The Use of Humor

Humor is portrayed as the main theme of the two essays by Margaret Atwood, Female Body, and Why We Crave Horror Movies by Stephen King. However, due to different subject matter being discussed, the humor employed in each is dissimilar in many ways. The essay by Atwood is written in relation to the body of a female in which she manages to give the readers a sensitivity of the female body with a comparison of a female mentality to that of a man. She crafts her essay using humorous approach such as wit and inscrutability. King’s essay is more of a straight forward humorous piece in which he uses facts and sarcasm (irony). His expository essay discusses the reasons why people prefer horror movies in such a factual, but silly way.

In his essay, King mocks the very habits that are done undercover and the possible things which people are terrified about. When the readers read this, an automatic chuckle emerges either as a cause that it applies to them (or someone they know), or simply because it is hilarious. In the opening paragraph, King writes: “we’ve all known people who talk to themselves…people who have some hysterical fear…” (King, 86). He articulates about the many habits which are embarrassing and humiliates those addictions while comparing it to the reasons why people don't mind going to the horror movies only to get embarrassed with their priceless reactions. He compares the horror movies to roller coasters: “and horror movies, like roller coasters” (King, 87), and the reactions when watching horror movies to the screams when riding the roller coaster: “horror movie may not surprise a scream out of us at some point, the way we may scream when the roller coaster twists…”. This is a metaphoric comparison to top off the humor.

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...a women’s brain is “like light on waves” and men’s brain is “good for aiming through, for hitting the target when you pull the trigger…” (Atwood, 92). She also portrays that a women’s body is precious and, therefore, advises the readers to “catch it. Put it in a pumpkin, in a high tower, in a compound, in a chamber, in a house, in a room…” (Atwood, 92).

To sum up, the use of humor is prevalent throughout both essays for the purpose of grab the reader’s attention and to let the readers hold on to the book while being exposed to many ironic and witty facts. The two authors manage to put a twist in their essays by providing different incidents which make the readers laugh out loud due to the fact that the readers can relate to.

Works Cited

Bowers, R., Jones, R. E., & Stott, J. C. (2006). The Harbrace anthology of short fiction (4th ed.). Toronto: Thomson Nelson.