CLASS 18 EWRT 1B

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.

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.

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: Film

Class 22:

Final Exam Comprehensive Terms test

Research Paper: Essay #4 due

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.

TRAITS OF THE

TRICKSTER

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).

“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

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?

DEFINING THE

TRICKSTER

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?

• 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.

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; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a research paper.