Literary Humor: Ha versus Blah
Humour, seldom considered a valid literary technique, is often viewed
only as a auxiliary to "more important" details like characterization
and theme. Literary comedy, however, can range in importance from a simple
means of getting attention to the singular purpose behind a writing's existence.
Even theme, one of the most important features in most writing, tends to
give way if the humour content is great enough. The different uses of humour
can be demonstrated by three selections in particular: The Hunting of the
Snark by Lewis Carroll, Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need
by Dave Barry, and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Each uses a different method
to earn its appeal, and each was written for a different purpose, but the
real difference between them is the varying levels importance the authors
assigned to humour.
The Hunting of the Snark is an excellent example of a poem written completely
for the sake of nothing in particular. The refrain serves as a good example:
They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap.
This seems absolutely nonsensical when taken out of context, but the
wonder is that it makes no sense even when taken with the rest of the poem.
This is great fun, but any attempt to glean some kind of literary value
from the piece fails miserably. Without humour, The Hunting of the Snark
would be nothing; with humour, it's still having a hard time.
Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need is completely different;
it is based on the exaggeration of problems and the ridiculing of everything
from airlines to Disneyland. Here, humour is very important as a way to
capture the reader's attention, but there would still be something left
if the humour were taken away. Barry makes real points about real annoyances
in life; however, by using satire instead of direct insult to make his
point, Barry not only avoids lawsuits but makes his opinion more generally
acceptable. For instance, rather than stating outright that he cannot believe
airplanes are really safer than cars, he says it sarcastically:
But statistics show that, when you're in an airplane, you're actually
four times as safe as when you're driving your car on an interstate highway!*
* Provided that you are driving drunk and blindfolded
People accept his criticism more readily because it is phrased as a
joke. The statement itself is no less real, and possibly more so; humour
here is important, but more as a way to gain an audience to the information
Barry wants to put forth.
In Catch-22, on the other hand, humour plays a very different role.
It is not the whole purpose behind the book, but nor is it simply a particular
way to present an opinion. Instead, humour is used to permanently capture
the reader's attention at the beginning so that he can be "force-fed"
the theme later on. Catch-22's humour serves another purpose as well: it
mirrors the feelings of the main character, Yossarian. As things get worse
for him, the jokes come less rapidly and eventually trickle to a stop.
This plunge from exhilaratingly happy to depressingly serious is made all
the more pronounced by Heller's careful consideration of where humour is
and is not appropriate. In Catch-22, the highs and the lows of emotion
are not as important as the contrast between them. Humour serves along
with serious writing to create an altogether more powerful effect.
In each of the three works, theme seems to become less important as
humour becomes more important. In other words, the more important humour
is to a writing, the less important it is to develop a theme. The Hunting
of the Snark, for example, would appear not to have a theme at all. Any
individual line, stanza, or fit can be assigned some kind of significance
if enough effort is taken, but when considered with the rest of the poem,
no overall moral or theme seems to evolve. For example, when the beaver
was "Recollecting with tears how, in earlier years / It had taken
no pains with its sums," one would almost think a moral is present,
encouraging youth to work hard in school; however, upon further investigation
it turns out that the particular "sum" with which the beaver
had not bothered was two plus one. Of course, this was insignificant since
after being taught by the Butcher, the beaver realizes that "It had
learned in ten minutes far more than all books / Would have taught it in
seventy years." Carroll has contradicted himself, which achieves the
desired quota of humour, but fails completely to generate any kind of lasting
"deeper meaning."
Compared to this complete lack of cohesion in The Hunting of the Snark,
Dave Barry's Travel Guide begins to seem like excellent literary material.
The theme here could be loosely defined as "a universal complaint
about every possible aspect of travel." There are two ways in which
such a theme could be presented: the "old guy whining a lot about
something he doesn't like" style, and the "Dave Barry" style.
Dave Barry's own personal technique has several benefits, not least of
which is that no one really wants to read some old guy's complaints about
something he doesn't like. However, Barry manages to present the same complaints
in a way that is not only acceptable, but appealing and entertaining. In
a "Bonus Packing Tip" which explains "how to pack a suit
so it won't come out wrinkled," he lists several complicated steps
which conclude with:
Ha ha! Isn't this fun? You may feel stupid, but trust me, you're
not half as stupid as the people who think they can fold a suit so it won't
come out wrinkled.
Admittedly, a "general complaint" theme is usually weak, but
if it's funny enough, people will not really notice. Few literary techniques
can hide a deficiency so well.
In contrast, Joseph Heller would be considered an excellent author in
that Catch-22 has not only a theme, but a well-developed one. Catch-22
makes a strong statement about the horrors of war and their ability to
change a person very much for the worse. Now, this does not seem something
to joke about; in fact, possibly the theme's most important aspect in regards
to humour is that they are mutually exclusive. The book alternates between
developing a theme, which gives it literary significance, and comedy, which
makes it far more appealing to the average person. It cannot do both at
the same time. An example probably demonstrates this best. Little is added
to the impression of war's evil influence by the following statement from
Yossarian's roommate, Orr:
"With rubber balls in my hands I could deny there were crab
apples in my cheeks. Every time someone asked me why I was walking around
with crab apples in my cheeks, I'd just open my hands and show them it
was rubber balls I was walking around with, not crab apples, and that they
were in my hands, not my cheeks."
It is when Orr is lost at sea and presumed dead - which isn't at all
funny - that the theme becomes agonizingly clear. The reader is affected
all the more because his sentiments about crab apples are lost forever.
In the same way, all the sources of "comic relief" in the novel
are systematically eliminated and become even more important to the theme
by their absence.
Humour, then, is extremely important in literature. Anything that is
worth reading despite the complete lack of "traditional" elements
like theme is certainly under a powerful influence. However, humour does
not have to exist on its own. Books like Catch-22 show that humour, and
its carefully planned absence, can make a good thing even better. Besides
this, in all three cases humour added an element of enjoyment that would
make any writing more popular; as most authors presumably write with the
intent to have their work read, humour is not something to be ignored.
References
Barry, Dave. Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need. New York:
Ballantine Books, 1991.
Carroll, Lewis. The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits. Champaign,
IL: Duncan Research, 1991.
Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York: Dell Publishing, 1961.
January 1, 1996 06:00
