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Buffalo And The Coyote Character Analysis

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Why are the Buffalo and the Coyote important characters that act as important symbols to the Okanogan culture? In the story retold by Mourning Dove, it can be seen the symbolism that animals had on this culture and their importance. The Coyote, with his vanity, and the Buffalo, with his craving for revenge, both showed themselves as tricksters throughout the story by deceiving one another. This way, the author tells a story while really trying to show the readers the important roles and attitudes of both Buffalo and Coyote and how they affect their fate. Through the beginning of the story, the author introduces the initial conflict between the Coyote and the Buffalo, which eventually influences both character´s further actions and decisions. The Coyote found himself with the opportunity to laugh at his enemy´s bones, Buffalo´s bones, who used to scare him for such a long time. Then, he heard a monstrous noise which happened to be Buffalo. Afterwards, the Coyote was in a critical life-death …show more content…

The old lady uses the Coyote´s weakness, vanity, as he used the Buffalo´s to trick him by flattering him and saying he shouldn´t worry about cooking that he should leave that to her that it was not his work to do. So he gave in to rest, as he heard what he thought was totally true, but little did he know that it was going to be a sip of his own medicine. The lady took with her the soup while mocking him while saying “Sin-ka-lip’, do you want this?”; she knew that he would never be able to catch her. This, we can infer, was also a part of Buffalo´s plan to teach Coyote a “lesson”. At the end, it can be seen that the Coyote, throughout all the story thinking he had been clever, goes begging for a cow, while realizing the cow he had killed never really died and was back with his owner. The Buffalo, refuses to give him what he wants, therefore forcing him to go back to his country

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