Analysis Of The High Comedy Letter By Dave Barry
Every grandfather wants to teach their grandchildren important life lessons, they want to pass on their knowledge to their family to come. In this letter, Dave Barry goes through teaching his grandson about important things he has learned. Although most people would think of refrigerating ketchup and mustard not important, Dave believes that is the most important thing he has learned. Dave Barry teaches his grandson life’s lessons-beginning with the ketchup, the high comedy letter, by Dave Barry, the author uses comedy in the form of of being witty, situational irony, and sarcasm, furthermore narrator drives home the idea through humorous situations of living right and to be happy in life.
To amuse the audience reading, Dave uses sarcasm that
is often very clever. Barry uses sarcasm to convey that ketchup and mustard are very important. He explains to the audience that refrigerate ketchup and mustard that you're “ruining perfectly good hamburgers and hotdogs”. For example he is using the sarcasm to teach his grandson important lessons, “To be honest, it might not all be correct. The only thing I’m 100 percent sure of is the part about the ketchup and mustard”(Barry). The author is showing us, the Grandpa wasn't sure about everything, but was positive about cold ketchup and mustard. The intended effect was to laugh or chuckle because his tone was so serious about ketchup and mustard. Furthermore the readers would believe that since he had such a serious tone that he would maybe say something more important. Furthermore the author uses sarcasm to exaggerate the need for the baby to floss his teeth. The audience does not expect him to say this because babies don’t have teeth, “Floss your teeth.(Once you get teeth, I mean)”(Barry). The author tells us that the grandfather has a sarcastic sense of humor, because he is talking to a baby about teeth when the baby doesn’t have teeth yet. The intended effect was to laugh because the baby can’t even read yet, and the grandpa is writing him this letter.
Throughout the story the author, Dave Barry uses situational irony, to show situations where you think you know what is going to happen, but the opposite happens. This Is illustrated in many situation, one being when Barry is talking about insane people, “Am I saying that all of these people are stupid? Of course not. Some of them are insane” (Barry). You would expect Dave to say that people aren’t stupid at all, instead he goes further into telling us that people are insane. The reader is to feel the situational irony when reading this reading. The humor has a irony effect because of the writer saying the opposite of what he was saying. The intended effect is to giggle, or chuckle, because it is a high comedy story. The author then goes on to use irony again, “Don’t bully, and don’t hit people, unless they are bullying you, in which case go ahead and belt them” (Barry). Once again one would expect him to tell his grandson that fighting is wrong, instead he explains that he should fight someone if they bully him. Furthermore the author is explaining to us that it is right to fight someone, which we have been taught is bad to do. The intended effect is to laugh or giggle, because it is a high comedy quote.
Dave Barry teaches his grandson life’s lessons-beginning with the ketchup, is a Humorous letter all about how Dave Barry teaches his grandson life lessons. He teaches him many things starting out with ketchup and mustard, he does this through humorous situations to explain the benefits of living right and being happy in life. The universal truth is, if you have a choose in life decide to be kind to others.
To amuse the audience reading, Dave uses sarcasm that
is often very clever. Barry uses sarcasm to convey that ketchup and mustard are very important. He explains to the audience that refrigerate ketchup and mustard that you're “ruining perfectly good hamburgers and hotdogs”. For example he is using the sarcasm to teach his grandson important lessons, “To be honest, it might not all be correct. The only thing I’m 100 percent sure of is the part about the ketchup and mustard”(Barry). The author is showing us, the Grandpa wasn't sure about everything, but was positive about cold ketchup and mustard. The intended effect was to laugh or chuckle because his tone was so serious about ketchup and mustard. Furthermore the readers would believe that since he had such a serious tone that he would maybe say something more important. Furthermore the author uses sarcasm to exaggerate the need for the baby to floss his teeth. The audience does not expect him to say this because babies don’t have teeth, “Floss your teeth.(Once you get teeth, I mean)”(Barry). The author tells us that the grandfather has a sarcastic sense of humor, because he is talking to a baby about teeth when the baby doesn’t have teeth yet. The intended effect was to laugh because the baby can’t even read yet, and the grandpa is writing him this letter.
Throughout the story the author, Dave Barry uses situational irony, to show situations where you think you know what is going to happen, but the opposite happens. This Is illustrated in many situation, one being when Barry is talking about insane people, “Am I saying that all of these people are stupid? Of course not. Some of them are insane” (Barry). You would expect Dave to say that people aren’t stupid at all, instead he goes further into telling us that people are insane. The reader is to feel the situational irony when reading this reading. The humor has a irony effect because of the writer saying the opposite of what he was saying. The intended effect is to giggle, or chuckle, because it is a high comedy story. The author then goes on to use irony again, “Don’t bully, and don’t hit people, unless they are bullying you, in which case go ahead and belt them” (Barry). Once again one would expect him to tell his grandson that fighting is wrong, instead he explains that he should fight someone if they bully him. Furthermore the author is explaining to us that it is right to fight someone, which we have been taught is bad to do. The intended effect is to laugh or giggle, because it is a high comedy quote.
Dave Barry teaches his grandson life’s lessons-beginning with the ketchup, is a Humorous letter all about how Dave Barry teaches his grandson life lessons. He teaches him many things starting out with ketchup and mustard, he does this through humorous situations to explain the benefits of living right and being happy in life. The universal truth is, if you have a choose in life decide to be kind to others.