Might I Laugh and Learn?
by Emory (Peach) Frothingham
Why is humor so important in books? Is it because we can relate better to
it, or is it that it lightens a dry manuscript, enough for us to continue
reading? Perhaps a better word for the humor I reference is "wit,"
because surely it is what is clever and unexpected that challenges the reader
to laugh. One might ask, "Why did I find those words funny?" Humor can be
quick and sharp, dry and droll, and sometimes it takes reading a second
time for one to realize the true nature of the joke.
Laughter bonds the reader to the writer. As individuals, there is nothing
we love more than an inside joke with a friend or friends. In these instances,
a lifted eyebrow or a single word reference causes convolutions of laughter
to spring forth. When an author makes you laugh, it’s almost involuntary.
You were just reading, and suddenly you choke out a laugh or perhaps
with even more subtlety, produce a dry chuckle and head shake. Such is the
way humor sneaks up on us as we read.
It is even rarer in the books our society has dubbed literature.
These works, which are from authors long passed, having stood the test of
time, have won themselves a place in history. I believe humor to be such a
vital ingredient in literature, because it enables the reader to both learn and
enjoy what is being read. Humor is a mediator, in a way of saying “See, you
found this one-hundred-year-old passage funny. Maybe this book will not be
so hard to relate to after all." Our closest friends are usually the ones who
are able to make us laugh; this can also be said of our preferred authors,
which I have selected in this sense. They are Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, and
Saki.
Twain gave us the mischievous Tom Sawyer. Wilde wrote funny and
fierce works such as the thought provoking Picture of Dorian Grey and the
hilarious The Importance of Being Earnest. Saki is less well known, though
his characters are no less impressive, such as his "weary man-of-the-world
at seventeen, Clovis Sangrail" (Milne).
I have singled out these three authors for their dexterous wit and
fascinating prose. Their works provoke both thought and laughter.
When reading Tom Sawyer, I am carried away to the banks of the Mississippi
River and taken on a charming adventure. With Wilde, it is his colorful style
and language that evidences his genius. Saki’s writing has oftentimes been,
by readers looking on the surface, compared to that of Wilde. Barbra Smith
suggests that “Ultimately, one could say that both Saki and Wilde ‘question
the validity and even the possibility of unassailable verities' in their
witticisms" (qtd. in Birden). It’s as if when reading one of these books, it is
the equivalent to being invited on a merry adventure. As much as I do
indeed appreciate the Bronte Sisters, theirs is not the kind of book I would
read when having a bad day.
The reason these novelists have remained timeless is in the most part
due to the witticisms in their writing, making it both memorable and
relevant, even in today’s technology enamored world. When it comes to
humor, Saki leads you on a winding tour throughout his short
stories, making you chortle or raise brows in disbelief along the
way. However, it is the ending - that last one or two sentences which convulse his readers into laughter. Reginald, for instance, probably
conveys more impudence in two of his expertly delivered lines than any
character by any other author could have brought out in a three page
speech. In one of his most memorable opening sentences, he quips.
“’Never,’ wrote Reginald to his most darling friend, ‘be a pioneer. It's the
early Christian that gets the fattest lion.’” (qtd. in Saki, Reginald) To read
Saki, one must be patient and also well aware that nothing, not even
death, is off limits to his impudent sense of the ridiculous. For example, his
short story entitled “The Feast of Nemesis,” features my favorite of his
reprobates, Clovis, who makes a statement off hand, “Waldo is one of those
people who would be enormously improved by death"(qtd. in Saki, The
Chronicles of Clovis). You see, Saki had no need to be vulgar in order to
shock people. For him to be witty was organic to his natural state of mind.
Looking at Mark Twain, on the other hand, we see he wrote his books
with Huckleberry Finn drawing from his experience with one of his childhood
playmates. Twain did not have to try to be funny; his writing and sayings
just were. He had a rhythm and a homey kind of wisdom uniquely his
own. Many of his most famous quotes some find a tad grumpy and
even heavily tongue in cheek, "I once sent a dozen of my friends a telegram
saying 'Flee at once - all is discovered.' They all left town immediately" (qtd.
in Roberts). He was also one of our country’s first political humorists. Harold
K. Bush said of him, "Twain’s humor rebelled against ‘whatever seemed rigid
and regulating to mind and identity’” (qtd. in Moss). Twain was a prolific
writer, both politically and otherwise. One of his more memorable comments
about politics and comedy states, “The political and commercial morals of
the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire
banquet"(qtd. in Moss).
When we think of the name Oscar Wilde, a flamboyant and larger than
life persona comes to mind. His famous quotations number in the hundreds,
not only for their wit, but also for their wisdom. He is credited with
saying, “Women are made to be loved not understood” (Wilde). Such a line
shows his insight and also his sly sense of humor. Another of Wilde’s more
introspective quotes comes from a play he wrote called Lady Windermere’s
Fan: “In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one
wants, and the other is getting it” (Wilde). It seems as if Saki and Wilde
were constantly sharpening their swords of irony, just waiting for the chance
to use them against society. Louis Cazamian explains Wilde’s style of humor:
“The extravagance of a phrase turned topsy-turvy and the humor created by
this surprise are what constitute it" (qtd. in Birden).
