LSAT 158, Section 1, RC Passage 2, The Trickster

RC Passage 2 Explanation

Paragraph Summaries

1. A character called the trickster appears in Native American stories. Recently, European literary criticism has used the same trickster term to describe their picaro character. Both picaro and trickster are heroes in episodic adventures, both live on the edges of society and both are morally flawed.
2. The trickster and the picaro are actually very different. The picaro indulges in vices freely, to the outrage of the rest of society, who only secretly and hypocritically indulge in vice. These societies marginalize the picaro to protect their self image, and this contrast creates satire.
3. The trickster doesn’t serve a satiric function. The trickster myth uses the trickster’s deeply flawed character to instruct listeners about moral behaviour. In trickster stories, society is not corrupt.
4. The author gives an example of the coyote trickster to show how the trickster myth teaches listeners about proper limits. The comic figure of the coyote has an obviously impossible desire for a star, and falls to earth. The author says listeners will recognize themselves in the trickster’s wild desires.

Analysis

The point of these two passages is to show that two characters who seem similar are in fact very different. Here are some key differences between the two:

• In picaro stories, society is corrupt. Society has the same desires as the picaro, but they suppress these desires and engage in them only secretly.
• In trickster stories, society is not corrupt. Only the trickster is.
• Picaro stories are satirical. We realize everyone is like the picaro. By contrast, trickster stories are moral lessons: we are meant to learn not to be like the trickster.

This is mostly a detail passage. Success comes from knowing the details in the passage analysis section.