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Neal Caffrey A Trickster Essay

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In many traditional folklores, trickster characters are portrayed as being animals or other nonhuman entities; for example, Coyote in Native American tales, Br’er Rabbit in African American stories, or the devil in Blues legends. However, nowadays with an endless supply of movies and television series, while there are still animal and nonhuman tricksters, the trickster character can be commonly found being portrayed by mere men. Nonetheless, animal or man, these tricksters all encompass the same signifying traits, “He defies authority. He goes against the rules. But he does it in a way that’s often lovable, and that often results in good things for the culture at large,” (Sutherland). One of these more recent tricksters being portrayed by a man on television is the character Neal Caffrey of the program White Collar. Neal is an ex-convict, ex-con artist more specifically, who was incarcerated and instead of serving time in prison is working with the FBI as an insider on cases. First of all, he is a trickster because he was, and very might well still be a conman. Second of all, he is extremely cunning and can use his words to manipulate people and …show more content…

But now, after analyzing his character I realize just exactly how he made me fall for him and why this character works. I also learned that we can learn a lot from him. First of all, my analysis of Neal Caffrey has completely changed the way I view the world. Observing the way he deceives people so incredibly easily, he makes me want to be less trusting and be more cynical. I consider myself to be a very naïve and gullible person, and I can’t imagine how I would feel if I were to be one of Neal’s victims. Therefore, I am trying to change this about myself and in turn protect myself from the “covert American hero” otherwise known as a “confidence man,” (Hyde,

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