2. AGENDA
Exam 3: Terms
Quarter Countdown
Team Change
Discussion:
“Grandison”
Osama
"Defining the Trickster”
"Transformation of the Trickster."
Presentation: Introduction to Essay #4
In-class writing: Evaluating Osama 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. QUARTER COUNTDOWN
Class 19: Library Workshop
Class 20: Terms Exam Make-up or Re-take
• Friday week 11:
Self assessment due before noon.
Revision of essay 2 or 3 due
Class 21: Discussion
Class 22:
Final Exam Comprehensive Terms test
Research Paper: Essay #4 due
5. 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.
In your groups, discuss
Trickster characters and
their traits. Then, identify
traits of the trickster you
saw in “Grandison” and
Osama.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. • 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).
10. • 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).
11. “THE PASSING OF
GRANDISON”
Who can offer a brief
summary of
Grandison?
Which traits of the
trickster do you see
in Grandison?
Who can offer a brief
summary of Osama?
Which traits of the
trickster do you see
in Osama?
Osama
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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?
17. 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?
18. • 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 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.
19. Post #21: Discuss one or more characters 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 or Osama as a “shape shifter”
or “cultural hero”; maybe even the Iowans as “teachers.”
Any of these characters might be discussed as “agents of
change.”
Bring: your computer or device, if you have one. The
librarian will give you an overview of services and an
opportunity to do research for your paper. Consider who
and what you might consider as a focus. Remember, you
must read before you will know what you are looking for;
