More handpicked essays just for you.
Folktale Genre examples
What is interpretation?and factors that affect interpretation
Folktale Genre examples
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
There is a recurring character that appears in many Native cultures, this character can be described as the trickster. The trickster serves a very important purpose in all the Native cultures, and that purpose is as a teacher. The trickster teaches the people of the tribe to live in harmony with the all things.
One of the many variations of the trickster is Nanabushu, whom is an Ojibwa character. This trickster is of the more innocent variety. Nanabushu is able to metamorphosis into a rabbit, which places him in a more spiritual godlike range of being. In the Ojibwa story of the Nanabushu, he uses his power of metamorphosis to trick the fire people into giving him the power of fire. The fire keeper’s daughters are tricked by the innocent
…show more content…
looking rabbit and bring him into their hut. When the grandfather sees the rabbit he tells the girls “You have better beware!...Haven’t you heard of the manitous and how they were born? This might be one of them.” (Jones 2) The girls are quick to ignore the knowledge of their grandfather and keep the rabbit, and instead Nanabushu is able to escape with their fire. This simple story has a very important message about respecting and listening to the knowledge passed down from the elders. If the girls had listened to their grandfather the hare would have never made away with the fire. Another Ojibwa trickster tale again talks about Nanabojo and his travels with his grandmother.
The story begins with Nanaboji leaving the village where he lived among the Ojibwa and because of this creating a harder life for the tribe. On his journey he has many misadventures. In one such case, Nanabojo mistakes a reflection of berries in the water as being underneath the water, and he dives down to get them only to lose consciousness from having stayed under the water so long. This story shows the trickster as somewhat dimwitted in this instance. In another instance he is able to outwit a deer and blind him with berries, having trick the deer into thinking it was ointment for his eyes. Towards the end of the story, Nanabojo is such a dimwitted character that he is tracking his own path and eating his own flesh that is falling off. This story teaches an important lesson, that being that everyone makes mistakes and fumbles, even those who are considered godlike beings. No one is a perfect being, but we must strive to be the best we can and simply move past our failures just as Nanabojo does.
In the Navaho culture the trickster is called the Coyote. “In Navaho myths, Coyote is a mischief-maker having all the diverse qualities of animal and man. He is sly; he is knave; he disobeys; he blunders.” (Moon 1) The qualities of the Coyote are very similar qualities of the Ojibwa trickster. This Coyote acts out all the flaws of man and through this is able to highlight the loss of innocence.
Because the Coyote points out all of human’s flaws, there is no escaping the reality of them. It forces man to examine what they are doing in their own life and whether or not they are living in harmony and balance. It has been demonstrated that the stories about the trickster are similar in all the Native cultures described, but the details of the stories are not what is important. What is important about all these stories is the lessons they teach. In Native cultures they did not have traditional schools as Western culture has today. Instead, children where taught by their parents, grandparents, and other adults in a more open setting. Teachings where usually done through oral stories such as the trickster stories. Children could learn important lessons about what it is to be a human and the trails that come with that. As Joseph Epes Brown says in his writings, “I realized that he was, in fact explaining his religion. The values I sought were to be found precisely in his stories and accounts of the bison, eagle, tress, flowers, mountains and winds.” (Brown 37) Brown realizes that what are considered simply tales to a Westerner serve a much more profound purpose in Native culture. These stories are more like an oral bible of the tribe’s beliefs and values. So, the goal of these stories is to prepare adolescence for adulthood and give them the proper knowledge and tool to make good life choices. If they are able to understand the trickster inside of themselves they will develop in a balanced individual. “We can see, in the trickster, our own experiences of self-recognition, loss of innocence, becoming a conscious being, of sensing a need to be responsible, of wrestling with our purpose in the Creator’s world.” (Dumont 123) This feeling transcends Native cultures and is experienced in other cultures throughout the world. In western culture, we don’t discuss failure and the part it plays in human nature, but this is something that would most likely be beneficial. Failure is part of human nature and we must accept that it occurs and be prepared to learn from it. With each failure there is an opportunity for growth.
