Positive values : the figure of the trickster as a catalyst for community in selected works by Sheila Watson and Tomson Highway

This thesis examines the relationships of individual characters with the trickster figure in Sheila Watson's The Double Hook and Tomson Highway's The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing. The trickster in The Double Hook exists as the psychological projection of the characters and a ritualistic mediator between forces in the community. Each person's reaction to him as he simultaneously tempts with stasis and goads toward action illuminates the move from mental and physical isolation to community. Tomson Highway uses the trickster in both Rez plays as a spiritual representative of traditional values guiding the people toward an increased feeling of community. On a broader plane, Highway also brings the trickster to the forefront in order to promote a sense of cultural pride among Canada's Native community. The thesis contends that the duality of the trickster figure allows him/her to convey to the characters not only the positive aspects of community but also the negative effects of spiritual and/or physical isolation. Thus the trickster becomes an important catalyst in stimulating a sense of community.