The document provides an agenda for an English class that includes discussing the play M. Butterfly and evaluating the character Song as a trickster. It introduces an upcoming essay assignment on the research essay about trickster tales and characters. Students will consider if trickster tales help people better understand themselves and subconscious responses, or if they serve another purpose. Examples of possible trickster traits are defined, including being deceitful, a shape-shifter, bringing unexpected change, and serving as a teacher.

1. CLASS 17 EWRT 1B

2. AGENDA
 Exam 3: Terms
 Discussion:
 QHQ M Butterfly
 ―Defining the Trickster‖
 Introduction to Essay #4
 Lecture:
 Tricksters and Trickster Tales
 In-class writing:
 Evaluating Song as a Trickster Character

3. 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.

4. M
BUTTERF
LY
QHQ

5. M BUTTERFLY: THE LOVE
 Why is Gallimard so attracted to Song?
 Was Song actually submissive?
 Is Gallimard blinded by stereotypes (race, sexual, cultural)?
 Do you think, deep down, that Song actually loved Gallimard in
return?
 How does Gallimard’s image of himself change after starting his
relationship with Song?
 Did [Song] truly like this man as for him or for the fact that she
was forced to by her undercover party?
 Does this [affair with Song] make Gallimard Gay?
 Do you think that he would ever have fallen in love with Song as a
man?

6. THE DECEPTION
 Gallimard and Song live together for 20 years, how come
Gallimard doesn’t find out Song is a man?
 How is Gallimard blind to his butterfly’s true identity?
 Is Rene in denial over Songs gender?
 Why does Mr. Gallimard accept not seeing Mrs. or Mr. Song’s
body?
 Why did Mr. Gallimard did not accept to see Mrs./ Mr. Song body
when he offered?
 What was the purpose of Song telling Gallimard the scenario of
the ―blonde cheerleader‖ killing herself for the ―short Japanese
businessman‖?

7. THE SECRET OPERATION
 Why would Mr. Song go through all the trouble just to retrieve
information for his country?
 How did Song establish a reputation for herself as singer, and
how did she target Mr. Gallimard?
 Why did Gallimard leak such valuable information to Song?
 Does Comrade Chin believe Song’s behavior is just to get
information?
 Why did Song LiLing come to France?

8. THE REVEAL
• Did song ever feel any sympathy for Gallimard after being with him for
so many years.
• Why does Gallimard burst into laughter when Song takes off his
underwear?
• How would the story be different if butterfly was male the whole time?
• Why do you think that Gallimard could not love the man who was the
woman he fell in love with?
• If Song was in love with Gallimard, why would he tell the truth when he
was in the court?
• If Song revealed his true identity earlier, would Gallimard have acted
differently?
• Is there ever a right time for Song to reveal his true gender identity to
the man he loves?

9. AND THEN?
 Why does M. Butterfly focus so intently on Western vs. Eastern?
 How can this story tell what the Westerner thought about the Oriental women?
 How does Song use Gallimard’s stereotypes of Asian women to elevate
Gallimard’s sense of masculinity?
 Has Gallimard gone mad?
 Why does Gallimard want us to envy his love?
 How could Gallimard claimed to have loved the perfect woman, while willingly
being unfaithful and cruel to her during his various extramarital affairs?
 Why does Gallimard dress up as Madame Butterfly at the end?
 Who is whose Butterfly?
 Is it wrong for Song to pretend to be a woman for all those years?
 What are some differences between the movie and the book ?
 Is there any similarity between Stone Butch Blues and this story?

10. INTRODUCTION TO ESSAY #4:
THE RESEARCH ESSAY.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. TOPIC:
For this essay, consider trickster tales and
trickster or trickster-like characters from our
reading. Do they, 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?

14. 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).

15. 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)

16. 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.

17. 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)‖ (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.

18. • 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).

19. • 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).

20. • Which, from our reading, are clearly identifiable as trickster
tales?
• Can you include others, or parts of others, that are not so easily
identifiable?
• What makes them trickster tales?
• Which, from our reading, are trickster or trickster-like characters
• What characteristics make them tricksters?
• Morrison: ―Recitatif‖
• Hughes: ―Passing‖ and ―Passing‖
• Hughes: ―Who’s Passing for Who?‖
• Chesnutt: ―The Passing of Grandison‖
• Roth: The Human Stain
• Feinberg: Stone Butch Blues
• Hwang: M Butterfly

21. DEFINING THE
TRICKSTER

22. 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?

23. HOMEWORK
 Reading: Review primary texts you might use in your
essay.
 Writing: Finish and post in-class writing.
Post #24: Discuss another 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 at 8:15 am for
a library orientation and an opportunity to do research for
your paper. Please do not be late. Plan to work until 9:45