Native American Trickster Tales

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Native American Trickster Tales
American Literature I
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TRICKSTER TALES DEFINITION

• Trickster tales are an oral tradition passed
  along through the generations, from mother to
  daughter, father to son.

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• Oral transmission of culture is nothing new.
• Before the invention of writing, the majority of
  human experience was recorded via memorized tales.

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• The Iliad and the Odyssey, two of the oldest
  stories in the Western world, were transmitted
  orally long before they were written down.

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Native American Trickster tales seem to primarily
serve three purposes
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• 1. They are great entertainment, recording the
  exploits of rather foolish, often funny, actions.

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• 2. They teach how to behave appropriately in
  ones culture, since so many tricksters behave
  like madmen.

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• 3. They perform an etiological function, i.e.,
  explain why reality is so

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• Oh! So thats how a chipmunk came to have
  stripes, or how birds came to have pierced beaks.

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• They perform an essentially human symbolic
  function, forcing us to consider
• who we are,
• what we do,
• and why we do it.

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• The tales are archetypal, embodying primal
  patterns that are universally applicable to all
  human beings, in all times and in all places.

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• Of course, the tales do not readily admit
  themselves to a culture reared primarily in the
  Judeo-Christian ethic.

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• The Native American concept of the universe where
  they found themselves

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• Pantheistic, meaning, that the Great Spirit, the
  Native American name for God

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• Embraced all the universe.
• Creator and created are not separate in this
  cosmological worldview,

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• but are inextricably intertwined
• a working metaphor might perhaps be the concept
  of a
• GREAT GODBODY,

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• where all the parts are cells making up the
  larger wholea holistic worldview that has
• no separation from the creator, and
• no fall.

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• This is blasphemy in the Judeo-Christian
  tradition!

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• The reason the creator God is separate from His
  Creation.

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• Native Americans saw no such separation
• they saw connection.

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• Hinduism, the only remaining major world religion
  that still retains a polytheistic and pantheistic

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• spiritual structure, apparently has connections
  with the Native American philosophy.

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• Apparently, from what anthropology teaches us,
  the people of the continent of India,

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• are members of the Mongolian race
• most of the peoples of Asia, the Eskimos, native
  North Americans,

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• are generally characterized by yellowish or
  reddish skins, straight black hair, and uniquely
  shaped eyes.

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• The Native Americans, in their Creation and
  trickster myths, are not so different from you
  and I.

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They ask the same cosmological questions
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1. How did the universe come to be?
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2. Why am I here?
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3. What is my purpose?
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4. How should I live?
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5. Where am I going?
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• Like all human beings, the Native Americans
  created myths.

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• Myth comes from the ancient Greek word mythos,
  meaning literally an explanation couched

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• in story form that attempts to explain all the
  fundamental, important questions of human
  existence

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from time immemorial.
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• So, the Native Americans talk about that
  beginning time again and again in their tales,

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• as do the aboriginals of Australia in the
  Walkabout that explores the Dreamtime,

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• another myth by another people in the Southern
  hemisphere on the continent down under.

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Back to Trickster Tales
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• Tricksters (as well as Trickster Tales) are
  archetypal, and used to inform, guide, or explain.

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• In Native American tales, little distinction is
  made between animals and humans,

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• as well as the natural and the supernatural, if
  such distinctions can be made.

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• Coyote, rabbit, hare, raven, jay, and wolverine,
  are animal names for human, temporal experiences
  that are universal

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archetypes, once again.
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• However, it is important to remember that

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• Trickster is a term first used by Daniel G.
  Brinton in the 19th century to describe a mythic
  creature

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• that appears in the oral tales of the peoples of
  Native America.

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Native Americans dont use the term Trickster at
all.
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Trickster is alive and well today in popular
culture.
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Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny are perfect
examples.
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• Comedians such as Jay Leno, David Letterman, and
  Jim Carey, perfectly embody Trickster
  characteristics.

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• To use a cliché, whatever goes around, comes
  around.

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Watch your back.
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Embrace your significant other.
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The Coyote is always out there waiting to mess
with the unwary.