Cited: Chabon, Michael. "The God of Dark Laughter." The New Yorker. N.P., 09 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Jan. 2011.
Cited: Chabon, Michael. "The God of Dark Laughter." The New Yorker. N.P., 09 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Jan. 2011.
Joe, a seven year old boy, was very excited to go see his first clown with his family. He experienced his first clown when he went to the circus. He went to the Ringling Bros Circus and met a Whiteface clown. Joe later found out that the Whiteface clown was not the only type. In addition to the Whiteface clown, Joe soon discovered that there are more kinds of clowns: the “Auguste” clown as well as “character” clowns, which are all very different in appearance and character (All About Clowns, “Types”).…
In Southern Gothic genre, there is dark humor in the stories. It exposes the problems of society, but also reveals this by developing complex characters. The authors explored the behaviors of people (usually strange) and the social order of the South. Through their stories, the authors hoped to show that the social order was fragile, and the realities behind it were actually disturbing. The authors work to point out truths of Southern culture and its moral shortcomings. The themes of this genre are developed around these goals. Through violence, perverse, and grotesque images O’Connor depicts a setting characterized by sin, guilt, and…
Just as Benne and Sheats stated a clown distracts the group, which is what Greg was able to accomplish in the…
The power of laughter resonates throughout the novel. McMurphy’s laughter is the first genuine laughter heard on the ward in years. McMurphy’s first inkling that things are strange among the patients is that none of them are able to laugh; they can only smile and snicker behind their hands. Bromden remembers a scene from his childhood when his father and relatives mocked some government officials, and he realizes how powerful their laughter was: “I forget sometimes what laughter can do.” For McMurphy, laughter is a potent defense against society’s insanity,…
Gabriel, a slave convinced that anything “equal to a grey squirrel wants to be free,” urges other slaves to revolt against their owners. The rebellion is hastened when a tyrannical slave owner whips another slave, Bundy, to death. Although the insurrection ultimately fails, Prosser nonetheless emerges a hero. The “power of black folk” credo is important to this novel. Bontemps’ treatment of Bundy’s funeral is faithful in detail to the customs of the time. Bontemps’ use of signs and portents pushes the story to its heroic ending. Stunning characterizations of Pharaoh, Drucilla, Ben, and Gabriel become multileveled, believably universal personalities through Bontemps’ skillful use of folk material. Elements of magic appear in Black Thunder just as they appear in folktales and beliefs as recorded by collectors.…
William T. Free describes the grotesque in writing as “something playfully gay and carelessly fantastic, but also something ominous and sinister” (Free 216). The boy’s need for the tree and the town’s reaction to the angel gives us a peek into the duality of grotesque behavior. We see them being playfully…
Would you read a mystery that was predictable, boring, and without suspense? Ellis Peter’s A Morbid Taste for Bones is the opposite of this. G.K. Chesterton’s Favorite Father Brown Stories, though not exactly boring and predictable, are much less attention grabbing. A Morbid Taste for Bones is clearly an excellent mystery because the plot, the crime, and the unpredictability.…
5. Lindsey, Donald and Heeren, John. Where the Sacred Meets the Profane: Religion in the Comic pages, Review of Religious research, 34(1992).…
Melissa Chan debriefs the clown epidemic in the article, “Everything You Need to Know About the ‘Clown Attack’ Craze”. She goes on explaining many different perspectives, such as the terrified citizens of America, the real professional clowns, and the police force.…
Arthur Koestler once said, “Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion” (Koestler). This quote represents The Benzini Brothers in full force. The hard truth is that the bright and unique shows many pay to see is nothing but a devious scandal, full of lies. The Benzini Brothers’ circus appears glamorous and exciting, even magical at times, but in reality the enchantment of the circus is all a fabrication for what the workers actually live through.…
For this portrait, Cindy Sherman has gone with her usual style of styling herself to unrecognizable lengths. She is wearing a bright rainbow wig and typical ‘clown’ makeup. But what is notable about this photograph is that she is wearing a neck brace, and what could possibly be a hospital gown, clearly hinting that this clown has had an accident. This leads on to the message behind this portrait, the way that clowns are generally depicted as jolly, funny characters as the bright, almost garish, colours suggest... But behind his bright, humorous exterior is something darker, something broken. He is a funny character, but he’s suffering. I think that the social commentary this picture gets across is about the cruelty in humans, and how we laugh at others pain, disability and even make others suffer for our own amusement- the way that Cindy is directly addressing the audience is as if she is speaking to us through this clown’s miserable eyes. Why would we find such a bizarre and twisted figure humorous when the more I look at him, the more terrifying his reality…
The Laughing Man can be very roughly said to have the pleasure of hearing boy-hood stories involving Chinese bandits and emerald vaults. The story is made up of 3 major characters. First of them,Narrator's name is not known, He belongs to a organization called Comanches. He is nine years old when the story is told.There is another key character ,besides the narrator, ''the Chief was John Gedsudski, of Staten Island. He was an extremely shy, gentle young man of twenty-two or -three, a law student at N.Y.U., and altogether a very memorable person.'' and ''he was a stocky five three or four--no more than that. His hair was blue-black, his hair-line…
Throughout the short story, the Old Man is treated with no dignity as he is locked up in a chicken coop because Pelayo and Elisenda believe that he is the angel of death to their sick child. While being locked up, the old man is also a source of entertainment for the town’s people. Although one might think that the old man shows a lack of dignity, when observed and analyzed, his actions are perceived completely different. The characteristics of the old man are rather supernatural. While being locked up in the chicken coop, the town’s people act criminally: throwing fruit peels and stones at him as if he was a circus…
They just couldn’t stop laughing, despite the vexed ambiance they had set around them. A mere glance to one another served as vinegar to baking soda, resulting in a volcanic eruption of laughter. As the monotonous sermon continued, the antsy children could not help but make each trickling minute more enjoyable. Phrases and words, not to mention metaphors and similes, were one of the several targets used as a source of entertainment. When the priest compared the stubbornness found in people to goats, the imaginative minds inherent in the children envisaged humans with heads of goats and goats with heads of humans.…
The story begins on Sunday morning, and good Parson Hooper is making his way to the church to delivery his sermon to his congregation. However, this day is different from any other. Good Parson Hooper arrives at the church wearing a black veil that covers all his face except his mouth and chin. This not only starts a stir amongst the parishioners about the abstracted minister, but also the townspeople of Milford.…