Expository Essay of “Anansi’s Fishing Expedition

All over the world at some point ancient people have told stories and they have been passed down by word of mouth. Many famous stories and epics such as “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” have been passed down this way. “Anansi’s Fishing Expedition” is one such West African folktale. Often told by the Ashanti people, who have a very rich oral tradition. Like many West African folktales “Anansi’s Fishing Expedition” is a trickster tale. The Protagonist, Anansi, tries to be arrogant and greedy and, as a result, he ultimately falls for his own trap. Anansi’s two major character flaws, which are being greedy and arrogant, can be seen throughout the story. Greedi

Anansi is introduced as person who likes to live well and have other people do things for him. ness is a major character flaw since it shows up in numerous instances. He also becomes over confident because is thinks he can fool people again and again. "Anene succeeds in tricking Anansi by letting Anansi"tms arrogance get the better of him. If there"tms such a good price to be had, why shouldn"tmt I get it instead of you"tmAnansi"tms other character flaw is that he is very arrogant. "What I need is a fool for a partner. " Another instance is when Anansi when says that he would have the big catch the next day and let Anene take the sixteen measly fish. I shall cut the branches and you get tired for me!" There are several other occurrences of this sort where Anansi believes that he is succeeding in doing work, while in actuality he gets duped in his own scheme. Another example of Anansi"tms avariciousness is shown when he says to Anene that he would sell the rotten fish traps if they got more money. Anansi is greedy to the point where he wants Anene to be tired for him and he himself ends up doing all the work. Since he has fooled numerous people before he thinks he can outwit them all the time. This shows that he is greedy and wants something by doing nothing.