Preview

How Funny is that?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1367 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Funny is that?
Mr. Rowe
Junior Honors English
26 January 2014
How funny is that? James Thurber is an American author who has a very unique sense of humor, using events and references from his childhood. On December 8, 1894, self-described “night of the wild portent”, Mr. and Mrs. Charles and Mary Thurber gave birth to their second child, James Grover Thurber, in Columbus Ohio. He came into the world with one older brother named William. He later had a younger brother named Robert. No one knew at that time that Thurber was going to grow up to be one very funny writer… but one never knows. When he was young his father worked many different jobs and went through many periods of unemployment, but for the most part Charles Thurber led the hum-drum life of a civil clerk. His middle son was going to have a very different kind of life. In 1901, the Thurber family moved to Falls Church, Virginia which was near Washington D.C. As a child, James and his two brothers got their early education at Sullivant Elementary school in Columbus. For the most part they were just regular little boys living their little boy lives. These youngsters must have been some wild ones though, because when he was nine, there was an accident. Thurber’s older brother William shot young James in the eye with a toy bow and arrow during a game of “William Tell”. It was something that affected his future because throughout Thurber’s life, he slowly lost the vision in both eyes. If he were to look back on it (no pun intended) he may not have played that game. Speaking of games, it has been said that his mother was quite the practical joker and often pulled pranks on her family and friends. This may be part of the reason he became such a humorist. In 1908, James begins the next step of his education at Douglas Junior High School. Thurber attended East High School in Columbus, Ohio and excelled at literature. Sadly, due to his blindness, he was not very good at science labs or gym classes. He made up

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Minie ball greatly influenced the Civil War, causing many people to die, and changes in many other areas. Like all the wars before it, during the Civil War many large technological breakthroughs occurred. One of the biggest, and most influential changes for personal weapons was the evolution from the smoothbore muskets to rifles, and even more so, the Minie ball that allowed the rifling to realistically be used in a battle situation. The bullets also had another plus: causing huge damage to anyone they hit. Blood and screams were heard all around the battlefield from the Minie ball tearing through flesh and shattering bone.…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Your course syllabus covers course policies, assignments, dates, and procedures; please read it carefully before emailing the teaching team. Your TA is your primary contact for this course, who will forward messages to me as needed.…

    • 3239 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life of a Merchant in 1700s

    • 2594 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The following paper, through the mind and words of a fictionalized character, examines the crucial issues and various changes the imperial relationship between Great Britain and its North American colonies underwent in the mid-to-late eighteenth century. Drawing upon various historical events and enactments, the story of Gerald Gardner, a Bostonian merchant, will try to synthesize these events and provide a reflection upon the American Revolution from the point-of-view of those who shared his line of work. While the following opinions expressed display the feelings and attitudes of one man, the same cannot be applied historically to all of the merchant class. The characters and opinions are fictional, however, the historical events, legislation, and enactments are not.…

    • 2594 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    in history and poetry. At the age of fourteen, he was sent away to school, and…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    My Kid’s Dog and Irony

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cited: Shapard, Robert; Thomas, James. New Sudden Fiction: Short Stories From America and Beyond. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007. Print…

