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Background and History
Anansi or Anancy is known as the trickster and is a staple for Jamaican and African cultures. Stories of Anancy were first told in Ghana by the Ashanti people. These stories were brought to Jamaica and other parts of the World by Ashanti slaves and were handed down orally through generations. Anansi is seen as a man or spider or sometimes a combination of the two. Furthermore in some parts of West Africa Anancy is considered a God and is credited with the creation of the world. In his stories as the spider God, he is said to be the go-between for humans and the other deities, particularly the sky God Nyame which gave people rain and the night. Anancy is known as one of the most powerful animal Gods in West African mythology.

The Anansi and Miss Lou book is a collection of Anancy stories written by Miss Louise Bennett Coverley. The book utilizes a blend of Jamaican creole and Standard English. Language used can help to create and maintain the gender dichotomy and reinforce gender stereotypes. Anansi stories specifically “Anansi and Lizard” and “Anansi and Sorrel” are Afro-Caribbean takes on the trickster spider. These stories though different uses language in a gendered way to convey a massage.

Who is Anancy
Anancy depending on the region will take on many forms. In West Africa, he is a spider God who is sometimes kind to people. In the Caribbean, he is an old wise and cunning man credited for giving sorrel its name. In parts of North America, Anancy is an old wise woman telling stories. While there are many stories and versions of Anancy is more common and popular tales depict him as a trickster, cunning, selfish, and sometimes cruel. He may help other creatures but only if he can benefit directly from doing so, Anancy is usually very observant taking note of his victim’s habits and quirks to take advantage of them to get what he wants. While his deeds are less than honourable is character and stories are renowned with people usually attributed to the little man overcoming great strength and adversary by using wit and cunning.

Anancy and Lizard Summery
Miss Lou’s Anancy and Lizard tells a story of a King in a faraway land who had a beautiful daughter with a secret name. He decided it was time for her to marry and ingeniously thought that any man that could guess her name would become her husband and eventually King. Anancy and lizard were very good friends and housemates. Each would try to figure out the Princess's name. So, they both went to the palace on a mission to discover the Princess's secret name. The Lizard hide in the tress, but Anansi outsmarted the lizard and went straight to the source hiding in the Princess's room. Then the King came to tuck her in saying “Sleep well, mi lickle Kosuka” hence Anancy caught her name. He sang the name repeatedly as he went home. Lizard caught the name from him, stayed back and he gathered up the courage to approach the King. Lizard announced the princess's name “Kosuka”, and the King rewarded him handsomely and told him to come tomorrow for the wedding.

Anancy dress up and went back to the palace to claim his princess but he was informed that Lizard had beat him to it. Hence Anancy concocted a plan to make some piping hot Cornmeal porridge and challenge lizard to have an eating competition. However, there was a catch as he made it seem like the Cornmeal porridge that just came off the fire was temperate. Thus, if he put it in the Sun it would only get hotter. Lizard did not want to look bad, so he obliged to the challenge. The deal was for Lizard to eat the porridge straight from the pot and anancy eat the porridge that sat under Sun. Anancy poured out the porridge for Lizard and he gobbled it down with the false sense of security that it was not that hot. However poor lizard throat got scorched up and he completely regretted his action. Anancy then capitalizes on this and grab hold of Lizard dragging to the palace before the king. Anancy accused Lizard of being dishonest and it was Anancy that figured out the King's daughter name first. The King commanded Lizard to defend himself however Lizard could not speak in his current state. The only thing he could outer was “crrrrrrk crrrrrk.” The King's anger was kindled against both men chasing them out of the palace. Yet, Anancy grabs all the money that the king had gotten Lizard and took it for himself. Thus, from that day until today all poor Lizard can do is croak courtesy of Anancy.

Jack Mandora me no choose none.

Anancy and Sorrel Summery
This version of the Anancy story was written by Louise Bennet Coverley and focuses on Brother Anancy who is depicted as older man(human). The story begins with Brother  Anancy standing at his gateway on Christmas eve watching the people on the street passing by heading to market. The persons passing had baskets with goods to sell, Anancy shouted out to the persons passing by “Happy Grandmarket everyone” to which everyone replied thank you, Brother Anancy. Anancy thought to himself at that moment that he had bad luck because everyone must have already stripped every tree bare so that they take to the market to sell, he thought this to himself as he saw persons walking by with various fruits. He then headed to the fields to see what was left and was quite upset when he realized that the fields were empty. While searching he stumbled on a plant that was red, he had no idea what to make of this plant as he had no idea what it was or what it could be used for. Anancy decided to pick the strange flower and bring with it to the market in hopes that he would figure out its use or purpose. When he got to the market he saw many persons with different fruits and vegetables on sale as well as persons with prepared food and who were also preparing food for persons who would be passing through the market. He then thought to himself that he needed to do something as well he stopped by an apple vendor to trade some of the red flowers he found with some of her apples. The woman then asked him what the name of his flowers was at which he replied that he would give her the answer if she exchanges the apples with him. The woman then replied that she wouldn't trade without knowing the name first, her neighbour then shouted out to her that if she wanted it she should just take it. Anancy then laughed and replied try if you can, the man then reached after Anancy at which point he dogged and then began to run away.

