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What Is The Trickster Archetype

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All of us have developed from an infant, who can not care for themselves, into a functioning adult. Through these years, there have been moments of change within ourselves and to our environment around us. Over our development, we have heard different stories with characters of all kinds, one of these being the trickster archetype. The way that the trickster is portrayed, as well as how we have perceived the character through our development, has changed. As a child, we read about people who are liars and learn that they are “the bad guys.” As an adult, that same character may be a comedic relief for the story, as opposed to a bad person. I believe that due to children’s development and understanding of concepts, the trickster archetype is …show more content…

Even in childhood, we can see that a child in toddlerhood has different capacities of those in middle childhood. Cognitive development is one psychological form that allows us to study these differences. One approach in particular, Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, is particularly useful in studying the differences between stages in childhood (Wadsworth 5). Jean Piaget is considered one of the most important researchers regarding children’s intellectual understanding and his studies are still incorporated in research and books today. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development begins with infants and toddlers between ages 0-2. This stage is called the sensorimotor stage. In this stage of cognitive development, children learn schemas, or patterns of behavior, and begin to understand anticipation …show more content…

Other characteristics such as the ones listed above in each stage can affect the characters in stories, as well. When a child can comprehend cause and effect, they may begin to understand the goal behind a character or story, even on an extremely basic level. Other aspects, such as reversibility, are another example. Some tricksters in kids movies, such as Mushu from Mulan, go through this transformation of reversibility from being a good person, going to a bad person, and them change their behavior back to that of a good person. Mushu is being selfish as he persuades Mulan to join the army. He does this to get recognition from her family. Through the movie, he realizes what he is doing and becomes more selfless (MULAN CITATION). A child who can understand irreversibility and know that characters can change back into their previous behaviors, can begin to understand the goal that this character has for the

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“The Trickster may be a foolish figure who reveals human avarice, they are often selfish or mean-spirited which results in being punished” (Millisaw). This quote explains that if you do harm, bad things may come to you, your family, or your tribe. A tribe that used this characteristic was the Mojave. They often associated a coyote or a fox with this type of behavior. It was not good to be called the fox or the coyote.

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The strongest villain we have encountered in literature thus far is Arnold Friend. Premiering in Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where are you going, where have you been,” Arnold Friend is inspired by a true story. In 1960, there was a man that preyed on young girls in Arizona, later called the “Pied Piper of Tucson.” Although this man wore obviously fake makeup and clothes, he befriended the young teenage girls with his charm and sweet talk. Similar to the real man, Arnold Friend is a character that talks his way out of every question he is asked by everyone. Arnold Friend is a man of deception, hiding behind his disguise as a teenage boy, whose charisma allows him to get what he wants.

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For instance, Puck mocks humanity in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, fast-thinking Brer Rabbit outfoxes Brer Fox and Brer Bear in Disney’s Song of the South, and Bugs Bunny follows a long tradition of tricksters in Warner Bros. Looney Tunes. Nevertheless, cartoons and stories thrive with other paradoxes and ironies, as do Brer Rabbit and Bugs Bunny, signifying that the trickster could function successfully in numerous

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In the novels Bear Heart by G. Vizenor the trickster incarnates two different and contradictory characters. One character is deceptive, cruel, rude and intrudes, the other does mainly unintentional and sudden things that are in favor of the people and harm their enemies. Other destiny page 238 Trickster is spread in many cultures but his mythological image is changing. In Africa, for instance, it is a spider, in India it is a monkey, Scandinavian trickster is depicted as the Loki god, and in America is portrayed as a coyote.

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The main character in my story was Pocket, a rather clever fellow who dresses like a fool but in fact is much cleverer than that. In the story he acts like a fool would, than ends up showing his true colors, by tricking, deceiving, and outwitting his enemies. I found a certain part where he end up lying and blackmailing an entire room of a kingdoms rulers into thinking they were about to be destroyed by a new type of weapon that a fleet of ships were carrying. That, by the way is only one of many interesting tricks he decided to pull on the kingdom and his enemies, and he always had this strange attitude of always being positive, but also strangely heartbroken, sad or somewhat daft. I’m not quite sure if he meant to do all these things

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The final characteristic is Trickster, in the Christianity culture Satan is known for his tricky ways, lies and deceit. He has many faces and is known to be loose on earth, presently. Satan comes in many forms and can be unrecognizable. The Male Devine is unique and interesting.

