Research On Black Humor In Then We Came To The End

Then We Came to the End is the first novel by American writer, Joshua Ferris. Heused humorous but melancholy writing style to tell a story in a busy and boring modernAmerican company. The company has experienced its strongest and best time, and isfacing a business downturn. At the same time, the gossip of the layoffs has sprouted andmisfortune and confusion in their lives are involved. It just likes a surrealism picture ora noisy carnival which is full of laugh and melancholy. It just like a graceful music, afterthe playing, there is still music lingering around your ear. Such a contemporary famousblack humor masterpiece is worth the scholars’ concern and research.This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One is introduction, which includesthe author, the novel itself, the literature review at home and abroad, and the topicstatement. In Chapter Two, the definition and characteristics of black humor novels arecombed; the artistic presentation forms of black humor are analyzed through two pairsof concepts—realistic and freehand rendering, absurddity and detachment; then therelations of theory schools are discussed about black humor and mordernism,post-modernism and existentialism. In Chapter Three, this thesis analyzes the usage ofthe writing techniques and the rhetorical devices. Striking writing techniques of blackhumor novels analyze the novel which includes the broken plots, the fussy concept andthe new space-and-time concept. At the same time, this thesis exemplifies the functionsof the rhetoric methods. In Chapter Four, the themes of black humor are discussed fromthe economic crisis, the social crisis and the humanistic crisis, and these crises haveprofound influence on all leves of society reflected through four representative events.In Chapter Five, the thesis analyzes the novel concerning the succession and creation ofThen We Came to the End to black humor. In the respect of succession, a lot of absurdevents and ridiculous wording add up the atmosphere of horror, which terribly showsthe theme and the style of the traditional black humor. Furthermore, in the respect ofcreation, the description of benevolent deeds of the characters in the novel reflects valueof the author himself and his expectation for the American society. Finally, in thechapter of the conclusion, through the systematical analysis of Then We Came to theEnd, the new typical representation involved in American black humor, not only the comtemporary American society and literature are acquainted comprehensively, but alsothe research on the school of black humor is more various.