The Greater Purpose of Humor (Response to Tales of Juha 45 – 92)

I really enjoyed these next few sections of “Tales of Juha.” I felt that these embodied how humor could be used as a means to make a comment on something that isn’t socially acceptable. Nowadays, in our society, there are sensitive issues that we don’t talk about bluntly and I feel that humor can be a way to do so that would avoid uncomfortable situations. In other words, humor could be an innuendo technique. Maybe I’m just speculating a little too much but I thought that the sections on Social Satire and Naïveté and Stupidity consisted of jokes that did just that, indirectly commented on unconventional issues without creating an uncomfortable, awkward atmosphere.

Take for example the Social Satire section in which there were jokes pertaining to controversial subjects like religion and politics. For example, the following joke resonated with the idea that people only turn to faith in times of desperation: One day there was a strong wind raging. People started praying to God and reciting parts of the Quran. “All right, all right,” Juha told them. “Don’t be in too much of hurry to repent. It’s only a storm. It’ll pass.” This idea is commonly seen in life where people tend to noticeably turn to religion when they are at low times and take religion or faith for granted at other times. Or it could also people interpreted that people tend to be to quick to give in in times of desperation, instead of thinking things through.

There were also multiple anecdotes that pertained to the recurring theme of being superficial. There was the anecdote where a man asked Juha, who was wearing a turban and a scholar’s cloak, to read something for him. He had assumed Juha was able to read just because of Juha’s attire. There was also an anecdote where Juha attended a banquet in tattered clothes and then he returned with some fine clothes, and only then was he respected. By this, he draped his sleeve over his food and called to his sleeve to eat, suggesting that the other people only cared for his appearance instead of him as a person. Moreover, there was the anecdote that directly followed, where Juha, wearing unappealing clothes, went to a public bath and was given poor service yet he paid a large amount so when he returned, he was treated with greater service. I thought that these anecdotes commented on the superficiality of society and this was a common theme throughout. As noted, this theme wouldn’t be something one would conventionally blurt out in public as it could be offensive. But by putting it in a joke or anecdote, it could be lightly brought to attention. This serves as an example of the critical function, as mentioned as one of the positive effects of laughter in Morreall’s Comic Relief.

I also found the section on Naïveté and Stupidity interesting because it highlighted “stupid” character. One joke that really amused me was the one where Juha’s wife of three months believed that she was pregnant. Juha had pointed out that it hadn’t been nine months yet his wife still convinced him that she could be pregnant even though they had only been married for three months. Another one that amused me was: One day, Juha was asked about the remedy for a bad eye. “I had a painful toothache once,” he said. “And the only way I found of easing the pain was to have it taken out.” These anecdotes, in addition to the others in the same section, seemed to be a way to make light of people’s misinterpretation. Moreover, this reminded me of another argument presented in Morreall’s Comic Relief that humor could be used as a means to correct social behavior. These jokes could be a way of doing just that.  

            I found that these sections were exemplar of humor’s greater purpose other than to simply amuse. It has a purpose to comment on society and other serious issues.