2. AGENDA
• Exam 3: Terms
• Quarter Countdown
• Change Teams
• Exam #4 Terms
• Presentation: Introduction to
Essay #4 Discussion: Chinglish:
• "Defining the Trickster" and Locke:
"Transformation of the Trickster.”
• In-class writing: Evaluating a
passing character as a Trickster
Character.
3. Exam 3: Vocab and Terms
15 minutes
• 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.
4. • Class 17: Library Workshop
• Class 18: Exam Make-up or Retake Test
• Class 19: Film
• Friday week 11:
• Self assessment due before noon.
• Class 20: Wrapping up the course
• Class 21: Final
• Final Exam Comprehensive Terms test
• Research Paper: Essay #4 due before class
5. TermsforExam4:A ComprehensiveTest
1. Gender Identity: The sense of “being” male or “being” female. For some
people, gender identity is in accord with physical anatomy. For
transgender people, gender identity may differ from physical anatomy or
expected social roles. It is important to note that gender identity,
biological sex, and sexual orientation are not necessarily linked.
2. Heterosexism: The concept that heterosexuality is natural, normal,
superior and required. A system of beliefs about the superiority of
heterosexuals or heterosexuality evidenced in the exclusion, by omission
or design, of gay, lesbian and bisexual persons in assumptions,
communication, policies, procedures, events, or activities.
3. Heterosexual: A person who is primarily and/or exclusively attracted to
members of a gender or sex that is seen to be “opposite” or other than
the one with which they identify or are identified.
6. 4. Homosexual: A person who is primarily and /or exclusively attracted to
members of what they identify as their own sex or gender. Because the
term possesses connotations of disease and abnormality, some people do
not like to identify as homosexual. Still others do not feel that it accurately
defines their chosen identity.
5. Lesbian: One who identifies as a woman who is primarily or exclusively
attracted to others who identify as women.
6. Sex Reassignment (SRS): A surgical procedure that modifies one’s primary
and/or secondary sex characteristics. This process was formerly called a
“sex change operation,” a phrase now considered offensive.
7. Sexual Orientation: A person’s emotional, physical and sexual attraction
and the expression of that attraction with other individuals. Some of the
better-known labels or categories include “bisexual,” “multisexual,”
“pansexual,” “omnisexual,” “lesbian,” “gay” (“homosexual” is a more
clinical term), or “heterosexual.”
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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?
11. Essay #4 Teams
• Get into groups of three or four.
(1-2 minutes)
• If you can’t find a group, please
raise your hand.
• Once your group is established,
choose one person to be the
keeper of the points.
• Write down members’ names
• Turn in your sheet at the end of
the class period.
13. Traits of the trickster
1. Deceitful
2. Self-Serving
3. Shape Shifter
4. Cultural Hero
5. Solitary creature
6. Physically, intellectually, or socially weak creature
7. Special tools
8. Teacher
14. Essay #4 Teams
Discuss your QHQs
Using either or both
"Transformation of the
Trickster” and “Defining the
Trickster,” discuss Chinglish by
identifying traits of the
trickster that correspond to
characters, motivations, and
outcomes in the play. Use
textual evidence!
16. Cast of Characters
• Daniel Cavanaugh
• Xi Yan
• Peter Timms
• Minister Cai Guoliang
• Miss Qian / Prosecutor Li
• Bing / Judge Xu Geming
• Miss Zhao
17. Chinglish
Who can offer a brief summary of
Chinglish?
Can you identify who is passing? Are
they trickster characters?
Which traits of the trickster do you see
in them?
20. In Class Writing: Passing
Characters as Trickster Character:
1. Choose a new passing character: How can we envision him or
her as a Trickster character?
2. Which of the definitions does he or she fit?
3. What are his or her goals as a trickster?
4. How many ways is he or she fooling people?
5. What is his or her motivation?
6. What are the outcomes?
7. Does the passing character 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?
21. • 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 work with the librarian to start our
research. 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.
22. Homework
• Study: Terms for make-up test class 18
• Post #20: Discuss one or more characters from
our course reading in terms of one of the traits
we discussed in class today. For example,
consider Jack as deceitful or Clare or Irene as
self-serving; Jess Goldberg as a “shape shifter”
or “cultural hero”; maybe even the Iowans as
“teachers.” Any of these characters might be
discussed as “agents of change.”
• Prepare for the Library workshop: Consider
who and what you might consider as a focus.
Remember, you must read before you will know
what you are looking for; otherwise, it wouldn’t be
a research paper.
