Laughing All the Way to Wisdom

The Trickster is a common figure in the various folklores and mythologies of the world, and the Ojibwa are no exception. Among them, the Trickster archetype is known as Nanabozho. Nanabozho played an important part in Ojibwa folklore; he educated the tribe with seasonal story-telling, often aiding and teaching his human cousins. On the other hand, Nanabozho could also be cruel, even taking human life. Nanabozho, like many of the world's Trickster figures, was a wildcard - neither clearly good nor clearly bad, he served as a catalyst, a means to make things happen.

Perhaps no one has written more extensively on the Trickster than Gerald Vizenor, author of Interior Landscapes: Autobiographical Myths and Metaphors. Vizenor makes it very clear in the beginning of the book that the Trickster has served as a profound influence on his life and writing:

My father, and his brothers, told better stories than the nabob novelists. The tribal tricksters in their stories were compassionate, crossbloods, and they liberated the mind. (Vizenor, p.25)

Thanks to these influences, Vizenor identifies with Nanabozho. The teller of often humorous and always enlightening stories, the Trickster is precisely what Vizenor strives to be; in this, he has a fine role model.

Throughout Interior Landscapes, Vizenor takes on the role of Trickster; that is, telling us amusing stories from which we can garner some insight. These stories are usually not simple comedy, just as the Trickster is not a mere jokester. Much of it is bittersweet and even tragic. But through it all, we cannot help but crack the occasional smile. Take, for instance, this passage, in which Vizenor describes being picked up for shoplifting as a child:

"Are you ashamed for what you have done?" Zero one leaned back in his executive chair and folded his hands on his chest. "We watched you both for more than an hour." He smiled, at last.

"Even in the toilet?"

"Smart ass to boot," said another zero. (Vizenor, p. 52)

Here we see the young Trickster, and the beginnings of an anti-authoritarian streak which would continue throughout Vizenor's work. Note how the security guards are referred to not as "guards" or "officers," but "zeros" - implying that they are somehow unworthy of actual names and job titles. He makes a humorous query ("Even in the toilet?"), but with a characteristic dearth of humor, the looming authority figures simply deride him as a "smart ass."

Notably, like Nanabozho, Vizenor is in a moral grey area - he is not clearly a villain or a hero, though he is undoubtedly an engaging character. Regardless of the justice or injustice of their grievance, the officers are clearly proven guilty of a cardinal sin - humorlessness. Herein lies the lesson, and the Trickster once again enlightens his readers in a way a scholarly discussion could not. By elucidating the margins, the moral greys, and the amusing incident, the Trickster teaches us about life and ourselves.