Week 6 Reading Diary: Brer Rabbit

The stories of Brer Rabbit were fairly difficult to understand because of the dialect. These took me far longer to read simply because I had to basically dissect the stories. It was similar to attempting to read another language. The stories of Brer Rabbit very much made me think of the "Tom and Jerry" cartoons. Tom (the cat) will stop at nothing to catch Jerry (the mouse), much like Brer Fox would stop a nothing to catch Brer Rabbit and would even resort to elaborate schemes, but Brer Rabbit would out whit him every time.

One thing I noticed was that the narrator would break from the story and make referenced to things in the present. Such as in The Calamus Root story when the narrator is describing Brer Rabbit's garden and say that his garden's "like Miss Sally's out dar." You can really see that he is telling the story to someone. 

The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story is one of my favorites. I found it to be much more easily understandable than many of the others, probably because it was familiar. It made me think of those pranks in cartoons when someone finds a dollar bill on the ground and just when they are about to pick it up the dollar is pulled away by someone hiding and holding onto a string attached to the dollar.

How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox is another favorite of mine. I just find it to be oh too funny. It is the continuation of The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story. Brer Fox continuously attempts to catch Brer Rabbit so he can eat him. Finally he was able to catch Brer Rabbit using tar. Well Brer Rabbit out whits Brer Fox by telling him that he can do whatever he wants to him, just don't throw him in the Brer Patch. Well of course Brer Fox believes that this is a fate worse than death and throws Brer Rabbit into it, all to see Brer Rabbit escape from the Brer Patch because he was born and raised in it.

I believe that the stories that I enjoy the most are the stories with Brer Rabbit. I find his whit and cleverness to be enjoyable and hilarious.