Dumas: A Humorist Analysis

People in today’s society have adopted humor and comedies into their everyday lives, whether it’d be from shows such as Saturday Night Live or from a cartoon column in the newspaper. The success of these humorous selections comes from the entertainment value as well as the sheer value of laughter. Through these positive, light-hearted responses, viewers of humorous programs associate the authors of these comedies with harmless, beneficial motivations. Stephen Colbert relayed his thoughts during an interview, saying, “You can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time.” Thus, de Botton’s view on the role of humorists is correct as it identifies humorists as effective messengers. Not only is de Botton correct in that he acknowledges …show more content…
Everything comes with its natural imperfections, and humans, with their desire to make everything optimal, often judge or push for change. With this in mind, oftentimes, people must withhold these thoughts as they may come off as rude or even threatening. For example, in “The ‘F Word’” by Dumas, Dumas criticizes Americans and their lack of respect for other cultures and in his case, other cultures’ names. With such a critical message directed at his primary audience members, Americans, the readers would take offense and disregard much of what Dumas had to say. This is where the role of humorists emerge. As De Botton identifies, humorists can intervene when there are messages that cannot be stated directly. In the case of Dumas, because he incorporated a vast amount of humor, he effectively conveys his message while not offending his audience. Because his satirical style of writing in the piece, the audience members were able to see their own …show more content…
By visually depicting wrong situations, mainly in a satirical manner, cartoonists can use imagery in order to convey their message. Another commonly used but effective rhetorical strategy that especially cartoonists can make use of is hyperbole. For example, in “The Great GAPsby Society,” a cartoon commenting on the increasing wage gap, Jeff Parker illustrates a literal increasing chasm between an exaggerated stereotypical rich man and a worker. While the image itself is humorous as it is in fact a cartoon, the message it illustrates is much more impactful as Parker sarcastically exaggerates the difference between the two groups through the dialogue. The characteristics of a satire that the cartoonist utilizes, in this case hyperbole and imagery, physically illustrate a irrefutable problem in society, and only cartoonists are able to display certain situations in such an exaggerated yet effective