Gelotology

Literature Essay – “Kambili change in character” The novel “Purple Hibiscus” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells a story of how two Nigerain children rebelled against their very father. For these children to end up rebelling against their father they must first bring about a change in themselves, they must become more mature, more responsible and not so dependent on their father. Kambili is one of those children that does go through a considerable change in her character, she reaches maturity. In

In Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust, each character experiences suffering, and in each case the suffering is ridiculed. Schadenfreude is a basic human experience; human beings do find humor in other’s misfortune. Society is so accustomed to the feeling of schadenfreude that hardly anyone knows exactly where it comes from or how distasteful it is. Society feeds schadenfreude of physical pain by letting it reside throughout comedy. Almost every comedic movie, show, song, sketch or any other

In an age where reality television is the way to become a “break-out star,” Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust seems to be an accurate precursor of what would be to come. In the novel, everyone is chasing the American Dream, which sells the illusion that anyone can make it—all they have to do is go to Hollywood. When the novel begins, the reader is not immediately aware of the fact that everything is taking place in Hollywood. The story begins with imagery of war and Tod Hackett hearing “[t]he

My vision slowed I felt dizzy and hot. “Let's go get some breakfast.” my friend Lily said. “Watch out for slender man.” I warned. We sprinted across the living room almost as fast as a cheetah. Apparently I ran too fast, because I slipped on a blanket doing a somersault first in the air, then finishing my beautiful fall with the classic baseball slide right into the vacuum cleaner. Usually i'm not the one who is clumsy. I could think of 10 different times Lily has been clumsy. She even has a shirt

Kaden's POV That night our parents told us that we would be moving to Texas with the Armstrongs. As Dominic and I head back to the room we shared, I saw Cole carrying Alyssa into her room which happened to be right next to ours. Dominic sneered and said "What's the little princesses issue? She too weak for this life." I laughed with him. Then as Cole came back out we heard him whisper, " I wish I knew. Maybe it wouldn't be starting again." Dominic gave me a funny look as Cole walked across the

I woke to the sun in my eyes. It wasn’t until I stretched and my brain began to work that I suddenly froze. Being a random Tuesday in April, why was the sun waking me instead of the Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” blaring from my phone at an ungodly hour? I was late; very, very late. Flying out of my bed like a horse out of the gates, I yelled out a few profanities while pulling on the first items of clothing that happened to be lying around and whipping my head around to figure out my bearings.

Students in honors classes often have many stereotypes that follow them around. The students are labeled as the ‘smart’ kids, they are assumed to know how to do assignments with ease, teased (usually in a kind matter) about having to achieve that 100% on a test, and it is assumed that the classes are quite boring since the students must be focused on their studies. Being in the class with an honors class proved some of said stereotypes false and others true. If this class had any representation of

The expression, “laughter is the best medicine,” may be more true than many people think. Even medieval medicine centered on humor. However, the humor of medieval times did not just come from the court jester; and, even then, people knew humor was important to their health. One curious fact is that the word humor in medieval times was tied “to the four fluids of the body -- blood, phlegm, choler, and black bile” (Krsywicka). The people believed all these should be in balance in the person as well

Some Risky Business The moment you all have been waiting for. You see the mic-stand, the mic, a stool, and a bottle of water. The stage is empty and silent, then someone appears on the stage. But in that moment, you don’t think about the reasons for your great anticipation, whether it is because someone is entering the stage or the on-coming laughter that you look forward to. This is one of stand-up comedy’s greatest mysteries. These unknown mysteries bring life into us in many ways. Comedy captures

At the end of his "What Now?" tour in Philadelphia in August of 2015, Kevin Hart stopped telling jokes, let us take out our phones for the first time that night and record video without fear of having his jokes stolen, and took a moment to acknowledge and appreciate the incredible diversity of the crowd: "I see every race, ethnicity, and nationality possible. I see some of everybody. We all came under the same roof and we laughed tonight. If you can laugh together, you can live together; if you