What's Inside
This volume gathers a sprawling array of Southern plantation tales, anchored by the recurring dialogues between an elderly storyteller and a young visitor. The stories focus primarily on the exploits of a quick-witted rabbit who navigates a predatory world by inventing elaborate pranks, shifting blame, and using his surroundings to overcome his physical inferiority to predators like wolves and bears. Alongside these narratives, the collection includes contributions from other narrators like Daddy Jack, providing a diverse set of mythologies regarding animal origins and supernatural occurrences. The stories are presented in distinct dialects that reflect the oral traditions of their time, framing the human and animal worlds through sharp, rhythmic exchanges.
Works & figures
- Uncle Remus
A veteran storyteller who recounts animal legends to a boy. (in “Nights With Uncle Remus”)
- Brother Rabbit
A small, clever animal who consistently survives through cunning deception. (in “Nights With Uncle Remus”)
- Mr. Benjamin Ram
A musical animal who uses his fiddle to intimidate predators. (in “Nights With Uncle Remus”)
- Daddy Jack
A narrator from the Sea Islands who shares primitive dialect tales. (in “Nights With Uncle Remus”)
What it's really about
- Survival
- Wit serves as the primary weapon against overwhelming force.
- Origin Myths
- Animal traits are explained through past dramatic events.
Why it's memorable
- A rabbit's foot sitting on a cabin hearth to ward off supernatural threats.
- A ram playing a fiddle to drive wolves into a panicked retreat.
Where to start
Start with the story of the pigs in Chapter VIII to get a feel for how the storyteller handles a younger audience's interruptions and curiosity.
For your book club
- Is the rabbit a hero or merely a desperate survivor?
- How does the shifting narrator change the tone of the legends?