What Is Folklore and How Is It Used In Past and Today - Essay Example

?What Is Folklore and How Is It Used In Past and Today Grade What Is Folklore and How Is It Used In Past and Today Folklore has long been associated with tales passed from one generation to another. They are common among the African American and Native Indians community. In the past, folklore tales were used to take people back to the beginning of their ancestor’s lives. They were used to reminisce what they hoped for and learn from their defeats (Abrahams 15). African American folktales origin was from their forefathers brought from Africa during slavery. This was all done against their will. People were separated and torn apart from their cultures. They had to learn new languages, make new families and create new cultures and customs. Folklore tales have been a mirage to link their past with the present. African American entering America after the end of the Civil War as slaves meant they did have the same basic rights as the white slave owners. They could not speak their own language nor allowed to read and write. There only option was to learn the American English. The slaves were forced to hard labor and chained never to run away. They lived under unbearable conditions and during that time, only folklore tales from back home kept them alive. As slaves, they lived without citizenship and rights (Baurer 121). They were thus treated like properties. The same way one will treat their animals. During all this time, no amount of rigid labor could repress their power of imagination. Out of contact from their old world, they formed new habits with different combined memories. Out of all these came a body of folk expressions. To persevere, slaves had to create tales, where animals were the main characters. These animals were in turn personified to represent certain humans and their elements in the plantation environment. They included animals such as the rabbit, fox, bear, wolf, lion, snake, elephants and possum. Their physical and intuitive nature was used to represent certain elements in humans (Abrahams). The rabbit, snake, lion were always the favorite animals character for the story tellers. It is worthy pointing out that folklores have always had a hidden meaning. An animal like the rabbit is small and most of the time it has been presumed to be helpless as compared to the wolf or mighty lion. During folklore narration, the story teller always made out the rabbit to smart, tricky, witty and cleverer than the other animals. With these characters and symbolism, the rabbit was capable of winning over the bigger and stronger animals. In this tales, one cannot help but notice the rabbit always getting into trouble. This offers us a similarity to what the slave were always going through. The character of rabbit thus furthered the cause of humanizing the slaves (Lauter 58). With slaves identifying themselves with the rabbit, it made the tales extraordinary under the animal folklore genre. Still focusing on slavery and the character of the rabbit, there is a lot of similarity under this narrative. In the American history, it has been occasionally noted that freed slave and immigrants who lacked legal status did manage to serve in various wars. Just like the rabbit, despite occasionally getting into trouble, they always believed in serving their cause irrespective of the majority opinion. This includes standing up for their rights. Certain section of slave narratives have always involved true tales of them escaping as developed, as the modernized and cinematized tales of magic, supernatural powers and dream escape tales. By 1876, slavery had been abolished in Cape Verde. This is an island and country in West Africa. At that time it was occupied by Portuguese fishermen who did freely immigrate to the Americas. In their own unique way, they had a history of slavery. With them they brought and shared their highly individualized folktales (Lauter 16). The book, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings by Chandler Harris happens to be the first documentation of black folktales. In the book, the main character happens to be an elderly Uncle Remus who happened to be a slave in an old plantation. It is through this book that one can clearly say that’s where many Americans were first exposed to Black folktales. He (Uncle Remus) was notorious for telling animal tales in broken English to the young white boy at the plantation house. It should be noted that the author seemed unconcerned with reproducing the exact tales or the languages. He and his colleagues were known for using a phonetic dialect as a literary device. They seemed to think that using an exaggerated informal language could best symbolize what was viewed as the old-fashioned appeal of the low rural people. This is one of the many reasons why some folktales recorded by early collectors have proven difficult to read. This is as compared to the narratives that were informed of letters and petition written by the slaves themselves. With time, collectors were able to convey the folktales in a more realistic fashion (Farr 37). It should be noted that a majority of the tales were created out of sorrowfulness. Nonetheless, the hearts and minds of the black men and women who created and passed them over did so out of love and hope. This calls for the reader of folktales to observe them as a celebration of the human spirit. The African American community have always been celebrated and admired for their storytelling abilities among other many things. This story telling art form was brought into America by the African captives. This art form has remained mainly dormant among African American except during family and church meetings. With the rise of technology and the entertainment industry, this art form has been resurrected. The Black oral heritage mastery has been brought back and alive among the African blood line. As a dying art form, there has been a worldwide call for storytellers (Huber 19). Audiences have always varied from family meeting to national and international festivities. The spoken word has become an activity that every person inspires to participate in. This is within the true African tradition spirit. African American storytellers have formed and adapted stories that are used in teaching and reaching the hearts and minds of people in many ways. It is a known fact that writing of these stories can be frustrating to the contemporary artist. Nonetheless, the artists have persevered despite some of the stories losing their color and liveliness when put into writing. With the availability of the written tales, it can be counted to be a gain for any aspiring contemporary artist. It is a known fact that in the past, the identity of the story teller was lost to the