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The character is often depicted as selfish, not thinking about consequences or its effect on others. They are frequently depicted to experience delight in the pleasure of tricking others. Tricksters are either shown as the villain of the story, a comic relief character, or, in some cases, a sort of hero of the story. 3) (Tracks) Louise Erdrich writes about a small group of people facing major struggles during a time of historical transition in

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Now, tricksters are characters that engage in deceitfulness or magic, in order to get what they want. The character Anansi is a spider from West African folklore. Meanwhile, Iktomi is half -human and half-spider, known to be a cultural hero in the Native American tribe of Lakota. Each of the cultures associated these two characters in tales called trickster tales. Anansi and Iktomi have differences; thus, they are not the same character.

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Since childhood, we have been forced to engrave in our minds a mental image of what a “villain” must look like. Whether it’s the “big bad” wolf or the cookie “monster”, cliché conventions have become our method of familiarity; a method by which we distinguish hero from villain. Names and monstrous appearances have only enhanced these conventions, thereby making it harder to understand the more complex villains. Thus, two stories will be used to understand the varying range of villains that circulate popular culture in today’s world in an attempt to solidify the basis upon which a character may be deemed a villain or not. The visual representations of villains in Star Wars: A New Hope and Watchmen, prove that villainous nature can range from

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For instance, Dionysus, a god of fervent inspiration, insanity, and ecstasy. In Heracles and Dionysus, it states, “After traveling through Thrace and the whole of India, where he set up pillars, he arrived in Thebes, where he forced the women to desert their houses and abandon themselves to Bacchic frenzy on Mount Cithairon (604). Like other tricksters, he is an outsider but also serves as an outlet to express the desires that are in opposition with the ethical code upheld in society. In modern American culture, an example of a trickster is, The Joker an anarchic counterpart to Batman’s struggle for order exhibits more than a few features of the trickster model. He is mysterious, unpredictable and has a significant fixation with gags and pranks that are sometimes innocuous, sometimes lethal.

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The classic trickster archetypes represent the traits of deceitfulness, craftiness, and stealthiness. Tricksters will repeatedly annoy the gods to make a name for themselves, or they will commit an act of great proportions, gaining infamy in their respective realms. Others, however, commit an act of trickery that results in punishment, such as the deceitful serpent in Genesis. However, Hermes, from Greek Mythology, used a mischievous act at a young age to gain notoriety and influence later in his life. Rather, Loki, depicted in Norse Mythology, committed malicious acts from his position of power.

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The trickster archetype is found throughout cultures whether, its oral and written tradition. Lewis Hyde, the author of Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art, says that the trickster “must be masters of deceit” (Hyde 7) and that they are “the mythic embodiment of ambiguity and ambivalence, doubleness and duplicity, contradiction and paradox (Hyde 7).

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Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct stages: the sensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2; the preoperational stage, from age 2 to about age 7; the concrete operational stage, from age 7 to 11; and the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and spans into adulthood. He believed that there were four necessary ingredients for cognitive development which included: “maturation of the nervous system, experiences gained through interaction with physical world, social environment, and child’s active participation in adapting to environment & constructing knowledge from experience.” (Sullivan, 2014, Slide 3) The sensorimotor stage occurs between birth and age 2. Infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and handling objects.

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Brief History Jean Piaget was a Twentieth century Swiss psychologist and was the first psychologist to systematically study the cognitive development of children. Thomas (2005) wrote that early in Piaget’s career he worked with children and his observations and interactions with the students led him to the theory that a young person's cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults (pp. 188-9). According to Ahmad, et al. (2005) , Piaget showed that when compared to adults, young children think in differently and he then came to the conclusion that cognitive development was an ongoing process which occurred due to maturation and interaction with the environment (p. 72).

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Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Cognition is a process where different aspects of the mind are working together that lead to knowledge. Piaget’s cognitive development theory is based on stages that children go through as they grow that lead them to actively learn new information. Cognitive change occurs with schemes that children and adults go through to make sense of what is happening around them. The change that occurs is activity based when the child is young and later in life correlates to mental thinking. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development start from birth to adulthood

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