Hence, the image of the trickster Coyote is the focal point in these two cultures, because of his/her never-ending desire to start the next story for the creation of the world and have everything right. Native American culture has a lot of dialogic perspectives in it; in the form of stories and conversations in which all humans and non-humans communicate (Irwin,2000, p39) and writers often highlight the importance of the oral cultural inheritance both as the notion of their being and as method for their writing. Coyote in traditional oral culture reminds us the semiotic component of sufferings of
“The Hollow Tree” is a memoir of a man by the name of Herb Nabigon who could not
In How Stories Came to Earth, the spider Anansi says “I tell you that my wife, Aso, is a liar, for she says that you are longer than this palm branch and I say that you are not.” This shows how clever Anansi is because the python will also become curious and lay next to the branch to find out the answer. Therefore, he had the chance to tie the python to the branch and capture him. Another example of how clever tricksters are is when the coyote in Coyote Steals Fire takes off the outer part of his body and tricks Thunder into thinking he was still in it. He spoke in a voice that sounded close, but was truly far away. Thunder threw the rock of fire at the coyote attempting to kill him, but it was just his skin as his spirit was elsewhere. The rock shattered and the coyote won the fire as he had wanted. In Master Cat, the cat shows his cleverness by playing dead in a field of wheat with a pouch around his neck. The pouch contains food, and young animals will crawl in thinking the cat is dead. After they enter the pouch, he had the opportunity to trap them and use the animals to his advantage . Tricksters are unquestionably clever and it is easily seen throughout stories containing
In 1954, Japan debuted the world’s first radioactive “king of all monsters”, Gojira. Gojira director, Ishiro Honda, sets the first scene with a destructive power emerging from the sea that would ignite a burning panic throughout Japan and force catastrophe in its wake—much like the atomic bomb it was birthed from. Gojira had a single purpose, to rampage across Japan and decimate everything in its path. As much as they tried to stop the monster, Japan’s defenses fell victim to Gojira’s indestructibility. As Japan’s last resort, they found hope in Dr. Serizawa’s emergence of new science and technology to dismantle Gojira. In the end, the bittersweet success of defeating Gojira with Dr. Serizawa’s Oxygen Destroyer was not dared to be forgotten or thought of lightly. Because if placed in the wrong hands, nuclear weapons testing may continue and another monster might appear again.
Often, the trickster finds his antics to come back and hurt him, due to greedy, conceited, or boastful behavior. These tales are told in a humorous manner, meant to entertain the reader, but are specifically designed to teach a lesson about human behavior or morals. One trickster tale, “The Coyote and the Buffalo,” is the quintessential trickster story, and uses a coyote as a main character, very popular for early Native American literature. It tells of a coyote that has gotten himself into trouble with Buffalo Bull, his enemy, and has made a deal to give the Buffalo new horns. To express his gratitude, Buffalo Bull gives Coyote a young cow on the condition that he does not kill it, but only cuts off the fat. Soon Coyote gets greedy, and kills the cow for the better meat. However, he is quickly outsmarted by a woman who offered to cook the bones. She ends up stealing them, and the coyote is left with nothing. He pleads to the buffalo for another, but the buffalo will not give it to him, “and that is why there are no buffalo along the Swah-netk’-qhu.”(Allen et. al. 52) The moral of this story is that having too much greed can leave you hungry, instead of full of the riches of life you can gain by listening and following the
The Native American people have great respect and reverence for nature, in fact the animal spirits and other elemental spirits represent important roles in their daily life (Taylor). They view the world as an interconnected fabric of harmonious and inharmonious interaction between people and nature. One tribe in particular, the Miwok, consider the Coyote as an ancestor and creator of man; additionally, they consider Coyote as a trickster god (Godchecker). A Miwok myth recount a story from long ago in which animals were like people. In this tale, the Coyote and Falcon decided to create man. Coyote pretended to be dead, and permitted the buzzards and crows to eat his posterior (Bastian and Mitchell). As they dug in, he trapped them inside, and
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.
...d that is linked to the ‘Transformation’. Native Americas shared the transformation theme, and it was a common feature of Kwakwaka’wakw masks. The mask is designed to be opened and closed by a hidden string, which the dancer change their figures back and forth between an animal and a human spirit. (Kleiner, p. 864) By representing both human and animal figure at a time, the mask embodied mythological idea of appreciation and celebration of life and Kwakwaka’wakw people’s tries to interact with the world.
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.
Suzan Harjo is a Native American rights activist, writer, lecturer, and poet from the Hodulgee Muskogee and Cheyenne tribes. She helped recover more than 1 million acres of stolen tribal lands and served as a liaison between the United States Congress and Native American tribes. Suzan acted as the main plaintiff in Harjo v. Pro Football, Inc., the successful lawsuit imploring the Washington Redskins to change their name. Harjo’s victory against the Redskins influenced several more football teams to change their offensive names.
"One day the Great Spirit collected swirls of dust from the four directions in order to create the Comanche people. These people formed from the earth had the strength of mighty storms. Unfortunately, a shape-shifting demon was also created and began to torment the people. The Great Spirit cast the demon into a bottomless pit. To seek revenge the demon took refuge in the fangs and stingers of poisonous creatures and continues to harm people every chance it gets."
The blackfeet tribe believe that the “Old Man” is the creator of their tribe and of the world. Sometimes the “Old Man” can be wise, sometimes he is not. He even plays tricks on the Blackfeet tribe. The “Old Man” left the Blackfeet to the mountains in the west, he also took the Buffalos with him. people.opposingviews.com › Religions
Despite all of Naruto's setbacks, he managed to defy all of the odds with his immense perseverance. I picked Naruto as the character of this paper because he has been a part of my life for ten years. Naruto has taught me a lot about how you can overcome any obstacle in life if you work hard and do not give up. Naruto is from a tv show called “Naruto”. Naruto is a character with a lot of depth.