Leacocks Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town :: Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town Essays

Leacocks Sunshine Sketches of a Little town     It takes a certain type of character to see the humor in everyday life.It takes an even wideer character to express the humour in ways that other citizenry can appreciate and subsequently adjust gaiety therein. Stephen Leacockis such a character, and his compilation of short stories Sunshine Sketchesof a Little Town recognizes, and assists the reader to recognize, onesneed to laugh at their surroundings, their culture, and the people thatinteract in their lives.     Leacock is known for his profound ironic and satirical lineup exactly, in thecase of Sunshine Sketches, he offers aspects of tragic irony and subtleinsight with regards to everyday, small-town life as well, which serves tofurther enhance the value of his humour.     however as Leacock was interested in the techniques of humor, he wasinterested in the row of humor. Besides the careful selection oflanguage, said Leacoc k, humor demanded a great naturalness of language,the use of phrases and forms so simple that writers straining after solutionwould never get them. Critics felt that one of the main reasons forLeacocks success was that his zeal was that of a talker rather than awriter. Another said...He talked to the world. And the talk was good.(Curry. p.242-243)     Satire is defined as a genre in which the author attacks some object,using his means of wit or humour that is either fantastic or absurd. In thecase of Sunshine Sketches, Leacocks butt is a fictitious small town insouthern Ontario, which could be, and a lot is, compared to all other smalltowns across the country. Leacock immerses the reader amidst a accumulationof ordinary characters who become extraordinary due to Leacocks grasp ofthe comedy indoors human nature and the scope of small-town culture andtradition.     By utilizing elements of both comic and tragic irony, which bydefinition suggest v arying divisions between haggling or events and theircontexts, Leacock not only creates a humorous environment for hischaracters, but also one in which the reader may laugh at situations andidiosyncrasies which are strikingly similar to their own. Events such asthe sinking of the mariposa tulip Belle in six feet of water and the subsequentrescue attempts by Mariposans, the comedic courtship rituals of theextremely shy Peter Pupkin, and the inane attempts to raise money on behalfof the church are all examples of these sharp, ironic situations.     To understand the irony in any work, one must first appreciate thecontext of such a work. With regards to Sunshine Sketches, the town of