CLASS 17 EWRT 1B

AGENDA

Exam 3: Terms

Discussion:

QHQ M Butterfly

QHQ Film

“Defining the Trickster” and “Transformations of the Trickster”

Introduction to Essay #4

Lecture:

Tricksters and Trickster Tales

In-class writing:

Evaluating Song as a Trickster Character

EXAM 3: VOCAB AND TERMS

Answer all 25 questions; there are questions on the

back.

Extra credit to anyone who can identify one or

both of the authors of these two examples that I

used to demonstrate figurative language.

“All the world’s a stage”

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

M BUTTERFLY

QHQ

GALLIMARD

Q: Why is Gallimard so in love with this opera butterfly?

Q: Why is Gallimard considering having an affair with Song?

Q: How does Song get away with being a guy even after

Song and Gallimard slept together?

Q: Why did Gallimard commit suicide.

Q: Why did Gallimard dream of his class mate Marc after

meeting Song at the Chinese Opera House?

SONG

Q: Did Song have feelings for M. Gallimard?

Q: How did Song get pregnant?

How did Song establish a reputation for herself as

singer, and how did she target Mr. Gallimard?

Does Comrade Chin believe Song’s behavior is just to

get information?

Q: Why did Song tell Gallimard that “we are revolted by

the things hidden within us?” (Hwang 47)

QHQ: THE FILM: OSAMA

Q: Why did Espandi help Osama?

Q) Did Osama’s mother and grandmother make the correct decision of

forcing Osama to pass?

Q: Did Osama’s mother and grandmother know deep down that Osama

would be eventually caught?

Q: What happened to Osama’s mother and grandmother?

Why does the man offer Osama the locks to choose?

QHQ: THE FILM: OSAMA

Q: Most of the men in the film are depicted as the enemy, although a

few such as Espandi and the hospital worker are not. How did their

actions prove that not all men in that society were harmful?

Q: Why did the milkman hire Osama knowing she was a girl?

Q: How do the women protesting at the beginning at the movie

symbolize social class inequality in the Middle East ?

Q: Why didn’t the women rebel and join together after being forced to

marry the Taliban man and kill him for what he had done?

Q: What does the little girl symbolize while she is jumping the jump

rope?

INTRODUCTION TO ESSAY #4:

THE RESEARCH ESSAY.

INTRODUCTION TO ESSAY #4:

THE RESEARCH ESSAY.

Trickster characters have existed in stories from

most cultures since the earliest times. The long-

lasting appeal of this archetype (a recurring symbol

of a recurring model) emphasizes the cultural need

to acknowledge that all is not what it seems to be,

that we need to be on the lookout for those who

would fool us. It is not hard to account for the

appeal of tricksters—they are fun in their radical

assault on the status quo, yet their trickery also

strikes a deeper chord for most people.

As societies have evolved, the cultural function of the trickster has

been reinvented: who or what are they in a modern society? When and

why do they appear?

Helen Lock, in her essay “Transformations of the Trickster,” writes,

Contentious issues include the status of the archaic archetypal tricksters

(were they mortal or divine? can a god be a trickster?), the relation of

tricksters to gender and to ethnicity, and the vexed question of whether

modern tricksters exist at all. In one sense it does seem entirely appropriate

that these embodiments of ambiguity (no dispute there, at least) should

remain so elusive. However, it is still important to address these tricky

questions, because the trickster performs such fundamental cultural

work: in understanding the trickster better, we better understand

ourselves, and the perhaps subconscious aspects of ourselves that

respond to the trickster’s unsettling and transformative behavior.

TOPIC: For this essay, consider trickster tales and trickster or

trickster-like characters from our reading. Do they meet the

criteria to be categorized as “tricksters”? Which measuring

stick do we use to determine if they are or not? Who or what

are they in a modern society? When and why do they appear?

Is there a relationship between tricksters and gender and

ethnicity? Do these modern tricksters, as Lock asserts, help

us “better understand ourselves, and the perhaps

subconscious aspects of ourselves that respond to the

trickster’s unsettling and transformative behavior”? How? Or,

do these trickster tales and trickster or trickster-like

characters serve another purpose? Which?

ABOUT TRICKSTERS

Southern slave trickster tales focus on outwitting the

plantation masters; in this way, they deviously attacked the

very system to which they were condemned: “They

learned what justice was, and they learned, as slaves, they

had none. But they were able to make up stories and even

laugh in the face of their tragic predicament”

(Hamilton, A Ring of Tricksters 9).

