Sophocles once stated, “Success is sweet, even if it comes from deception.” This truth is portrayed through three different short stories known as “How Stories Came to Earth”, “Coyote Steals Fire”, and “Master Cat: Puss in Boots”. In each of these three tales the main character spins webs of deceit by tricking people or, in some cases, animals into doing what they want them to. This includes Anansi’s act of tricking a snake into stretching himself out so Anansi could tie the snake to the stick in “How Stories Came to Earth.” Another form of deceit used, this time, in “Coyote Steals Fire” is when Coyote pretends to be dead in order to steal the fire from Thunder. In the story “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” Puss creates many empty threats to tell people so that they will lie for him. Each character obtains what he/she wishes to through a form of deception. While “How Stories Came to Earth”, “Coyote Steals Fire”, and “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” share similar tricksters who ultimately achieve their goals, they differ on the subject matters of their strategies, the benefits their tricks play on society, and the justification of their actions.…
Imagine inheriting a cat that was smart enough to make you rich. This is what happens to the miller’s son in the fairy tail “Master Cat”. The cat was an inheritance to a miller’s son whom he made rich. He did this with various methods of lying and threatening.the trickster tales “Master Cat or Puss in Boots” and “Coyote Steals Fire” both have many similarities as well as many differences.…
In the eighth chapter of Dubner and Levitt's book, Think Like a Freak, the authors promote the idea of persuading those who do not wish to be persuaded by telling the audience a good and convincing story. According to Dubner and Levitt, “if [the reader] really want[s] to persuade someone who doesn't wish to be persuaded, [the reader] should tell [his or her audience] a story” (162). A convincing story also needs to be cohesive; the story should have “a daisy chain of events, to show the causes that lead up to a particular situation and the consequences that result from it” (Dubner and Levitt 163). The authors wrote their book by providing the reader with numerous stories; as the book progresses, they use examples of the weighty decisions…
Both 8th grade classes have recently finished the book “Into the Mouth of the Cat”. So at this point, you may not know what the book is about, so that’s what we are going to talk about. Lance Peter Sijan; does this name sound familiar to you? Probably not, since he died nearly 50 years ago. Lance happens to be a ‘Medal of Honor’ recipient which is the highest award you could receive in the United States military. He was captured in the Vietnam war when he suddenly crash landed which left him stranded for 46 days until he was taken to a NVA camp. You see, there is a lot to know about Lance Sijan. After finishing the book, I realized that I actually knew a lot about him to the point where it felt like I knew him. Since you’ll probably read “Into the Mouth of the Cat”, I’m going to tell you a little bit…
Writers of modern stories are interested in portraying life. Often, in their stories, we get ideas and find the chance to see, examine, and question ourselves. For example, in James Joyce’s “Eveline,” we observe how fear of the unknown affects a young woman’s future; In Richard Wright’s “The Man Who was Almost a Man,” we see how a young boy’s inability to accept moral responsibilities impacts his life, too. “How would we handle their challenges?” Who is the stronger individual? The answer lies within.…
• “Fear of The Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire”: the creatures who terrify and interdict also evoke escapist fantasies (repulsion and attraction, as in the uncanny experience)…
“Good morning/afternoon class and *teacher*, today I will be speaking about how Michael Parker, the author of Doppelganger and Peter Jackson, the director of the film King Kong, accurately portray the main concept of the Beast Within through the symbolism of masks and the notions of betrayal and duplicity. I will be talking about Josh and Andrew from Doppelganger, Carl Denham and the people that he manipulated and affected through his deception, from King Kong and explain their contributions to the main idea of the Beast Within, how they wear a mask and how they portray the concepts of Duplicity and Betrayal.”…
Sometimes animals are replaced by humans to connect with the reader. In the Story Night Calls by Lisa Fugard, at first her story was about two Japanese birds but in the end she replaced the bird with a human character. Lisa Fugard creates a somber mood in “Night Calls” through imagery, figurative language, and the creation of mood. With the somber mood it made the story very interesting to read.…