The importance of these authors isn’t whether they had a political
agenda. They made us laugh, each in their own particular fashion, which is
why humor is important. It connects generations to laughter that stems from
these authors and is not merely a “pop culture reference." Ernest
Hemingway was famously quoted as saying, "All modern American literature
comes from one book by Mark Twain, called Huckleberry Finn" (qtd.in
Biography.com).
Why does humor play such an important role in the books we read?
Or perhaps I should say the books we reread. Because of humor, these
books become our oldest and dearest friends. They become something we
rely upon to take us away from our dreary everyday lives and return
revitalized with a renewed sense of purpose. Maybe they make us cry or
better yet they let us cry and then laugh. Humor in books allows a release of
emotions that we cannot otherwise find within ourselves. When we watch
the adaption of Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, it is
easy to laugh at how ridiculous it is, since the entire play is based on the
premise of two men wanting to be called by the name Earnest. The line from
that play that still makes me smile when I think of it is, "To lose one
parent, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like
carelessness” (Wilde). The utter brazenness of this statement shows
how completely different a wave link that Wilde’s brain worked on, not only
to have come up with such an iconic one liner, but also to have created a
character that could say it believably. Such a statement Is astonishing in its
ingenuity and brilliance. We love the outrageous because it amuses and
shocks us while it entertains us. And so, when cracking open a collection of
Saki’s short stories, we fully enjoy it when Reginald says disrespectful things
and Clovis interferes in other people’s lives for the fun of it.
These authors are considered three of the greats of literature, and rightly
so. That is why they should be made more readily available in the curriculum
of our schools. Let students read all of Huckleberry Fin, instead of tiny
excerpts. One may also wonder why every drama class doesn’t choose
The Importance of Being Earnest. When did it not become acceptable to
enjoy what is required in school? How many more avid readers the world
might have if these students, whether in high school or college, were
assigned a book that actually has a chance of becoming a lifelong favorite.
Imagine that a professor stood up today and read two lines of Oscar
Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest, to a class, followed by two
sentences from Bronte's Jane Eyre. The students had to choose which
passage to write a one-page paper on. I would venture that most would
choose Wilde. I am not saying all literature should be comedic. However, it
is necessary to at least have students comprehend its power and
its influence. When given the opportunity, I am sure students would much
rather learn through laughter than from grim and despoiled writings.
Works Cited
Biography.com Editors. "Mark Twain Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks
Television, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
Birden, Lorene M. "Saki as Dauphin of the Wildean Witticism." Anachronist.
17. (2012): 117-136. Literary Reference Center. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
Milne, A. A. Introduction. The Chronicles of Clovis. By Saki. New York:
Viking, 1928. 1-5. Print.
Moss, Walter G. "Mark Twain's Progressive and Prophetic Political Humor."
History News Network. History News Network, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 10
Nov. 2015.
Roberts, Sam. "Dot-Dot-Dot, Dash-Dash-Dash, No More." The New York
Times. 11 Feb. 2006.Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
Saki. "The Feast of Nemesis." The Chronicles of Clovis. New York: Viking,
1928. N. p. Print.
---. Reginald. London: Methuen, 1904. Print.
Wilde, Oscar, The Sphinx without a Secret. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
---. The Importance of Being Earnest. New York: Dover Publications, 1990.
Print.
---. and Ian Small. Lady Windermere's Fan: A Play about a Good Woman.
London: Ernest Benn, 1980. Print.
About the Author
Emory “Peach” Frothingham was born and raised in Georgia. After
graduating from high school she attended culinary school in Edinburgh,
Scotland. Upon returning to the states, Peach resumed work as a manager
in her parents’ restaurants before moving to Arkansas with her husband two
years ago. The assignment given in her Comp II class was simple and
direct: pick a topic you feel strongly about and take a stance on it—either for
or against—and find research to back up your opinion.
The reason Peach chose the importance of humor in literature as the
topic for her research essay is twofold. Foremost, she strongly believes that
learning should be enjoyable, and thus include a humorous element.
Secondly, it gave her the opportunity to stretch and push herself
intellectually as a writer and as a lifelong lover of literature. Peach shares
that the method she follows to write “is both easy and complicated. It starts
with just throwing the ideas around in my head.” After “creating and
dismissing ideas,” Peach explains, “finally it explodes onto the page with a
jumble of words and thought patterns that would confuse all except the
author herself.” After this, she merely ties up loose ends and edits until the
gestalt of the paper shines through. The advice she offers in her own words
for writing is blunt in the extreme: “Never lose the integrity of your writing
by allowing someone else to tell you what you should say. Instead, write
what you as an author feel it is your duty to write, even when the reason to
change is a better grade."