrault, is considered to be an insignificant and undervalued animal. In the tale, a miller left his three sons an ogre, a donkey, and a cat. The son that obtained the cat, however, was sore about it. The Marquis, the son that receives the cat, said, “But as for me, once I’ve eaten the cat and made a muff from its skin, I will surely starve to death” (Perrault 46). The Marquis did not think the cat was useful because of its insignificance. Despite how upset he feels with the cat and his father, he gives the cat a chance to improve his life, and “he saw a ray of hope in his miserable situation” (Perrault 47). The Marquis thought that cat was no good and underappreciated him at first. However, the cat pulled tricks that made his master adore him. The cat in “Master Cat: Puss in Boots,” despite being a protagonist, is considered an insubstantial and underestimated character. Despite the two less important animals of Anansi, Aso, and Master Cat, Coyote in “Coyote Steals Fire” is a superior animal
However, Coyote in “Coyote Steals Fire,” retold by Erdoes and Ortiz, is a superior and strong animal/protagonist. Coyotes are considered to be dominant, fierce, and confident; therefore, Coyote in this trickster tale is a strong character that is valued by the other animals. Erdoes and Ortiz narrate, “Coyote was not afraid of Thunder. He was afraid of nothing” (Erdoes and Ortiz 44). This shows how strong and ferocious he is. Also, since the other animals, such as Mountain Lion and Bear, “trembled when they heard Thunder’s rumbling voice,” Coyote was valued for standing up to him and reclaiming the fire that was once theirs (Erdoes and Ortiz 44). The sneaky protagonist outwits Thunder, which causes him to be respected more. Coyote portrays how the animal is in real life: fearless and fearsome. In the tale “Coyote Steals Fire” the main character, Coyote, is considered a superior animal, while in the other stories the spiders and cat are less superior and are not believed in.
Trickster Tales are buoyant, yet cunning tales with sly protagonists. In the trickster tales of “How Stories Came to Earth,” “Coyote Steals Fire,” and “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” all the tricksters use cunning schemes to achieve their goals; however, “How Stories Came to Earth” and “Coyote Steals Fire” have beneficial outcomes while “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” has a destructive and selfish outcome; also “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” and “How Stories Came to Earth” have insignificant and underestimated protagonists, while “Coyote Steals Fire” has a superior and valued protagonist. Trickster tales are humorous, light hearted stories that have deeper meaning with multiple similarities and differences woven inside them.