ANALYSIS OF HUMOUR IN THE WAY UP TO HEAVEN AND LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER BY ROALD DAHL /
FATEMEH GHASEMI; SUPERVISOR: ASSOC.PROF. DR. BEHBOOD MOHAMMADZADEH
- v, 71 sheets; 31 cm. Includes CD
Thesis (MA) - Cyprus International University. Institute of Graduate Studies and Research English Language and Literature Department
Includes bibliography (sheets 66-71)
ABSTRACT This study attempts to provide an analysis of humour in Roald Dahl’s selected short stories and also presents a critical contribution to the negative attitudes towards humour particularly black humour which has been constantly criticized by many critics. Laughter and happiness play an important role in everyone's life. Happiness and humour are closely related to human nature, so this led to the writing humourous pieces, conveying different messages to the audience in various ways and adding humour by authors. Humour is generally an art form that reaches out to the public through the use of humour and the creation of laughter. In dramatic writings, this format and these art tools portraits comedy. Black humour is one of the subcategories of humour and comedy, which ridicules morbid and gruesome situations, often associated with death, fear, suffering, and emptiness. Disparate political and social situations and black fiction led to the rise of this type of humour in Western literature. In this type of humour, the writer tries to induce two incompatible feelings of laughter and fear to his/her audiences at once. This concept also describes a troubled and unknown world and effectively has a mocking view on the terrible situation and is often associated with absurdity. The presence of such anomalies serves a similar function as humour, but the difference is that instead of a positive attitude it pays attention to the world and surrounding phenomena with a different attitude. In fact, in this category of literary works, humour does not have its traditional meaning, which contains a calm and happy mood, and the authors tend to depict unusual behaviors and reflect social realities through strange behaviors in the story, therefore the funny side of black humour is less, and crying is preferred to laughter. All these processes let the audiences to examine the issues around them much more deeply and realistically because it makes them get closer to these issues without having a distorted view and pass through them without being harmed. This thesis examines humour in two short stories by Roald Dahl and also this issue can be investigated how this author can present a different perspective on humour and at the same time be one of the most successful authors in the field of children’s literature. These short stories have been selected because they are the best samples of humour in different way and they are not following the predictable humour; therefore, the reader can't guess what the story is about. Through analyzing these short stories, we reach remarkable ideas which are not noticeable at first but step by step the reader finds it interesting. Keywords: Analysis of Humour, Humour in Literature, Roald Dahl, Types of Humour,