future generation (Huber 48). With written records, credit can be duly given to the writer. To the unborn storyteller, they will be able to breathe some life into the tales while adapting and customizing them to the needs of their listeners. Since time in memorial, people have always had the desire to spread the word. This has allowed people the ability to talk and walk the talk. Simply put, they are now still able to grab ones imagination and mould it for as long as they wish while creating images of the good, strong, and weak and the bad. They have mastered the ability to make their audience laugh, cry, scream and be amazed by their storytelling mastery. These folks have ended up taking up many different careers paths. Presently, the best story tellers are preachers, comedians, singers, rappers, writers and poets. During performance, a storyteller is supposed to use whatever it takes to get his story across. Listening to them is like listening to the heartbeat of their motherland, Africa. Seeing and listening to them is an experience that can only be described as a magical theatrical performance. It is worthy pointing out that the storyteller, the troy and the audiences are all equivalent importance. A great story has to be full of humor, emotions, rhythmic language and wisdom (Creel 94). The storyteller and his audience are expected to be flexible. The main advantage is that no one is worried about making mistakes. With this, something new is always created and passed on to the next generation. In Nina Revoyr’s novel, Southland, the reader is introduced to the history of the Asians, blacks, and Mexicans in Los Angeles. It is in South California where the history of racism appears dynamic, changeable and interwoven. The author has represented to the reader a compelling story of love, race, history, and murder against the alleys and backdrop of the Los Angeles City. The main character, Jackie Ishida, is a Japanese young lady who by chance discovers many issues relating to the past secrets of her family that had remained hidden. The narration focuses on the quest for present and past racial justice in this city (Revoyr 26). Southland is a complex story exploring the fragile relationships and sometimes very painful misunderstandings occurring across different lines of cultural and racial practices in the city. It presents the story of a city undergoing both ideological and social changes. This paper answers four questions related to the Novel’s representation of Los Angeles as a city of different communities linked by the continuous experiences of prejudice and racism. The story has presented the major characters in the view of the dystopian of the city as an ideal society in full possession of different social, legal and political systems. In the novel, we have the two characters, James and Jackie, who encounter in Los Angeles for a common good and therefore have to respond to the reality of being inhabitants of a city of people from different races and of different color. The encounter of the two characters as represented in this story is rather peculiar since it appears to have happened by chance. During her last academic semester in the Law School, Jackie Ishida’s grandfather by the name Frank Sakai dies. His death is something that is totally unexpected at this time of her life. Jackie’s grandfather was a soldier of the World War and had been a storeowner in the Crenshaw District (Revoyr 29). This is a neighborhood with a mixture of different races in the heart of the black community in the city. While Jackie Ishida is in her mission of having a request for her will, she discovers that there are four black individuals who had been killed in his grandfather’s store in 1965 during the famous Watts Riots. These four murders had never been solved and remained undercover for all that period. She encounters James Lanier, a cousin to one of the four victims, with whom they try to dig deeper towards understanding the cause of the four deaths (Revoyr 75). In the process Jackie ends up getting a lot of secrets about her family as well as about her own history. Jackie encounters James while she is searching for Curtis Martindale who had been indicated to inherit the store as per Frank’s old will. Jackie’s auntie, Lois, believed that Curtis deserved the store as indicated in the will. Jackie encounters James who informs her that Curtis was among the four dead boys. Although James and Jackie are from different backgrounds and races, they appear ready to assist each other towards finding the murderer and by so doing unearth the secrets surrounding Jackie’s family. These two individuals have different behaviors and social values considering that Jackie is viewed in the story as a lesbian. It is from this kind of association of the characters that the reader understands the facts about racial and family tragedy in the text. This presents an exact analysis of the historical developments of Southern California as part of an unforgivable history (Revoyr 83). Jackie and James are individuals who realize they have a common ground in search for the murderer of the four boys and engage one another across cultural and historical grounds that appear to be in constant dispute. This is a common reality of living in this society with individuals from different races and of different skin color. It should also be noted that the use of the two characters has played a great role towards the development and transformation of this society. Between the years 1870 and 1930, the boosters era was experiences in Los Angeles towards realization of an economically stable city. It was later in this period when the ‘booster’ ideology motivated the growth of the city from a small urban dwelling. This was seen as the right approach towards the realization of the American Dream. The novel has been able to transform and rework the major ways in which the boosters appear to have promoted and packaged the image of the L.A. city towards the realization of the American Dream (Revoyr 64). By moving out and in of the historical past, the story develops a real picture of the struggles in the society towards realization of development despite the struggles witnessed in the city. The better parts of this novel is dedicated to bring to the reader a compelling story revolving around murder, love, racial ideologies, and historical presentations at the heart of the American city. During this time, the people were able to develop the city and make it possible to achieve the American Dream. For instance, Frank’s store is symbolic of these processes towards the dream. In the novel, the interaction and association of characters from different racial backgrounds is a clear indication that there is reworking of the ways in which the boosters promoted the development