Alain de Botton once said, “The chief aim of humorists is not merely to entertain, but to convey the impunity messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly.” This quote shows that there is more to writing than just to entertain. Through writing, writers often convey messages that are not easily spoken about, such as criticizing a global trend or idea, by lightening up the topic and underlying messages through the usage of satire and humor. Joshua Ferris uses humor and satire to indirectly share his criticism on social conformity of people in an office and the American Dream.
In Joshua Ferris’s novel, Then We Came to The End, Ferris appeals to the reader's pathos, through humor to implicitly criticize social conformity, as something that causes people to lose sight of who they are. Tom Mota, a character in the novel, who gets fired from the advertising agency is seen as a crazy person, as he does all these crazy things to not conform. However in the end, he realizes he is conforming to society in his own way. Tom Mota says, “I refused to conform...Everyone listened to the same goddamn radio station. Fuck that. I stayed late and went to everybody’s desk and spun the dial. I wore three polos on top of each other for a month. Joe, because I wasn’t being fooled..I sharpied FAG on your wall. And I thought, it’s because I refused to conform..I thought I was up there, but no, that whole time, I was down here, with everybody else-- churning, spinning, talking, lying, circling, whipping myself up into a frenzy,” Ferris creates a character like Tom Mota, who does all these crazy things and who refuses to conform, but in the end conforms to society, to pull on the reader’s emotions of how social conformity causes people to do things to fit in. In the novel, it also states. “To conform is to lose your soul,”, this implies that conforming to society means losing who you are and doing things that society wants and not what you want. Furthermore, throughout the novel, Ferris mentions frequently about how the people in the office are always gossiping, and they are referred to as “we”. And those who do not join in on the gossip, the individuals in the office, such as Joe Pope, are disliked, but are doing well in their job. This denounces social conformity because it shows that people conform so they are not left out, and they do it because everybody else does it. It also implies that the individuals are the ones who are able to maintain stability in their job. In the long run, it can be inferred that social conformity forces people to do things not because they want to, but because they need to in order to fit in. By using humor to express the ways Tom Mota reacts to conformity and irony to explain the consequences of social conformity, it helps lighten the subject and show how foolish social conformity is. Adding on, Ferris also uses humor to implicitly criticize the “American Dream”. Throughout the novel, many characters are laid off from their jobs at the advertising agency. Ferris uses satire to convey his message about the “American Dream” and how it only cause people to live life without meaning. Ferris writes, “Yet for all the depression no one ever quit. When someone quit, we couldn't believe it...we were dumbfounded. It was like they were from another planet. What would they do about car payments? We got together for going away drinks on their final day and tried to hide our envy while reminding ourselves that we still had the freedom and luxury to shop indiscriminately.” This quote uses satire and irony to explain the cycle of the American Dream and the fear of not working. Ferris uses satire and irony when he …show more content…
Joshua Ferris, in his novel, Then We Came to The End, uses humor, satire and irony to convey messages about the social conformity and American Dream. Both these are issues that are globally known, but through his usage of humor, satire and irony, Ferris develops and conveys a different message, challenging the social norms and showing the consequences of social conformity and the American Dream that are not usually
In Joshua Ferris’s novel, Then We Came to The End, Ferris appeals to the reader's pathos, through humor to implicitly criticize social conformity, as something that causes people to lose sight of who they are. Tom Mota, a character in the novel, who gets fired from the advertising agency is seen as a crazy person, as he does all these crazy things to not conform. However in the end, he realizes he is conforming to society in his own way. Tom Mota says, “I refused to conform...Everyone listened to the same goddamn radio station. Fuck that. I stayed late and went to everybody’s desk and spun the dial. I wore three polos on top of each other for a month. Joe, because I wasn’t being fooled..I sharpied FAG on your wall. And I thought, it’s because I refused to conform..I thought I was up there, but no, that whole time, I was down here, with everybody else-- churning, spinning, talking, lying, circling, whipping myself up into a frenzy,” Ferris creates a character like Tom Mota, who does all these crazy things and who refuses to conform, but in the end conforms to society, to pull on the reader’s emotions of how social conformity causes people to do things to fit in. In the novel, it also states. “To conform is to lose your soul,”, this implies that conforming to society means losing who you are and doing things that society wants and not what you want. Furthermore, throughout the novel, Ferris mentions frequently about how the people in the office are always gossiping, and they are referred to as “we”. And those who do not join in on the gossip, the individuals in the office, such as Joe Pope, are disliked, but are doing well in their job. This denounces social conformity because it shows that people conform so they are not left out, and they do it because everybody else does it. It also implies that the individuals are the ones who are able to maintain stability in their job. In the long run, it can be inferred that social conformity forces people to do things not because they want to, but because they need to in order to fit in. By using humor to express the ways Tom Mota reacts to conformity and irony to explain the consequences of social conformity, it helps lighten the subject and show how foolish social conformity is. Adding on, Ferris also uses humor to implicitly criticize the “American Dream”. Throughout the novel, many characters are laid off from their jobs at the advertising agency. Ferris uses satire to convey his message about the “American Dream” and how it only cause people to live life without meaning. Ferris writes, “Yet for all the depression no one ever quit. When someone quit, we couldn't believe it...we were dumbfounded. It was like they were from another planet. What would they do about car payments? We got together for going away drinks on their final day and tried to hide our envy while reminding ourselves that we still had the freedom and luxury to shop indiscriminately.” This quote uses satire and irony to explain the cycle of the American Dream and the fear of not working. Ferris uses satire and irony when he …show more content…
Joshua Ferris, in his novel, Then We Came to The End, uses humor, satire and irony to convey messages about the social conformity and American Dream. Both these are issues that are globally known, but through his usage of humor, satire and irony, Ferris develops and conveys a different message, challenging the social norms and showing the consequences of social conformity and the American Dream that are not usually