JEAN HARDY PROVIDES THIS DEFINITION

OF THIS ARCHETYPE:

The archetype of the Trickster…is the existence of the

unexpected as it appears in every human society, sometimes

fully acknowledged, sometimes feared and hidden. He is the

opposite of order – but then he is opposite of everything: he

can turn into a she…He is the Green Man, the Jester, the

clown, the witch or the wizard, Mercury, a shape shifter …

the Fool with the potential at times for becoming a Savior. He

upsets normality and hierarchic order…He can change the

expected world, and therefore be an agent of transformation.

(1)

POSSIBLE TRAITS OF THE TRICKSTER

• Deceitful: The trickster uses trickery to bring about

change.

• Self-Serving: The trickster often feels that he or she has

been wronged and is therefore justified in taking action to

bring about change and/or to defeat “the enemy.”

• Shape Shifter: The trickster may change forms, sex, and

so forth as an element of surprise to his victim. The change

may also be psychological instead of (or in addition to) a

visual change.

Cultural Hero:

The trickster may be idealized as a cultural hero when, as the agent of

transformation, he or she overturns a cruel or unfair leader or

political/social system or reverses the fortunes of the more powerful

party. According to Helen Lock, this characteristic separates the fool

from the trickster. “The true trickster’s trickery calls into question

fundamental assumptions about the way the world is organized, and

reveals the possibility of transforming them (even if for ignoble

[shameful] ends)” (Lock 6). Michael J. Carroll includes cultural hero as an

attribute as well; he characterizes the trickster as “a transformer who

makes the world habitable for humans by ridding it of monsters or who

provides those things [such as fire] that make human society possible

(“Levi-Strauss, Freud, and the Trickster” 305). Hardy characterizes the

trickster as the source of unexpected changes in a world where change

is not always comfortable and as a symbol of the uncertain world in

which we live.

• Solitary creature: Many tricksters are solitary animals (or humans),

working alone rather than with a partner or within a group – to

undertake change. Michael P. Carroll notes that “Ravens are usually

sighted singly or at most in pairs; coyotes forage independently…;

hares have long been noted for their solitariness…Spiders generally

associate with members of their own species on only two occasions:

when they are born and when they mate” (“Trickster as Selfish

Buffoon” 115).

• Physically, intellectually, or socially weak creature: The

trickster is often portrayed as a much weaker character than his prey,

and yet through cleverness and trickery, he is able to overcome all

obstacles and prevail. In some cases the trickster may appear to be

weaker physically in order to confuse his prey (false frailty).

• Special tools: The trickster may have special tools or abilities

that enable him to perform his acts. Often these tools include

magic and/or supernatural powers. An example would be the

Chinese Monkey who keeps a needle behind his ear; when he

removes the needle and recites a request, the needle may turn

into any tool or implement that is required for a particular

story.

• Teacher: The trickster is a purveyor of life lessons through

the stories, from manners to ethics. The teacher often forces

the reader to examine the status quo and often, “to break out

of old stereotypes, whether they’ve been imposed by ourselves,

our families, our culture, or circumstances (“The Trickster” 3).

DEFINING THE

TRICKSTER

IN CLASS WRITING: SONG AS A TRICKSTER

CHARACTER:

How can we envision Song as a Trickster character?

Which of the definitions does she fit?

What are her goals as a trickster?

How many people and how many ways is she fooling people?

What is her motivation?

What are the outcomes?

Does Song help us “better understand ourselves, and the perhaps

subconscious aspects of ourselves that respond to the trickster’s

unsettling and transformative behavior”? How? Or does she/he

serve another purpose? Which?

• Which, from our reading, are trickster or trickster-like characters?

Which are trickster tales? What characteristics make them tricksters?

How do we know?

• We have a sense of the what a trickster tale/character is from the

reading we have done in the last couple of days, but to get a better

idea of both that and ways to approach a paper on the topic, we will

visit the library to start our research. There, we will be looking for

information about conventional definitions that we can connect to

(or disconnect from) the passing characters we have been reading

about. Then, you can do some research to find an interesting angle to

use: outlaw tricksters, gender tricksters, female tricksters.

HOMEWORK

Reading: Review primary texts you might use in your essay.

Post #24: Discuss one character in terms of one of the traits we discussed in class today. For example, Jess Goldberg as a “shape shifter” or “cultural hero”; Grandison as “intellectually weak”; or Song as “physically weak”; maybe even the Iowans as “teachers.” Any of them might be discussed as “agents of change.” Or discuss “Grandison,” “Recitatif,” and “Who’s Passing as Who” as Trickster tales in the African American tradition.

Next Class: We will meet in Library Lobby for a library orientation and an opportunity to do research for your paper.

EWRT 1B: Tuesday, March 11, 11:00am-1:15pmEWRT 1B: Wednesday, March 12, 8:30-10:45