Read all of the following sections and reflect on your readings this week before beginning your post. For your group discussions explore the following questions: How important are negative experiences or figures in the development of the hero/heroine and their journey? How can the time period, location, and cultural setting shape how the negative experience or figure is represented? Incorporate information from the “Engage Mythology” section into this discussion. Instruction Read all of the following sections and reflect on your readings this week before beginning your post. For your group discussions explore the following questions: How important are negative experiences or figures in the development of the hero/heroine and their journey? How can the time period, location, and cultural setting shape how the negative experience or figure is represented? Incorporate information from the “Engage Mythology” section into this discussion. William J. Hynes and William G. Doty wrote Mythical Trickster Figures: Contours, Contexts, and Criticisms in 1993. Read Chapter 3: Mapping the Characteristics of Mythic Tricksters: A Heuristic GuideLinks to an external site.. In addition to identifying key aspects of the trickster’s character, they point to the cross-cultural nature of this figure. Tricksters are common characters in both Western and non-Western mythologies. In fact, when these authors introduce the trickster as a fascinating and perplexing figure, they quote Campbell: “Almost all non-literate mythology has a trickster hero of some kind. American Indians had the great rabbit and coyote, the ravens, and blue jay.” Watch this Crash Course Mythology on Coyote and Raven: American Tricksters [12:32 minutes].Links to an external site. Campbell goes on to say, “And there’s a very special property in the trickster: he always breaks in, just as the unconscious does, to trip up the rational situation. He’s both a fool and someone who’s beyond the system. And the trickster hero represents all those possibilities of life that your mind hasn’t decided it wants to deal with. The mind structures a lifestyle, and the fool or trickster represents another whole range of possibilities. He doesn’t respect the values that you’ve set up for yourself, and smashes them.” In Mythical Trickster Figures, Hynes provides a heuristic list that identifies a cluster of traits that often describe the tricky and perplexing tricksters. They have many of the following characteristics: Ambiguous and anomalous personality: Unable to be fully defined, tricksters defy boundaries, borders, and categories. They break out of binary oppositions that would like to hold them. They are “outlawish, outlandish, outrageous, out of bounds, and out of order.” Deceiver and Trick Player: Lying, cheating, and deceiving are just some of the most offensive traits. A trickster can be an “unconscious numbskull” or a “malicious spoiler.” Shapeshifter: They are great at disguises, at changing their bodily shape, their species, and even fooling around with sexuality. Situation Inverter: Not contained by neat binaries or proper society, the trickster overturns any comfortable person, safe place, clear thing, or reasonable god. Messenger or Imitator of the gods: Sometimes having both divine and human traits, he moves like a mediator between god and humanity or life and death. He often escapes full retribution for his tricks and attempts to usurp the powers of the gods. Sacred and lewd: These adjectives are self-explanatory, don’t you think? Basically, the sacred can be turned upside down and twisted all around to be lewd and then vice versa. View this Crash Course Mythology – Tricksters: An Introduction [10:02 minutes].Links to an external site. The speaker, Mike Rugnetta, opens by saying that trickster “myths can get sexy, a little gross, and they are filled with betrayal, but we should be able to handle it.” So, get ready to meet some rebellious, transgressive, and shocking figures. Sometimes these tricksters are scatological. What? What does that mean? Sometimes these tricksters are underdogs who are often victorious because they use their smarts to outwit others. Yes, it’s true. The Crash Course also describes an African trickster, Anansi, who gets into some trouble after killing a very special person. You must read this other myth about The Story of Anansi,Links to an external site. who undertakes a journey to get stories, yes stories, from the gods. It’s really great! What would the world be without stories and myths?! Side Note! Kwaku Anansi (The Spider) is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, Kweku Ananse, and Anancy. Kwaku Anansi is a mischievous, eight-legged man who is the trickster god in Ghanaian folklore. He uses his wit and cunning to defeat dominant foes and has inspired popular American characters like Br’er Rabit and Spider-Man. The lore of Kwaku Anansi migrated to America via the slave trade and was eventually incorporated into pop culture. Listen. Basically, tricksters point to social values and express social teachings especially at times where growth and change are happening in society. It’s unclear whether these figures and myths are serving a conservative or radical function. But, as Hynes says, they do explore possibilities: “Their stories provide a fertile source of cultural reflection and critical reflexivity that leaves one thoughtful yet laughing; and what a culture does with laughter reflects its vitality, flexibility, and creativity.”