One way that they are alike is that it tells how they became enemies, for example the Rat pushes the Cat selfishly into the river, and in the story he eats the boat and Cat thinks that Rat was trying to kill him and he tries to kill Rat. Another way they are alike is in both the legend and the story they are crossing a river, and in the story the Rat eats the boat that they were crossing the river in and in the legend the Rat pushes Cat off of the Ox while crossing the river.Lastly in both Cat gets mad at Rat and tries to hurt him, like when the Cat and Rat cross the river and Rat eats the boat and Cat gets mad and tries to kill him or when they are crossing the river and the Rat pushes him off Ox’s back and Cat gets mad and tries to kill him. These reasons are why I think that the two stories about Cat and Rat are more…
Cited: Attell, Kevin. Novels for Students: Man and Animal. Stanford University Press: Stanford California, 2004.…
Fairytales: when someone says that word, the first thing that might come up in your mind is probably kid’s reading Cinderella. Fairytales’ simplicity and accuracy in delivering a moral to young kids and adults is wonderful. We’d give an adult a eerie look if we caught them reading a kids book on the train to themselves. The reason behind our thought is cause it’s a kids book why would an adult read it but behind all this is the difference of interpreting stories for adults and children. Stories like Juniper Tree, Snow White, and Little Red Cap include hidden messages through violence and imagery and dialogue. Fairy tales teach children how to grasp the meaning and power behind storytelling. In this paper I will discuss the vast ways in which a child and adult interpret fairytales. Its…
For my research paper, I will be discussing about tricksters in history. Tricksters are archetype figures that are known for tricking other divine beings and humans for others benefit, or for their own personal gain. Tricksters I believe are those that give some sort of meaning to life. For instance, without bad, it would become really difficult to notice what is good in the world and vice versa. Some examples of tricksters are Prometheus from Greek mythology and Loki from Norse mythology. These figures are one of the most well-known tricksters in history. Tricksters are mostly described of always causing disorder and chaos to the human race. (Connor 1). This can sometimes be confused with Catholic religion, saying that the Devil is there tricksters.…
The mythological trickster; to some he is a deviant bent on bringing about chaos and evil, to others he is a helpful aid to society, poorly misunderstood. Trickster comes in many forms and can serve many purposes. It is said that trickster has some common traits yet it is also said in “Mapping mythic tricksters” (Hynes, 1993) that trickster is indefinable. Still we can use certain trait definitions to show observation of trickster at his best and perhaps his worst as well. It is pointed out by Hynes (1993), that there are six characteristics most commonly associated with trickster, trickster can be ambiguous and anomalous, a deceiver and trick player, a shape shifter, a situation inverter, a messenger and imitator of the gods, and sacred and lewd bricoleur. Any trickster that we look at will fit many if not all of these characteristics. Hannibal Lecter, a vicious killer and cannibal from the movie Silence of the lambs is a modern day trickster. At first glance Lecter appears to be nothing more than a psychotic freak with a taste for human flesh but upon closer inspection one can see that he is far more.…
Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” introduces a new twist on the old villainess character to the world of fiction. Mrs. Marisa Coulter is an almost purely evil character. Despite her charming and persuasive demeanor, Mrs. Coulter is the greediest, most power-hungry character in the trilogy. In Pullman’s world, every human has a daemon—a visible version of the soul that takes on an animal form. Mrs. Coulter’s daemon, a vicious little golden monkey, reflects its owner’s personality. “Only a few seconds, and the monkey had overmastered him: with one fierce black paw around his throat and his black paws gripping the polecat’s lower limbs, he took one of Pantalaimon’s ears in his other paw and pulled as if he intended…
A Kind of Flying is comprised of compilation of selected short stories by Ron Carlson. The stories are mostly written in first person. Carlson writes the story in an extraordinary and sensitive way with bizarre surface happenings. The stories are filled with imaginative humorous tales with epigrammatic dialogue. In the selected four stories titled, “Bigfoot Stole My Wife,” “I Am Bigfoot,” “The Tablecloth of Turin,” and “The Chromium Hook,” describes the concept and the difference between truth and reality, and what we choose to believe and not to believe. Credibility is one of the major themes addressed in the stories. It is also emphasized that determining between what reality is and what is not is a very difficult decision. Carlson appears to give the reader the degree of truthfulness; however, most of it is in fact not true. In the “Bigfoot Stole my Wife it is not his wife’s intention to leave him, but rather believe that she is kidnapped by big foot hairy beast man. The power of credibility is addressed in all four stories. (thesis).…