Humor and Point Making
Further information: Theory of humor and Absurdist humor "I can see nothing" – Alice in Wonderland-
- "My, you must have good eyes" – Cheshire Cat
Absurdity is used in humor to make people laugh or to make a sophisticated point, for example in Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky", a poem of nonsense verse, originally featured as a part of his absurdist novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872); Carroll was a logician and parodied logic using illogic and inverting logical methods. Argentine novelist Jorge Luis Borges used absurdities in his short stories to note points. Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is considered absurdist by some.
Absurd reasoning is often used in comedies.
Read more about this topic: Absurdity
Famous quotes containing the words humor and, humor, point and/or making:
“Every American, to the last man, lays claim to a sense of humor and guards it as his most significant spiritual trait, yet rejects humor as a contaminating element wherever found. America is a nation of comics and comedians; nevertheless, humor has no stature and is accepted only after the death of the perpetrator.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)
“The comic is the perception of the opposite; humor is the feeling of it.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“... many American Jews have a morbid tendency to exaggerate their handicaps and difficulties. ... There is no doubt that the Jew ... has to be twice as good as the average non- Jew to succeed in many a field of endeavor. But to dwell upon these injustices to the point of self-pity is to weaken the personality unnecessarily. Every human being has handicaps of one sort or another. The brave individual accepts them and by accepting conquers them.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (18871970)
“Educators are aware that they can reach the youth only by making use of gang spirit and guiding it, not by working against it.”
—Johan Huizinga (18721945)