“Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know is on third” (Abbott, Costello and Lou Costello). This is one of the funniest skits that has ever been said and still makes people laugh today. Everybody likes a bit of humor in their reading even if it is not as obvious as Abbott and Costello’s skits. Some humor in short stories are hidden and subtle and usually have a long lead into them requiring a lot of attention on the reader’s part. Through delving into the short stories of Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and Charles Chestnut the different forms of humor will be made clear.
In Bret Harte’s short story, The Outcasts of Poker Flats the humor is subtle and ironic as the story progresses. The irony of The Outcasts of Poker Flats is first seen in the name of the town Poker Flats and the main characters who are thrown out of the town at the beginning of the story. At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to the main character, John Oakhurst, who is a gambler. We are told that Oakhurst won a lot of money which made many of the townspeople upset (Hart, Bret, 1). The tow’s leaders …show more content…
The Outcasts of Poker Flats seems saturated in irony as the gambler continues to gamble outside of Poker Flats and gives up his poker cards before he dies. The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is mostly a hilarious story told by an old man who has been waiting for someone to ask him to tell the story of Jim Smiley and his famous animals. While the story The Goophered Grapevine is told by an old Slave hand who seems to make up a story to keep his income. But no matter which direction the stories take as the narrators end the stories, they are all funny in their own way and all have a sense of irony and humor either from the narrator’s voice or the names of the
In Bret Harte’s short story, The Outcasts of Poker Flats the humor is subtle and ironic as the story progresses. The irony of The Outcasts of Poker Flats is first seen in the name of the town Poker Flats and the main characters who are thrown out of the town at the beginning of the story. At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to the main character, John Oakhurst, who is a gambler. We are told that Oakhurst won a lot of money which made many of the townspeople upset (Hart, Bret, 1). The tow’s leaders …show more content…
The Outcasts of Poker Flats seems saturated in irony as the gambler continues to gamble outside of Poker Flats and gives up his poker cards before he dies. The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is mostly a hilarious story told by an old man who has been waiting for someone to ask him to tell the story of Jim Smiley and his famous animals. While the story The Goophered Grapevine is told by an old Slave hand who seems to make up a story to keep his income. But no matter which direction the stories take as the narrators end the stories, they are all funny in their own way and all have a sense of irony and humor either from the narrator’s voice or the names of the