There are a few different tribes in Africa that praise and believe in the story of

Anansi such as the Ashanti tribe and the Yoburo tribe There are also many takes on

this story and ways people have made the story their own. One of the many stories that

stood out to me was that Anansi tricked the sky god into giving him the wisdom that he

was keeping to himself. Even though it wasn’t for free. Anansi needed to capture the

strongest creatures on earth to be able to carry the wisdom that the sky god had. This

would seem like an impossible task but in reality, Anansi was manipulative and cunning.

This allowed him to trick each creature and take them to the god in exchange for the

knowledge he possessed.

In these tribes, they don’t believe Anansi is good or bad, they think of him as

someone clever. They believe that wit and wisdom can overcome size and strength just

as Anansi overcame all those strong creatures. In West African culture, the reason they

don’t see Anansi as evil is that during slavery these stories are what kept them going

when facing the horrifying conditions they faced during slavery. They also don’t see him

as evil because they thought that if they thought and acted like Anansi they could use

his cunning and manipulative ways to escape and trick their slave owners.

When reading the story I felt as though Anansi’s evil came in the form of

manipulation. Perspective plays a big role within these stories because how I might feel

reading a story can be completely different from someone reading the story and also

knowing the background. To West Africans, they heard and saw this story as a small

escape from the slavery that they were experiencing. They thought that if they were like

Anansi they could escape and be free. Without knowing the backstory of Anansi my

perspective and view on the story was completely different.

 the context within stories, paired with other cultures’ perspectives, which can be

very different if they only understand small pieces of the other culture.

it can be detrimental to not have the knowledge and understanding of stories like

these. While reading various stories about Anansi some of the stories depicted him as

evil when in reality it was a story about survival and doing what you can to get out of a

bad situation no matter the cost. While I may have seen Anansi as a bad guy to the

Caribbean people who were in slavery and suffering that was sometimes all they had.

Stories and an imagination to escape from the brutal circumstances that they were in.

Since I may not know what it’s like to be in those life-or-death situations it’s hard for

people like myself to see that sometimes there is no choice and it is all about survival.

Looking at the psychological aspects of stories themselves and their importance

you see how important they are for children and adults alike. Children who may be just

learning about the world through these stories or adults changing their perspective on

how they view the world or experiences because of the hidden meanings within them.

When reading stories and tales people change how they act sometimes whether they

realize it or not. While you’re reading a book or story you may find yourself acting like a

character because, in reality, humans try to fit in with whoever they are with or whatever

everyone else is doing. For example, if you see everyone running towards an exit but

you don’t see danger you’re more than a little tempted to run towards the exit as well

because everyone else is doing it.

People unconsciously empathize with the character they are reading about. Even

if you know you personally are not in the story you start to understand because of the

perspective you are reading from. People may not notice the difference but if you look at
the difference between reality and the subconscious, people tend to jump to conclusions

whereas in books you are actually sitting there listening. You start to learn that people

need stories and fairytales because they may help them with whatever they are going

through just like the Caribbean people when dealing with slavery. These stories may

help with psychological issues you are dealing with unconsciously.