Essay Week 10: The Cherokee Trickster

When reviewing the readings this week from the Cherokee Unit, one of the things that stuck out to me the most was the tricksters and fools category. The common trickster throughout the stories was the rabbit, who appeared in six of the stories. The characters were never given a name, but the rabbit was often challenging the other animals to competitions, such as duck hunting against the otter and a race against the terrapin. The rabbit does not do well in these competitions however, because the terrapin fools him and he also tries to cheat at duck hunting.

Other activities that the trickster rabbit gets involved in are stealing the otter’s coat, stealing the possum’s tail, and filing the deer’s teeth down. In each of these cases, the rabbit was trying to obtain an item from another animal that he was jealous of. Unlike the competitions, he is actually successful in stealing these various items from other animals.

In a different scenario, the story of Flint Visits the Rabbit actually portrays the rabbit as a hero. Although he still uses his “trickster” ways to accomplish his task, the task is actually a noble one this time for the benefit of others. Flint has been helping to kill all of the animals and the rabbit bravely decides to visit him and trick him into falling asleep at his house. The rabbit successfully makes him blow up and even gets injured the process.

Not much is given as far as information of other characters interacting with the trickster, except the ones that he tricks into competitions or adventures. There is no talk about the other animals trying to get him back and he is never talked about except when he is actually involved in the story. Overall, the trickster in this unit seems to be more of a fun, outgoing character than a sinister one trying to cause trouble.

Rabbit.

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