Br'er Rabbit
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Br'er Rabbit (also spelled Bre'r Rabbit or Brer Rabbit) is a fictional character, the hero of the Uncle Remus stories derived from African American folktales of the Southern United States.
The word "Br'er" in his name (and in those of other characters in the stories) reflects the habit of addressing another man as "brother" in many African cultures. Indeed, the stories can be traced back to trickster figures in Africa, particularly the hare that figures prominently in the storytelling traditions in Central and Southern Africa. These tales continue to be part of the traditional folklore of Bantu-speaking peoples throughout that region. In West Africa, the trickster is usually the spider, though the plots of spider tales are often identical to those of rabbit stories.
The term brer lends itself to interesting linguistic speculation. Upon Brer Rabbit's first encounter on a country road with Brer Bear, Brer Rabbit calls him "Brother Bear". In French, the term for "brother" is frère and a Louisiana Cajun mixture (or corruption) of both terms brother and frère becomes Brer, used as a title in informal, direct address. Indeed, all characters animated or otherwise are "brotherly" to one another in Song of the South. Another interesting usage of language is the word "patch". In the movie, there is a briar patch, a cotton patch, and even a possum and bull patch, where o'possums and bulls are raised. Usage of pumpkin patch and cabbage patch are all that have survived into our present day speech.
Many have suggested that the United States incarnation, Br'er Rabbit, represents the Black slave who uses his wits to overcome circumstances and to enact revenge on his adversaries, representing the white slave-owners. Though not always successful, his subversive efforts made him a folk hero. But the trickster is a multi-dimensional character. While he can be a hero, his amoral nature and lack of any positive restraint can make him a villain as well. For both Africans and African Americans, the animal trickster represents an extreme form of behavior which people may be forced to emulate in extreme circumstances in order to survive. The trickster is not to be admired in every situation; he is an example of what to do, but also an example of what not to do. The trickster's behavior can be summed up in the common African proverb: "It's trouble that makes the monkey chew on hot peppers." In other words, sometimes people must use extreme measures in extreme circumstances.
Br'er Rabbit stories were written down by Robert Roosevelt, uncle of President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt wrote in his autobiography, about his aunt from Georgia, that "She knew all the 'Br'er Rabbit' stories, and I was brought up on them. One of my uncles, Robert Roosevelt, was much struck with them, and took them down from her dictation, publishing them in Harper's, where they fell flat. This was a good many years before a genius arose who, in 'Uncle Remus', made the stories immortal."
These stories were popularized for the mainstream audience in the late 19th century by Joel Chandler Harris, who wrote up and published many of the stories which were passed down by oral tradition. Joel Chandler Harris heard the tales in Georgia. Very similar versions of the same stories were recorded independently at the same time by folklorist Alcee Fortier in southern Louisiana, where the Rabbit character was known as Compair Lapin in Creole French.
The stories were retold for children by Enid Blyton, the English children's writer.
While modern Americans generally pronounce the second 'r' in Br'er, the original pronunciation was "Bruh" or "Buh." When Joel Chandler Harris spelled "Br'er" with an 'er' at the end of the word, he was indicating the Southern pronunciation of the final 'er' as in "brothuh" (brother), sistuh (sister), or faa'muh (farmer).
The Disney film Song of the South was based on the Br'er Rabbit stories, including these:
The Magic Kingdom and Disneyland thrill rides, both known as Splash Mountain have a Br'er Rabbit theme.
In 1975, the stories were retold for an adult audience in the cult film Coonskin, directed by Ralph Bakshi.
A direct-to-video film based on the stories, The Adventures of Brer Rabbit, was released in 2006.
A popular brand of molasses called "Brer Rabbit" is distributed by B&G Foods of New Jersey.
[edit] The Tar Baby
The tar baby was a trap -- a human figure made of tar -- used to capture Br'er Rabbit in a story which is part of American plantation folklore. Br'er Fox played on Br'er Rabbit's vanity and gullibility to goad him into attacking the fake baby and becoming stuck. A similar tale from African folklore in Ghana has the trickster Anansi in the role of Br'er Rabbit.
In Southern black speech in the 19th century, the word "baby" referred to both a baby and a child's "doll." Thus, the expression "tar baby" meant a tar doll or tar mannequin.
The story was originally published in Harper's Weekly by Robert Roosevelt of Sayville, New York.
Years later Joel Chandler Harris wrote of the tar baby in his Uncle Remus stories.
Although sometimes misunderstood to be made-up, words such as "copperosity" and "segashuate" used in The Tar Baby are representative of the African-American vernacular pronunciations of the words "corporosity" and "sagaciating." <ref name="Language Log: How's your corporosity sagaciating?"> "Language Log: How's your corporosity sagaciating?" Language Log, retrieved November 29, 2006.</ref>
[edit] Endnotes
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