of this city and by so doing achieve the eagerly anticipated American Dream. The author of this novel also presents several activities done by people from different races to improve their living situations. For example, we have farms and other activities that are aimed at improving the city’s economic status and also make people’s lives much comfortable (Klein 68). Basically, this text expresses many developments and racial associations aimed at making the city a paradise. The timeline presented through Frank’s death from the early years of the century to his death helps the reader understand how the novel has reworked the ways the boosters tried to promote the image of the city. The novel also presents lots of evidence regarding the city as one of loudest and longest subjects in the country. This is proven by the unreported murders and racial differences as reported in the novel. It also explains the repercussions of the penetration into L.A. by different races and how they end up interacting with one another. Such penetration is increased by people’s struggles towards realization of the American Dream. The author makes the argument that the history of racism and that of the racial groups is something dynamic and interwoven (Revoyr 87). This situation therefore leads to paradoxes of conflict and cooperation, and freedom and restriction in Los Angeles. In this paper, we have been able to define folklore, and how it has been used in the past and present. These folktales have been used in study curriculum with the hopes of developing students. They are been assisted through listening, reading, speaking and improving their writing skills. This has been done through the use of African American folktale. It is the teachers hope at the end that the student becomes a better listener, reader, writer and a story teller (Anderson 12). It’s worth pointing out that teaching of folktales should be a three part process. The first part in teaching folklore has involved reading of folktales to students and asking questions with regards to the characters. In recent times, the next logical step will be discussing the underlying themes within the tale. The students get the chance to scrutinize word for word of the folktale. It is through doing this that the core section of the series will come into focus. In this first part, reading the literature is the key to understanding the folktale. Understanding the vocabulary strategy is the next key component. Key words tend to hold deeper meaning as they are often used to integrate the component of the story. Strategic reading has to be the next area of focus. This will involve students previewing and predicting what they think the story is all about. It will also involve them setting purpose for reading so as to help them concentrate on the core facts of the tale. The second part of understanding folklore is knowing how and when to respond to literature. It also involves having a story follow up and summarization of the literature. Students should be able to tell the tales without having to refer to the literature. This will allow them to appreciate the literature (Pellowski 23). It is during this time that critical thinking takes place. Students will be allowed to participate in an activity in relation to the subject of the folktale to show their understanding and interpretation of the literature. The third and final part will involve learning through literature. It is at this point that comprehension skills will be taught. It is at this juncture that students can learn how to be storytellers. In this phase, the student shall be able to learn how to focus, practice and summarize the taught folklore. It is worthy pointing out that the poetry elements of the tale shall be discussed in detail at this point. At the end, the students should be able to identify the different poetry or poetic techniques used (Anderson 28). They should also be able to apply what they have so far learned while been able to summarize everything learnt. It is during this time that workbook pages are created. Multicultural perspectives in relation to the folktale will also be compared to other countries folktales taught. Any poetry that is related to the folktales is read and discussed at that point. With all these part of the process mastered, one will not require much time to study or learn much about other folktales. The process will in the end prove to be time consuming, quite repetitive while teaching one many skills that a student may not be able to completely master. It has been noticed that a majority of average students tend to lose interest fast. Due to time factor and complicated curriculums, integration of science, art and music to the subject of the folktale could be hindered due to time factor (Pellowski 71). As a student, I have come up with a formula that allows me understand what is been taught easily. The first step involves choosing the folktale I want to read. The next step is doing a mental warm up exercise to get me focused on the tale am about to read. It is also important if the teacher initiates a short discussion of what characters entails and their roles. This will prove in the end to be effective as students will be able to concentrate during the learning process. This also proves that folktales are useful today as they were useful to the slaves. Certain folktales are suitable for a certain age group. Tales with animal characters are often read to children as they tend to interest and increase their reading levels. Nevertheless, folktales with whimsical characters are better for younger students. The common feature at any folktale ending is the lesson learnt by each and every character. From the past to present, folktales have been used to teach that ever action taken has its consequence. Thus, people have always been encouraged to do good and be good irrespective of their position in society or wealth. Works Cited Abrahams, Roger. African Folktales, New York: Pantheon, 1993. Anderson, Robert. Elements of Literature. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Inc., 1999. Baurer, Caroline. Handbook For Storytellers. Chicago: Library Association, 1997. Creel, Luke. Folk Tales of Liberia. Minneapolis: T. S. Denison and Company, 1990 Farr, Roger. HBJ Treasury of Literature: A Most Unusual Sight. New York: Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1993 Huber, Miriam B. Story and Verse for Children. New York: The Macmillan Company, 2004 Klein, Norman. The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2007. Lauter, Paul. The Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol.2. Massachusetts: D.C. Heath and Company, 1990. Pellowski, Anne. The World of Storytelling. New York: Bowker, 1997. Revoyr, Nina. Southland. New York: Akashic Books, 2008. Read More