The two short stories we read for Thursday were very emotional and both had a theme of the difficult task of self identity in the face of multiple cultural influences. I related to them so well and I think there is a universal element to these stories than anyone can connect to. In the story "The Warrior" I first thought of Ralph as a tragic character, someone who could not quite live up to the way of life that he wanted for his family. While that fact is tragic, he was actually an inspirational character. He may not have been able to live the way he wanted, but he passed on traditions and important messages onto the younger generation. To me, this is very much survivance, to resist, "not to become what everyone else is." (197) and to pass along important messages to the young. The hobos throughout the story seemed to parallel the struggles of natives. Hobos too had previous lives, they had homes and roots. Hobos, like natives were hit by some unfortunate life circumstances and are forced from their former way of life. The situation reminds me of the phrase, "I don't care where you go, but you can't stay here."
Friday, February 26, 2010
Humor and Sentiment
I enjoyed the discussion this week about humor. I agree that humor has a way of softening the delivery, while still sending a message. However, the debate was over whether or not the message is compromised in any way because of humor. I think invariably the message is going to be altered slightly, but the basic idea is still there. Humor not only makes the message more accessible for the reader, but in a way also makes the burden of presenting the information more conceivable for the author. I've always thought there was a fine line between laughing really hard and crying. It makes sense to me that such emotional, heavy issues can also be flipped into humorous stories. I agree with what Gina said in class, about how you'd go crazy if you didn't find some redeeming value in such terrible situations.
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I think that the humor makes certain situations look so ridiculous that people will begin to actually see it. It is kinda like sarcasm to me when they use humor. In a story like Hard Riding, I feel like most people could just think "Man that guy is clearly an idiot", it kinda just opens people eyes. Humor presents the facts in a clear way sorta thing.
ReplyDeleteThe first sentence of your second paragraph made me think about something that does not have to do with humor. I agree that cultural influences can affect ones understanding of his or her self identity. However, I feel that although these stories are based on culture, we should not just assume that the problems these people have occur just because of their culture. People of all different cultures and ethnicities have problems like those in the stories we have read, and I think thats the most important message to understand. These people dont have problems because they are native americans, but simply because they are humans. There are people like Uncle Ralph all over the world who share his problems and its important to realize this.
ReplyDeleteHumor can definitely change the message that a story is trying to portray, but it can also uncover many harsh realities without pointing fingers. It is used to reveal the absurdity of certain situations. Both of the characters we were introduced to on Thursday were tragic. Their lives were falling apart due to conforming to the white norm and they were wiped away from both their culture and themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about sarcasm is that there is always a chance of being unclear, and saying the opposite of what you meant. A similar concept applies to humor here. Some ideas will be lost in the satire, because it takes a birds eye view to see absurdity, usually not pointed out in the text. I think it's still an effect method though, it shares the concepts and ideas. Though people are less likely to do something about it, I don't see people becoming activist after a funny story.
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