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Boyz N the Hood

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Boyz in the Hood" is a film that protray’s social problems in South Central Los Angeles. Tre, Ricky, and Doughboy are the main characters in this film that grow up together in their neighborhood or as they called it "the hood". All three characters struggle with different internal issues which helps them grow as young men. Tre is a good student who has dreams of furthering his education by going to college. With guidance from his father, Tre learns responsibilty and character. Ricky is an outstanding athlete who is trying to earn a football scholarship to USC. He feels that sports is his only outlet to greatness. Ricky's brother Doughboy is an all around gangster that associates himself with violence, alcohol, and crime. Doughboy , which means drug dealer, on the contrary maintains a strong sense of pride. Basically, Boyz in the Hood tells the story about life in South Central Los Angeles with the struggle of young black men as they turn to education, give into violence and drugs and hope high for college. Boyz N the Hood is a better movie because the effects of positive role models are seen through the portrayal of violence, crime, and family values.…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I was born out of my ma’s tummy on may 10, 1838 near Bel air, Maryland and automatically the second youngest of 10 children. At an early age I always watched my father act but also watched him drink as he had a donkey of a drinking problem. Growing up I was raised on a farm worked by our family slaves and went to Milton Boarding School for boys along with st. Timothy’s Hall. Everyone could tell you that I was charming as a kid , I guess that’s why everyone wanted me to follow my father's footsteps, because I was like him.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Morality is what sets humans apart from the animal kingdom. We act on our beliefs, instead of our instincts, which perhaps makes us the flawed species. As humans, we all develop our own set of morals of which we use to make decisions in our day to day life. We use this moral compass to differentiate between right and wrong, but what we see as the right thing to do is not necessarily our own opinion, but societies. Adventures of Huckleberry finn by Mark Twain demonstrates that morality and society are one and the same. Huck has the opinions and morals of society constantly thrown in his face, and instead of giving into those values, he creates his own. Huck was raised without a mother, who provides an essential role in determining a child 's morals and beliefs. Huck’s motherless upbringing allowed him to develop morals of his own based on experience, not on hand-me-down morality. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn also shows us how stereotypes created by society influence the way we act towards others. Religion is definitely the largest component to determining one 's morality. Religion literally lays out societies laws and values, and how can one argue with something when they believe their afterlife depends on it. These were not only issues that came up in our past, but in our present and most definitely our future. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will always be relevant to society as long as humans walk the earth. By nature, humans desire to fit in with society and fear rejection. Huck teaches us that society isn 't always right, it is our individual opinions that should determine our actions, not what the general population believes. If there weren 't people to voice their opinions about the treatment of african americans, then we would still have slave to this very day. Also, if these lessons are not continually taught to future generations, history may one day repeat itself.…

    • 1634 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    We are going to take a look at Three Native Americans Pontiac, Red Jacket, and Tecumseh to see what the relation are with the white men. We are going to see how they gave to the white men and how the white men took from the Indians.…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Barn Burning

    • 2184 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In “Barn Burning”, a short story by William Faulkner, a boy finds that he can no longer be governed by his father’s ideas and tries to prevent his father from doing further harm, and leaves his family in the process. Sarty Snopes desire is to break away from the moral deficiency of his family life and live life with some resemblance of normalcy even at the expense of never seeing his family again. A growing body of evidence, suggest that humans have a moral sense from the very start of life and family does not instill this moral compass from the very start of life.…

    • 2184 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    This website is a resource for “readers, students, teachers, and scholars of John Steinbeck.” If someone were to be interested in the life of John Steinbeck, this website for The Center for Steinbeck Studies is a great place to start. It is fully equipped with information about Steinbeck’s background, his literary works, pictures of him and interesting facts. This is a great place to research general background information on John Steinbeck.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Laura Ingalls Wilder

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The close-knit Ingall’s family survived the blizzards, prairie fires, grasshopper plagues, and illness of pioneer life. Laura and her sisters attended school whenever possible; any other time they were home-schooled by there mother, who was a previous school teacher. The Ingall’s girls enjoyed books, reading, and their father’s violin music.…

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Color of Water

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As a child, James had always questioned his mother about her race, doing so would uncover his identity, but had never received a straight forward answer. At one point during his childhood, he asked his mother "Am I black or white?" (92) and she simply replied "You 're a human being, educate yourself or you 'll be a nobody" (92). This left James confused and very frustrated. James 's mother, Ruth, didn 't want the topic of race to interfere with his education or Christian faith. She despised her past and never wanted to remember it again. In confusion and frustration James created an imaginary friend that he referred to as the boy in the mirror. He looked just like James and acted like him but was thought to have a "normal" family with a mother who was not white. James was jealous of the boy in the mirror and began to hate him when people in school made fun of him. Unlike James, the boy in the mirror knew who he was and did not have the confusion and frustration that James had concerning family and race. When James was going to preschool he noticed that the other children 's mothers at the bus…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The American Dream

    • 3069 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Bruccoli, Matthew J. "A Brief Life of Fitzgerald." University of South Carolina. 4 Dec. 2003.…

    • 3069 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    All great novels must have a character who can narrate the story in the most intriguing way. Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is narrated by Christopher John Francis Boone. Throughout the novel, Christopher educates the reader about autism, explains why he exhibits unusual behaviours, and allows the reader to understand his relationships he has with certain characters. Not only is it a good decision for Christopher to be the narrator, he is the best possible narrator that could have been chosen.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics