The Application Of Humor Theory In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain is one of the greatest novelists and humorists. During his life, he created a great amount of works which have been studied by many scholars and researchers. The most impressive novel of Mark Twain is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A lot of researchers have studied this novel on the aspects of realism, artistic characteristics, language, etc. However in terms of humor, most researchers just focused on the language and put relatively less attention to the application of humor theory in this novel. The author thinks the research on humor is not enough in this novel. It can be studied on the aspect of humor theory. There should be a combination of the novel and humor theory in order to achieve a better effect on the analysis of the characteristics of this novel.This paper is composed of four Chapters. Chapter One is a study on the definition and theories of humor, which concentrates on the three theories that are the most important:the Superiority Theory, the Relief Theory and the Incongruity Theory. The Superiority Theory and the Relief Theory have their shortcomings, and the Incongruity Theory is the one which is used the most successful, so the author thinks the Incongruity Theory can illustrate the humor in this novel the best. Chapter Two is a general introduction of Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn. The purpose is to give a background of Twain and the book, which can pave a way for the understanding of the book. Chapter Three is about the application of the theory of humor in this book. It focuses on the Incongruity Theory, because it is the one which is used widest around the world. Chapter Four is about the function of the humor in this book. Twain’s humor is mainly for fun and satire. It brings laughter to the readers, and at the same time it satirizes the ugliness in America. Satire is the biggest purpose in this novel.