Humorous Situation example essay topic

Humor in "A Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" Page 1: Humor may take many forms. A person may tell a humorous story to entertain an audience. Plays, movies and television shows use actors to relate humorous situations in a way that is easily related to the audience. The skills of the writers, actors and comedians directly correlate to the effectiveness of the humor presented.

Generally the effect is immediate as the story progresses with small presentations of humor and possibly developing into a grand finale or punch line. These things are engineered to entertain and provide humor with the use of very superficial information that allows the audience to follow along rapidly and doesn't require much thought or reflection. It would be difficult to carry out a gag if your audience had to take several moments to reflect and absorb the entire situation in order to see the humor in it. The situation in literature is much different.

The writer can use a great deal of reflection to channel or enhance the humorous effect of the story. In "A Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" the author is very descriptive in relating a story of a newlywed couple returning to the town where the groom is employed as a marshal. It is set in Texas in what is probably the late 1800's. It is a time when civilization is rolling over the "wild west" thanks in large part to the expansion of the railroad.

The brief description of the story just given in the previous three lines does nothing to enhance the reader's desire to read the story. It provides little insight into the characters or the plot. A significant amount of imagination must be used to derive any type of meaningful story out these three lines of description. The story begins by describing the newlywed couple as being dressed up in their fine clothes and situated on the train.

The cars that they are in are not just any cars but are very fancy, highly decorated ones which appear to be suited for the more wealthy patrons of the railroad. All of these fancy accouterments and, in fact, even their own clothing seem alien to them. They are described as very simple people that are not accustomed to what some may refer to as "the finer things in life". They look at the railroad cars as a child might look at Disneyland, while those about them observe their reactions.

It is quite reminiscent of the television show "The Beverly Hillbillies". I can recall this particular situation being capitalized upon by many movies and television shows. It was somewhat of a standby for the "Three Stooges" to be placed in the situation of high society as a bunch of bumbling fools that had no idea what they were doing. They would stumble along and highly exaggerate their perceptions of what they should be doing. Ma and Pa Kettle as well as Abbot and Costello were also prone to finding themselves in similar situations. But how does this translate to humor.

Since the two principle characters of the story are described as plain and unaccustomed the grandness of the train they behave in a peculiar manner. The go from car to car and gaze at each detail in a way which makes them stand out. This doesn't seem to bother them as they are so amazed that they don't seem to realize their peculiar behavior is being observed by the staff and other passengers of the train. The only thing that seems to bother her is her puff sleeves and he is primarily concerned with how the town is going to react to his unannounced wedding. One could picture Pa Kettle pointing to one of the fancy ceiling frescoes and making a comment about how the painter must have been on his back while painting them. All of the while they were being observed by the other passengers.

They have even caught the attention of the negro staff who also take the opportunity to establish themselves as being of a higher class than the couple. Back when this story was written this in itself would have been a humorous situation as it was such a deviation from the social norms of the time. Though it appears embarrassing to imagine yourself in this situation, it is amusing to see someone else in it. His new wife "cooks" and "She expected to cook, dutifully". This is probably the reason the marshal married her. As the towns marshal he was directly responsible for the care of the prisoners in the town jail.

His wife would be expected to cook for them as well as her husband. She was quite amazed that the food cost a dollar. This was an exorbitant amount to pay for a meal and she didn't think they were worthy of this expense. Her new husband let her know it was OK this time to spend that much for a meal. The tide is turned, however, back in the town's saloon.

There a drummer is telling a story and displaying his sophistication when the word comes about a drunken man with a gun. The local people in the saloon take the information in stride and make preparations for the situation. As the drummer asks questions and watches what they are doing he begins to realize that danger is imminent. This makes him lose his casual ease among these strangers. He suddenly becomes the alien in this world. He doesn't understand the situation and he begins to behave erratically and ask what is interpreted by the locals as stupid questions.

The man who, a short while before, was jabbering away to strangers in a saloon with the ease of a politician has been reduced to a babbling idiot in fear for his life. Another funny part which was quickly brushed over was the fact that the only two identified Mexicans immediately left via the back entrance when the news was passed about "scratchy". The Mexicans felt that the best thing to do was to get out of town. I could imagine this happening in an old western comedy only they would jump out of a window.

Scratchy is a peculiar Yosemite Sam type. He's dressed up for a trip to town and gets drunk. He turns into a gunslinger and starts to shoot up the town. Nobody interferes with him except the marshal who just happens to be coming back to town. He is a familiar character in town as the story describes how the marshal had previously been the sole person to intervene on one of his intoxicated shoot-em-ups.

He gets drunk and starts to shoot at things, the word gets passed that he's doing it and everyone knows what to do. Run and hide. The wife is apparently just standing there while her new husband is being threatened by scratchy.