Week 10 Reading Diary: British North American Unit

So I did the half-reading for the British North American Unit, and overall liked it pretty well. There's a good blend of different types of stories in this unit, from trickster stories to creation stories to ones that combine elements of both. Animal and human characters both feature pretty heavily in these stories, and I found it interesting how many of the stories associate a certain aspect of nature with tribal organization. For example, in "The Origin of the Chinook Wind" there are the Cold People and the People of the Heat. In "The Coming of the Salmon" there are Salmon People, which are divided into many different tribes, as well as Berry People. As with most other Native American stories I've read, there's a definite feeling of a fluid barrier that exists between different species. A person can be a salmon in one instance and a human the next. Even the inanimate things of nature, such as rocks, are capable of speech and, to a limited extent, movement.

My favorite stories were "Wolverine and the Geese," "Big Turtle," and, most of all, "Coyote and Fox." All three of these tales feature great tricksters. Although I typically associate wolverines with dumb, brute force, the wolverine of "Wolverine and the Geese" is actually pretty cunning in how he uses a song to distract his prey from his malicious intentions. This story is also used to explain why the loon's eyes are red by showing that it was the angry curse of Wolverine that initiated this transformation. While it seems like kind of a random thing to add in, it appears that trickster stories quite often contain cosmological themes. The other great thing about this story is how the trickster ultimately becomes the fool. Although Wolverine has things his way in the first part of the story, it's ultimately Jay who gets the last laugh.

Sorry, Wolverine, you can't always have it your way (Un-textbook)

I like "Big Turtle" mainly because I just enjoyed how Turtle uses reverse psychology to win the day. It's amusing to see how Turtle toys with Eagle's friends, telling them that he enjoys being placed in a fire and then proclaiming his horror at their threat to throw him into the water. The line "Oh, no! I am afraid of the water!" had me chuckling quite a bit.

"Coyote and Fox" is an awesome story since it pits two classic trickster characters against each other. It's fun to see how Fox trolls Coyote and how Coyote struggles to get him back. I considered Coyote to be kind of the king of tricksters, so I was surprised to find that Fox has the upper hand throughout pretty much all of the story.