Visualizing a myth, a person usually pictures a grandiose telling of an epic tale. One with superhuman powers, one with mystical symbolism, one with a moral that seems so painfully obvious after the tumultuous actions of the act has been completed. One, however might exact a mental double take if they are presented with a cartoon character as the icon and main character of a myth. Despite appearing laughable, and childish, the true story behind this cartoon character, Brer Rabbit, is one in which the fundamentals of a myth are concurrent, one that stand the tests of time, and one that teaches us of a deeper value, and of a historical reverence.
The actual story of Brer Rabbit is a story within a story. Told by the fictional Uncle Remus, the tales of the rabbit are “folksy” anecdotes and vignettes of his antics and interactions. Highly rich in the vernacular of the Antebellum Era through the period of the Reconstruction, the adventures of Brer Rabbit are highly symbolic and are parallel to the plight of the underdog of the day- The African American slave and after that, the under trodden EX slave, still liberated in the eyes of the law, but still bound by the unfair ropes of mental segregation and prejudice.
The deeper significance of this myth is just that, it shows the injustice of slavery on the bounds of intelligence and of ability. Given the premise that the slave is ignorant, the slave is a mental sheep and of no intellect, we see that this is reversed in the myth, and that it’s the other way around. The captor is the ignorant and closed-minded person for abusing and keeping the slave in shackles. And on the other hand, we see the slave, witty, quick and smart. A probable significance here is that appearances are not as always what they seem in this dialectic of truth. Other probable but subjective meanings of the parable, show us the consequences of slavery. Running through the story is the theme of the slave getting his just desserts against his captor. Perhaps it was created as a warning to what can happen to a potential slave owner? Therefore, it is of the belief that is a functionalist myth. Its purpose is to serve the notion of Slavery in the sense of social order, and the fact that the order COULD be broken with wit and skill. This is of course, all based on the local praxis of slavery- this was primarily told in the south. It could be considered a National Identity Myth in this instance. It wasn’t widely known and popularized until Walt Disney brought this story to the public consciousness in his 1946 film Song of the South. Looking back to the original myth it highlights the social concerns of the age, and perhaps even questions the morality of the “peculiar institution” itself. It tells us that the culture that created it was one of suppression, of conflict, and of greater need to soothe the social wrongs and angst of the day. A slave created myth, it becomes a cry for help against injustice, a strike at the real ignorance of being enslaved, and a personification of the general longing for freedom. The parallels are seen with the Villainous Brer Fox (the slave owner) capturing Brer Rabbit (the slave) and the unfortunate rabbit begging for mercy. It shows the blinding stupidity of the captor as Brer Rabbit always cunningly escapes the clutches of the Fox by getting him to do his bidding with his wit. It shows that brains and knowledge far surpass the “power” of the whip and of the enslaving rope. It’s a moral fable, a metaphor for the society of the slave. This myth is even a social charter explaining the way of the unfortunate world. Though social charters might be a concrete term for how the world works, this once again is changeable in its praxis. This is America, where thought is the impetus for change. This telling of this myth might chronicle the current terrain of thought, and those of abolitionists of the age and the encroaching want for social change that would ultimately erupt in a calamitous Civil War, but might also seek to mold it in the future as a satire might. There is a truth in every joke, or every over exaggerated character in not only myth and folklore, but in EVERY story.
The narrative is still told today by the spoken word, through the internet, and most commonly, though the aforementioned Walt Disney Classic, Song of the South film. Now, it is told with a almost historical reverse, It’s a living document to what was, and what we can never let be, again. The Myth is not longitudinal; it’s withstood the tests of time and it has far surpassed it’s locality and becoming part of the National Identity. It has been placed at the heart of America’s collective conscience perhaps, as we all can relate to a underdog, trying to defeat a villain, and trying to find something better in the world.
And so, in closing we see that this tall tale, a yarn of folklore is a myth. Not in the grandiose and romantic sense of the word, but one that defines a people, a culture, a meaning, and tells a story with a purpose, with a hope for a world in which myths are perhaps not needed, a inspired world, perhaps a more just world.
Got a 100% and a ton of comments on the actual work itself.
Good times.
