Twain’s handling of Humor and Satire in his Novel the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Published)
The main objective of this study is to provide a descriptive account of the nature and way of Mark Twain’s handling of humor and satire used in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). The study also aims to shed light on whether Twain intended his novel to be humorous, or the humor was unconscious and unrealistic. The researcher sheds light on some major characters and scenes that exhibit the different types of humor and satire. The novel is a classic work of humor that becomes blended with satire, in which Twain became skeptic and agnostic and turned against mankind for its inhumanity. The story arouses humor in different means such as lies, deceptions, machinations of plot, prevarications of Huck and Tom, and through the superstitious beliefs of the primitive character, Jim. The study found out that the novel is a masterpiece of fun, farce and satire. The humor borders on farce; it is low and realistic. The researcher concluded that the novel is doubtlessly picaresque, farcical, comical and satirical. The chief characteristic of its humor is that it is American; the blend of different dialects, the misspellings; creating humor presupposed the correct knowledge of the spellings by the reader. This feeling creates a kind of humor that is pathetic. The frauds and the deceptions used in the incidents, the anecdotes, angularities, and the eccentricities of the characters portrayed have further enhanced the comic effect in the novel. With these traits is juxtaposed Twain’s biting satire, and his work is the first of its kind.
Keywords: Adventures of Huck Finn., Mark Twain, Satire, humor
Niaja No Dey Carry Last: Pius Adesanmi and the Complexity of a Nation in Progress (Published)
Over the years Nigerian writers have consistently sustained the relationship between literature and politics. They perceptively engaged this connection since the colonial era, with the stages of the nation’s political development at the centre of the discourse. The reason is not farfetched; literature is a reflection of the environment in which it evolves. A writer’s ideology is shaped by the society and bears witness to its humanity. As imaginative as art is, it is the expression of a larger background: every work of literature signifies a time, place and people. An indication of the importance of art in the society is exposed in the way literature has remained part of the progress of man and his surroundings. Thus, one of the fundamental arguments of literature in exploring this relationship is to establish the fact that Literature and politics are intrinsically tied. Therefore, this paper investigates the concept of national and sustainable development in Pius Adesanmi’s NAIJA NO DEY CARRY LAST. It explores the use of satire to create political awareness and national memory. Furthermore, this paper scrutinizes the growth of Nigeria’s democracy and the commitment of successive leaders. It arrivals at the conclusion that NAIJA NO DEY CARRY LAST provides evidence that retention of national memory guarantees hope for a recovered Nigeria of the future and attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Keywords: Memory., NAIJA NO DEY CARRY LAST, Nigerian Literature, Politics, Satire, Sustainable Development Goals
Kobina Sekyi’s The Blinkards and James ENE Henshaw’s Medicine for Love- a Study in the Manner of Comic Production (Published)
This study aims at analysing how Kobina Sekyi and James Ene Henshaw use satire to produce comedy in The Blinkards and Medicine for Love respectively. Since both plays are satires, comedy and satire are defined. This is followed by a discussion of each play, looking at their synopsis, themes, characterisation and style. Finally, there is comparison of the two plays and a conclusion drawn. The conclusion is a reflection that satire is one of the controlling elements in African comedy. The two dramatists have looked at what goes on in the society as a source of motivation to come out with their comic plays. They possess the ability to provoke laughter in the audience and in the end give them pleasure. One can categorically state that The Blinkards and Medicine for Love satisfy the characteristics of comic plays.
Keywords: Comedy, Comic Effect, Dramatic Irony, Invective, Satire
Contemporary Social, Political and Religious Satire under the Silent Penetration of Poverty and Class Discrimination: An Exploration on Aravind Adiga’s ‘The White Tiger’ (Published)
“The White Tiger” is a Man Booker Prize (2008) winning book is written by the great Indian-Australian writer, Aravind Adiga. This article lets us know how the class discrimination is engulfing the Post-Colonial Indian Society under the silent penetration of poverty and corruption and how the human morality is decaying under the religious and political unrests. Here, the narrator and protagonist, Balram Halwai, struggles against his lower class society from the very initial time of his life. His life undergoes with serious sufferings from economical solvency because of being in the lower Hindu cast. He senses the tortures of the elite class people towards the deprived poor. He witnessed the deaths of many dreams in a poor family. He observes it as a “Rooster Coop” that stands for the extreme poverty where the people below the social margin remain in a great danger and never rebel against the society as they have no wealth and power. He scrutinizes the huge corruptions in politics and in every class he went through. As a driver, he has had a great chance to discover the great Indian corruptions on the root levels of cities and towns. His mind always rebels against those terminations but he is to go on as to be alive in his ways of being an enlightened person. Nevertheless, he takes in a great loss of pain but what he has gained at last is nothing but dishonesty and rampancy of corruption because all his perceptions are only for earthly happiness of money. What he got after killing Mr. Ashok and stealing his money (700,000 Rs.) is really a mystery to the readers. Significantly, Aravind Adiga has tried to rectify the human society by upholding the above facts that are running on ahead.
Keywords: Corruption, Discrimination and Nihilism, Economics, Politics, Poverty, Satire, Sufferings