The man and several other persons then began to chase after Anancy shouting thief as they chased him. He ran until he got to the hominy vendor, the hominy vendor had a big pot with hot water at which point Anancy threw the red flowers in the pot in an effort to not let the persons chasing him from getting their hands on it. The hominy vendor then shouted and asked what he threw into her pot the persons who were giving chase then went up to the pot and were surprised at the colour of the water. One of the persons compared the colour to that of wine at which point Anancy gave out “it is wine” all while mumbling to himself “I hope this is not poison”. The man who started the chase took a spoon and had a taste of the red liquid, he had a disgusted look on his face and said: “this does not taste good”. At that point, Anancy gave out “it is not done brewing it needs sugar, ginger, and cinnamon”. He then stirred and then tasted his creation and said it tasted like real wine, the hominy vendor said it smelt nice. Anancy looked at himself in amazement and gave out “how so-real”, he then sold so-real all day, and in true Jamaican fashion so-real became sorrel.

Similarities and Differences
The main differences between both stories are in how Anancy is depicted. In the first story, Anancy is seen as a trickster spider while in the second he is seen as a trickster older man. In both stories, Anancy uses cunning and wit to trick and outsmart those around for his own personal gain. In the first story, he relied on his partner to set up the situation so that he could go in and claim his prize, and to escape he used his victim’s ignorance and ego to get the better of them. For the second story, he largely depended on luck and quick thinking to not only get out of a sticky situation but to also turn a profit. Both stories glory deception and cunning as strengths to get what you want.

Gendered Analysis
While examining these stories, I found a number of key areas which I thought were relevant to the purpose of this paper. These areas include gender representation and the negative stereotypes being enforced, particularly as it relates to race, and domestication/role of women, specifically in the second story. Firstly the main character is depicted as a man which creates this image of being con-artist, cunning, and tricksters or that the ideal man should have these traits if he intends to succeed and defeat those deemed larger or stronger. This perception is particularly damaging for black men and black communities as the hustler, trickster/con artist stereotype as been forced on the black community which is then reinforced through western media depiction of black men. I will, however, say that in some black communities some traits exhibited by Anancy would be considered to be ideal.

Women are mentioned in second story but they are vendors who add no real effect to the story outside of providing a scream and small comment about the smell of the sorrel. . This may indicate that women are not a man’s equal and that they will only be seen as fragile and afraid. The scream indicates that she cannot defend herself but can only shout for a man to come to her rescue. This in my opinion gives the impression that women are not able to think in the same ways as men. They aren’t clever or cunning and can be easily swayed into giving men what they want, this making them seem inferior and vulnerable. This is seen with the hominy vendor who is depicted as a woman in the story, not only did Anancy put his plant in her pot without her permission he also took additional spices from her without compensating her. This speaks volume, as one may conclude from this action that a woman’s voice is not heard in society. She is suppressed by her male counterpart and will always be required to submit. This may indicate that women are not a man’s equal and that they will only be seen as fragile and afraid. The scream indicates that she cannot defend herself but can only shout for a man to come to her rescue. They aren’t clever or cunning and can be easily swayed into giving men what they want, this making them seem inferior and vulnerable. Another example of this came at the beginning of the story with the apple vendor she wanted the apple but was unable to negotiate with Anancy to get which prompted her neighbour to get involved. Both stories depict Anancy as deceitful, greedy, cunning, and resourceful, and while many of these traits are seen as negative for a lot of people, these are the traits needed to succeed. As someone from the Caribbean particularly a Jamaican I can see these traits portrayed every day particularly in the media. Black people are seen as scammers, thieves, and criminals. We classify these persons as hustlers and they are values within our society.

Conclusion
Inconclusion Anancy stories are a cultural work of art that span generations of history and culture weaved into funny and thrilling stories but these stories help to reinforce many negative stereotypes about women and in particular black men. The celebration of deception and cunning which is the recurring theme of these stories only helps to hold the view that black communities are filled with criminals. The lack of women representation outside of being apart of his victims also shows that women are not seen as the mental equals of men especially when it comes to being quick thinkers or being cunning.

References