Mythological Trickster In 'The Raven'

Mythological Tricksters

A trickster is someone who can formulate a plan that uses his or her mischievous ways so that they can always get what they long for. They can be secretive or totally blunt, it all has to do with a person’s mind and the ways that they can trick that person. They could twist words and find ways around a situation. When Anansi was trying to get his needed items, he fooled other creatures into doing something so they would fall into his trap. With the raven, his goal was to steal the sun, moon and stars from a village, if he completed that task he would be rewarded. Trickster’s are also shape-changers who bring about transformations in themselves, and they can sometimes use this ability to take part in the creation of the

The raven was "more of a changer than a original creator" (Mitchell 157). He then used that to his advantage while trying to steal the light. He transformed into a leaf that then flew into the chief's daughters water which she swallowed so, he became her new baby. His plan was to "transform himself once more" (Mitchell 158) into a baby that would soon become part of their family. He disguised himself as a child to gain access into their home. During all of the time the raven was staying with them, "no one suspected that he was not an ordinary little boy" (Mitchell 158). The Raven uses his aeronautical acrobatics to smoothly glide through the air. He symbolizes many valuable things in the mythology of native american cultures. (Lynch and Roberts, Native 93). The Raven plays the role of "a trickster who cannot be trusted" (Lynch and Roberts, Native 93). He had to steal a light from the only village that has it for his home. When he got there, "he used his trickery" and managed to capture "the caskets that contained the moon, stars and sun" (Lynch and Roberts, Native 93). "The raven's greed for light ended up being a benefit to all," (Lynch and Roberts, Native 158) he ended up giving illumination of the night to everyone in the

He was driven by his want of all of the tales and stories in the world. To receive ownership of all of the stories, Anansi had to capture and bring three specific things "Mmoboro, the hornets; Onini, the great python; and Osebo, the leopard." (Lynch and Roberts, African 9) to Nyame, the god that at the time held all of the tales. In order to bring these creatures to Nyame, Anansi had to trick them into falling into his trap. To deceive the hornets, he made a setting that was not comfortable for the hornets and told them to find shelter elsewhere. Anansi "offered the gourd as shelter" (Lynch and Roberts, African 9) so the hornets would make their way into the gourd but never find their way out. With Onini, the python, he persuaded him to tie himself to a pole to show that he was as tall as the pole, "he then carried the bound python to Nyame" (Lynch and Roberts, African 9). Anansi used being able to "transform himself into a spider" (Mercatante and Dow 68) to his advantage. His plan to capture the leopard was to make him fall into a pit that Anansi made and then convince the leopard to let Anansi assist in helping him out, then he would pounce. He used the trust that he had with the three animals to trick them into coming into his