Source: http://tinyurl.com/kvwvskq
I
plan on focusing on the various mechanisms and devices Mark Twain uses to
convey humor in his stories. I will also try to draw in examples of modern day
humor that use the same type of approach.
In
the show Review, Andy Daly takes on a similar style of deadpan humor to that
which Twain uses. In the show, Daly takes a serious approach to reviewing life
events no matter how absurd they seem. In the clip I included, he reviews what
it is like to be a racist. The way the narrator, Daly, goes about his task is a
great example of deadpan humor. Notably, Twain uses this kind of humor in his
short story A Day at Niagara.
The story begins,
and if the narrator is believed to be seriously writing a review, Niagara Falls
seems like a very charming place. Twain starts out by saying, “Niagara Falls is
a most enjoyable place of resort. The hotels are excellent, and the prices not
at all exorbitant” (Twain 20). He is beginning to paint a picture that the
falls are a desirable place to visit. In his next lines though, Twain makes it
obvious that he is not being serious about his review of Niagara Falls. His
review quickly turns to obviously being ironic, and his previous statements now
appear to be ironic as well.
Sources:
Twain, Mark, and Charles Neider. The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985. Print.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15TyRtA73Ks
Otto- Your post brings up a good point. I definitely think you could expand it a little more to talk about the other mechanisms of humor you may have noticed. Do you think some of the comments that Twain makes would be considered to be more ironic or sarcastic? What do you think the message is that Twain is trying to send to the reader? Perhaps it would be interesting to see how this differs when he is talking about the tours versus the narrator's experience with the Indians? Just some interesting things to think about!
ReplyDeleteI think Amber raises some good questions to remember to ask ourselves while reading Twain's stories. I wish you had gone into a little more depth on his use of humor and its significance by perhaps elaborating on how Twain uses an ironic tone when describing one's experience at the Niagara. But I appreciated your reference to the Review clip because it put in picture what Twain similarly aims to do in his writing - which at times can be a challenging feat to unearth the underlying message of his stories. The power that Daly's deadpan humor had in conveying the message about racism helped me grasp the type of effect Twain means to have in explicitly yet somehow subtly drawing out the absurdity of different social systems, standards, circumstances etc through the style and tone of his writing.
ReplyDelete