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Recommended: Irony in things
Douglas Adams, an English writer, may in fact be one of the most spontaneously humorous writers of all time; he exhibits this in many unique ways, although many could overlook this and think of his works as elementary. In many ways, one could argue that the aspects of his writing are juvenile, but one must see past this front that he puts on and realize that there is far greater thought and meaning behind it if you delve. In the truly sidesplitting novels The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (the latter is the sequel to the former), Adams incorporates the following: a sarcastic, agreeable style, ironic theme within this style, and a humorously diverse set of characters that only he could have portrayed.
One aspect of Adams’ style is that he is exceptional at creating dry humor out of anything. What is dry humor? Ask.com speculates that “Dry humor is humor told in a “dry” way, without emotion or seriously. It is telling a joke in a matter-of-fact kind of way.” (Ask.com 1). When one reads a passage in which Adams uses this type of humor, one can only think that if Adams were speaking right in front of you, he would have a face of stone while telling you some incredibly outlandish phenomenon. In Chapter 17 of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Adams explains that “The next thing that happened was a mind-mangling explosion of noise and light” (88). The next thing that happened was that, in fact, every physical object around the characters completely transformed into something irrelevantly different (including two missiles that were headed in their direction which turned into a whale and a flowerpot). Many authors would have gone about stating this in a very colorful and may...
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...are just an insignificant blue and green speck of a planet in a vast universe of nothingness. Finally, he has a group of characters which he creates that are unmatched in individuality, and the interactions that they share are truly amusing. All in all, Douglas Adams is a greatly overlooked author who should never be characterized as elementary because of his style, theme, and characterization and because his works are the essence of English comedic writing.
Works Cited
Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Harmony, 1980. Print.
Adams, Douglas. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. New York: Harmony, 1981. Print.
“Douglas Adams’ Biography.” Wikipedia.org. 12 Feb. 2012. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
Garland, Robert. “Douglas Adams’ Writing Style.” Galactic-guide.com. 13 Jun. 1996. Web. 4 Mar. 2012.
“Dry Humor.” Ask.com. Web. 4 Mar. 2012.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic novel written by Harper Lee. The novel is set in the depths of the Great Depression. A lawyer named Atticus Finch is called to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. The story is told from one of Atticus’s children, the mature Scout’s point of view. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the Finch Family faces many struggles and difficulties. In To Kill a Mockingbird, theme plays an important role during the course of the novel. Theme is a central idea in a work of literature that contains more than one word. It is usually based off an author’s opinion about a subject. The theme innocence should be protected is found in conflicts, characters, and symbols.
The author uses many examples of humorous things in the story, like irony. An example is everyone thought Casey was an awesome baseball player, as well as himself. In the end it turned out that he wasn't as good as everyone thought and or hoped.
In the book The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore is about two men that not only share the same the name but also have very similar lifestyles. Both Wes Moore’s grew up in rough neighborhoods in Baltimore exposed to drug, poverty, violence, and death. They both were fatherless, struggled with education and ran into some trouble with the law. Although, as similar as their lives were what separated Wes Moore and the other Wes Moore in the end were the decisions made that impacted their future.
...Sitting Together in the Cafeteria; Basic Books, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299; 1997
Clive Barker, the author of The Thief of Always, writes a fantasy about Harvey(the main character) taken into into a place full of illusions. Soon he finds out that there was this horrible Hood that had taken his precious time and almost has eaten his soul. So, Harvey then tries to destroy this evil Hood who ends up to be the oh so perfect house. Hood is evil and different ways he is evil. There are many things that makes someone or something truly evil. Hood is ultimately evil. These are the things that make him who or what he is. Evil is significant to most stories because that is the major conflict. The antagonist, Hood, does a really good job of being the bad guy. Usually it’s a person who is has some kind of kindness inside,
Baum’s use of irony expresses his idea quite nicely. The irony, while obvious to the reader, is unbeknownst to the characters, so with the conclusion of the story, readers look for parallels in their own lives, aspirations that are fulfilled but not realized.
Updike, John. “A&P”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 864 - 869.
Updike, John. "A&P." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.1026-1030.
Abrams, M. H. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York; W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.
As highlighted by the author, Mary Louise Adams in her article, “Excerpts from The Trouble with Normal”, ‘a norm’ “can be defined as something that is usual, typical or standardized” (Hacking, Adams, 2003). Norms are often already so established that most individuals do not realize how much they have shaped society and the people who live in it. Audrey Lord tells us that being a “White, thin, young, heterosexual, Christian, male” defines the characteristics of being “normal” and “privileged,” in which she calls “the mythical norm” (Perry, 2011). We use our sexuality, race and class as a way of giving ourselves an identity for the world to see. This identity will ultimately allow us to understand our place in the world and give
Poverty and homelessness are often, intertwined with the idea of gross mentality. illness and innate evil. In urban areas all across the United States, just like that of Seattle. in Sherman Alexie’s New Yorker piece, What You Pawn I Will Redeem, the downtrodden. are stereotyped as vicious addicts who would rob a child of its last penny if it meant a bottle of whiskey.
In The Way to Rainy Mountain, the author Scott Momaday uses the theme of a journey to drive this story. He begins his journey after the passing of his grandmother, the journey to reconnect and rediscover his own culture. He shares this moment on page 10, “I remember her most often in prayer. She made long, rambling prayers out of suffering and hope, having seen many things…the last time I saw her she prayed standing by the side of her bed at night, naked to the waist, the light of a kerosene lamp moving upon her dark skin…I do not speak Kiowa, and I never understood her prayers, but there was something inherently sad in the sound, some merest hesitation upon the syllables of sorrow”. The passing brought a realization upon him to have to keep the culture going. He can barely speak Kiowa, while his grandmother was one of the few members who were completely fluent. I believe this book is a call out to his tribe to take the same journey Momaday took.
Adams uses a plethora of rhetorical contrivances in order to encourage her son to act responsibly in his endeavors overseas. Among many other devices, she frequently uses allusions in the text in an attempt to get her message across to her child. The author speaks of people who Quincy “owes” his existence to, a people who “aided by a glorious defense of their invaded liberties, and who aided by their generous and powerful ally, with the blessing of heaven, will transmit this inheritance to ages yet unborn.’’ (Adams, 46-49). She includes this quote in order to remind her son of their families of their strong corroboration with the recent Revolutionary War, and how his life wouldn`t be the same if it hadn`t been for passionate democratic partisans,
Ernest Hemingway’s code hero can be defined as “a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful." The Hemingway Code Hero embodies specific traits shown throughout the plot of a story. In the series of short stories “The Nick Adams Stories” by Ernest Hemingway, the protagonist Nick Adams, slowly begins to develop as a code hero throughout the transversal of the plot. Adams is able to demonstrate courage, honor, and stoicism, while tolerating the chaos and stress of his crazy world.
Literature is rarely, if ever, merely a story that the author is trying to tell. It is imperative that the reader digs deep within the story to accurately analyze and understand the message the author is trying to portray. Authors tend to hide themselves in their stories. The reader can learn about the author through literary elements such as symbolism, diction, and structure. A good example of this is Robert Frost’s poems The Road Not Taken and Nothing Gold can Stay in which he uses ordinary language unlike many other poets that became more experimental (Frost, Robert. “1.”).