Lably
Skip to content

Uncle Remus

Folktale of the southern United States

  • 4 min read
  • 3 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Oral literature

Lab · Class 2Story Comprehension

Structure

Uncle Remus is a collection of animal stories, songs, and oral folklore collected from Southern Black Americans. Many of the stories are didactic, much like those of Aesop's Fables and Jean de La Fontaine's stories. Uncle Remus is a kindly old freedman who serves as a story-telling device, passing on the folktales to children gathered around him, like the traditional African griot.

The stories are written in an eye dialect devised by Harris to represent a Deep South Black dialect. Uncle Remus is a compilation of Br'er Rabbit storytellers whom Harris had encountered during his time at the Turnwold Plantation. Harris said that the use of the Black dialect was an effort to add to the effect of the stories and to allow the stories to retain their authenticity. The genre of stories is the trickster tale. At the time of Harris's publication, his work was praised for its ability to capture plantation Black dialect.

Br'er Rabbit ("Brother Rabbit") is the main character of the stories, a character prone to tricks and troublemaking, who is often opposed by Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear. In one tale, Br'er Fox constructs a doll out of a lump of tar and puts clothing on it. When Br'er Rabbit comes along, he addresses the "tar baby" amiably but receives no response. Br'er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as the tar baby's lack of manners, punches it, kicks it, and becomes stuck.

Sign in to keep reading

2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Sociology

African AmericansEthnic and cultural group in the United StatesCensusCompilation of information about a given populationIndustrialisationPeriod of social and economic change from agrarian to industrial societyPew Research CenterThink tank based in Washington, D.C., USPatriarchySocial system with male ruleSocial exclusionForm of social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society