Reading Notes: Brer Rabbit, Part A

The Wonderful Tar-Baby

Summary: Brer fox was chasing brer rabbit (presumably to eventually eat him) but he got away the first time. In this story, brer fox laid a trap for brer rabbit by putting a tar-baby in the road on his path. Brer rabbit struck up conversation with the baby, ended up sticking himself to the the tar, and brer fox won this round because the rabbit was stuck. 

• Enjoyed the subtle repetitiveness of several lines
• "Brer fox, he lay low"
• "The Tar-Baby, she ain't saying nothing."
  
• The dialogue was entertaining and prompted the story forward
• The building tensions between Brer fox and Brer rabbit are something I would like to try to mimic in my own story-telling

 

Brer Fox taunting Brer Rabbit while he is stuck to the Tar-Baby. 

(image found here)

How Mr. Rabbit was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox

Summary: Brer fox, after the previous story had ended up with brer rabbit sticking himself to the tar-baby, approaches him and lists out all the was he could potentially kill him to eat him. He lists things like hanging, skinning him, or drowning him. After each option, brer rabbit tell brer fox that he could do anything he wanted except throw him in the briar patch. Of course, this idea eventually prompted brer fox to do just that, and when he threw brer rabbit he saw that he was outsmarted and brer rabbit escaped yet again. 

• Again, the repeating lines were a nice touch
• "but don't fling me in that brier-patch"
• "but do for the Lord's sake don't fling me in that brier-patch"
• The author always does a good job with dialogue and narration
• The defeat of brer fox over and over again is a good idea for a villain's story if I write one. 

Overall, I would like to mimic the episodic nature of the story. I need to get better at dialogue between characters that feels natural, so I think I could refer back to this to do so. I also enjoyed that there was a clear dialect that wasn't confusing for readers, but worked to create a picture of who the characters were and what they would be like. 

Bibliography: Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings, by Joel Chandler Harris (1881).

"The Wonderful Tar-Baby"

"How Mr. Rabbit was too Sharp for Mr. Fox"