Brer Rabbit

“BOY, WHO WAS BRER RABBIT?

He was your mother’s back-door man, I thought. Anyone knew they were one and the same: ‘Buckeye’ when you were very

young and hid yourself behind wide innocent eyes; ‘Brer,’ when you were

older.” (pg 242)

Origins

• Western, Central, and Southern Africa

• Trickster

• West Africa he is a spider but similar stories

• American Version is thought to be slaves outsmarting owners

• Brer refers to greeting others as brother

Tar Baby Story

• Brer Fox and Brer Bear make a doll covered with tar and trap Brer Rabbit

• Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Fox into flinging him into a brier patch, where rabbits are at home

• Trickery allows escape

Uncle Remus

• Narrator of African American Folktales

• Fictional

• Created by Joel Chandler Harris in 1881

• Stories told in Slave Dialect

• “Uncle” had racist connotation

Disney

• Story Appears in Song of the South

• Never released on VHS because of race issues

• Splash Mountain ride uses beehive instead of Tar Baby

• Children’s story

Buckeye vs. Brer

• Buckeye is children’s version

• Children don’t see racism

• Brer is version for those who are enlightened

• Blindness

Questions

• What other children’s stories have a much deeper meaning, similar to Brer Rabbit?

• Are there situations in which you have been ignorant to the true meaning behind something, or an situation in which others have been blind to the meaning of something?

“BOY, WHO WAS BRER RABBIT?

He was your mother’s back-door man, I thought. Anyone knew they were one and the same: ‘Buckeye’ when you were very

young and hid yourself behind wide innocent eyes; ‘Brer,’ when you were

older.” (pg 242)