Chris Newton

Matt Gonzalez

Section: F: 2:00 – 3:00

5 October 2016

A Modernist Blending of Folkloric Archetypes: Is There a New Cross-Cultural Tradition?

1.      Are there entities or persons of trickery in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God? If so, are they Native or African American tricksters? Or both?

2.      Is the novel a work of purely African American Folklore?

3.      In what ways do the different archetypes of the Trickster differ in moral agency?

The Trickster is a prominent archetype in both Native American and African American Folklore. In each tradition, however, the Trickster assumes distinctly different roles and appearances. The way in which it appears distinguishes the purpose of trickery in the philosophy of each culture. While the purpose of trickery differs in many ways, a similar theme of a need for skepticism while maintaining an openness to uncertainty is nonetheless present in each culture’s folklore.

In Native American Folklore, the Trickster often assumes a fluid and transformative identity. Despite the archetype’s negative connotation of deception, it is not proposed as deliberately repulsive and unjust, nor is it deliberately admirable and just in the tales. This is reflected by the myriad forms in which it appears, which often seem neutral: as natural phenomena, animals, a cultural hero (which may not have traditionally conceived heroic qualities), etc. The Trickster intends to contest the notion of a wise or commonsensical response to preconceived patterns of thought by continuously striving to stimulate confusion and chaos in its audience. The archetype’s fluid identity and cunning actions may be perceived simultaneously as both repulsive and unjust, as well as admirable and just, by its ability to provide consolation in embracing the unknown (for malevolence can be learned from a benevolent identity and vice versa). Its message is this: one learns most without any preconceived assumptions of what is to come from uncertainty; one cannot pre-establish certainty in the uncertain. In this way, its methods are uncomfortable yet enduring, and always succeed in teaching a moral or behavioral lesson. The way the Trickster transforms and the lessons it teaches provide a critique on the reliance of identities as a credible source of knowledge. In the tales, the Native American Trickster does not play or enact any specified role, nor presuppose any specific purpose, and in this way cannot provide an affirmative understanding of any genuine and stable point of reference in the various identities it assumes; consequently, it denies the existence of a particular quality that is capable of distinguishing disparate identities from one another more generally.

African American Folklore also maintains the archetype of the Trickster throughout many of its tales, although its characteristics and method of deception are slightly different. The ability to outwit and therefore employ uncertainty is largely writ in the archetype of the African American Trickster. Rather than its appearance being fluid, however, it often adopts an animal form, the most common one being Brer Rabbit. Eventually, after the emancipation of African Americans from slavery, the animal character became human in form. The message to be understood by the animal and the human differs. When the archetype appears as an animal, the status it achieves is earned solely by merit of its ability to win against its oppressors (in whatever way competition arises) and to thus have power in an exclusively declarative sense. In fact, a common theme that arose in African American Folklore, but which was not present in African Folklore prior, is the reasoning behind why certain animals act the way they do (Britannica). This may be extended to question the validity the power the animals are capable of earning from their actions beyond mere declaration. However, when the archetype appears in human form, themes of, “… virtue, power, honor, pride, and benevolence determine status,” and a moral distinction between just and unjust antagonists, not the trickster himself, becomes essential to the tale (Britannica). The tricksters themselves appear as weak and amoral and are only reprieved of these blemishes through the actions they perform to deceive their gullible oppressors. In African American Folklore, trickery is a method of establishing strength and achieving reward for this strength. It is a way of empowerment. The pranks the Trickster plays aim to overexcite the anxieties of the tale’s listeners, in order to inspire a calm sense of stability and assurance in those aspiring to outwit a stronger authority figure.

Native American Folklore was not recorded in print until the 1880’s while African American Folklore was not available until the late 1800’s (and was only made widely available in the 1880’s). It is interesting how the same archetype is present in two independently originating cultures and how they became so prominent and embedded in each culture’s teachings. Most striking is the difficulty of tracing the origin of the themes attached to the archetypes in relation to time and space. As independently developed oral traditions unrecorded until the late 19^th century, it seems troublesome to determine if the themes arose before, during, or after the exploitation they faced by the White Man, and if present before, what adaptations were made to these themes respectively, and which are original to the cultures themselves.

  Cunningham, David. African American Folktale. Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2016. <https://www.britannica.com/art/African-American-folktale>.

Harris, Trudier. The Trickster in African American Literature. TeacherServe, June 2010. Web. 6 Oct. 2016. <http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1865-1917/essays/trickster.htm>.

Native American Mythology. Myths Encyclopedia, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2016. <http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Mi-Ni/Native-American-Mythology.html>.