In this and last weeks unit, I found out that Mr. Rabbit basically can not be fooled. He has the occasional slip up, but always quickly composes himself in order to get him out of the predicament. In some ways I didn't like this. Mr. Rabbit was portrayed as infallible, which I agree, can also be said for any of the other cartoons that I watched as a child. If you look at Jerry from Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny from the Looney Tunes, and even the Roadrunner from Wile. E Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon. The one difference I notice between these cartoons and the Brer Rabbit stories, is that Mr. Rabbit makes a conscious decision to trick other people, taking delight in it. Where as with the Saturday cartoons, the main "infallible" characters don't make the decision to be chased by the other characters. This is my biggest issue with Brer Rabbit, that it condones a character that actively chooses to trick people.
Even thought the language was hard to get used to, I did enjoy it immensely. Listening to the Librovox audio gives you a good sense of how people people talked in that era. When you closed your eyes and just listened to the story, you could see yourself sitting on a chair next to Uncle Remus and the little boy. This gave me an insight as to what the culture of that time was.
I am really glad that I stuck through both of the Brer Rabbit units. While I was a little purse with Brer Rabbits joy in tricking the other characters. I feel enlightened that I got the chance not only to imagine, but also hear the language of the culture. I believe that how people talk is as much of a cultural identity as rituals or other things that people say define a culture.
Seth, I just happened to notice your essay and I wanted to say that you made my day here! I am one of Brer Rabbit's biggest fans! I wasn't sure if anybody would want to do two Brer Rabbit units, so I really debated about whether to include that second unit... but I could not resist. And now, reading your essay, I am really glad that there was plenty of Brer Rabbit to keep you going, ha ha. When you get to the Native American units, you might check out the Cherokee stories: there's a trickster rabbit in there who is surely Brer Rabbit's very close cousin! :-)
ReplyDeleteI didn't see an image here but you could still be working on the post (I just now saw it pop up in my blog feed reader) - so add an image when you get a chance. There's all kinds of fun Brer Rabbit material out there from the old illustrated editions.