JuHa Ha

For the most part, for this section, I am going to focus on the Social Satire section of Tales of Juha, because I came upon many interesting finds while reading.

One passage that stood out to me:

“How long,” Someone asked him, “will people go on being born and dying?”

“Until Hell is full,” Juha replied.

This was relatable and humorous, but I felt like this demonstrated a very negative view on the nature of humanity. This was perhaps more dark than I had e

JuHaHa

For the most part, for this section, I am going to focus on the Social Satire section of Tales of Juha, because I came upon many interesting finds while reading.

One passage that stood out to me:

“How long,” Someone asked him, “will people go on being born and dying?”

“Until Hell is full,” Juha replied.

This was relatable and humorous, but I felt like this demonstrated a very negative view on the nature of humanity. This was perhaps more dark than I had expected, as it implies that people are inherently bad. While this is a typical Christian viewpoint as well, I thought that just the bluntness of this statement was what perhaps made it the most ironic. I felt that this type of joke in the United States might not be received well, because here it seems that although there is a belief in the negative nature of man, there is also a large hope for him as well. Perhaps it is the influence of the American Dream, following into our beliefs about afterlife and mankind’s potential, but it was something that sort of struck a nerve for me. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been feeling more philosophical lately, but it made me think about how we view man in general, and how that could be different from the Arab viewpoint. This isn’t something I am very familiar with, but it was interesting none the less.

Perhaps my favorite story in Tales of Juha so far a social satire about people’s judgement and treatment of others based on their looks. Juha goes to a banquet dressed in poor commoner garb, and is ignored. He goes home to change into fine clothes, and when he returns he is received well and people give him plenty of respect and attention. When the food is served to him, he hold out his arm over the disk and exclaims, “Eat, oh Sleeve!” and when people look upon him confused, he replies, “All the consideration you paid me was for my sleeve, not for me as a person. So, the sleeve has a better right to the food than I do.”

This story was particularly humorous to me, because of its blatant sincerity and wit. After thinking more in depth from a literary perspective, I can think of a few reasons why this is so intriguing. For one, Juha shocks those around him by doing something outrageous, that turns out to be a very reasonable action with his explanation. This serves as a kind of paradox. Another part that makes this particularly amusing is that Juha chooses the word “sleeve” instead of “shirt” or “clothing”, which seems to understate what actually got him the attention. His use of “sleeve” makes it seem even more ridiculous, because how insignificant is a sleeve to a piece of clothing, let alone a sleeve to a person? Using just this part of his clothing to represent his appearance to them serves as a synechdoche, and this device allows him to even further juxtapose his treatment by showing that a small change on his part created a huge change on their opinion of him as a person.

This is a classic tale of “don’t judge a book by its cover” or don’t judge people before you get to know them. It is a classic tale about stereotypes, and it is presented in a very effective manner so as to make as strong of a statement as possible. I enjoyed this story, with its simple, yet very clever approach to a particularly common situation.

The last favorite of mine for this section was the story where the man and his wife are sitting down to dinner, and he claims the meal would be much tastier “without the crowd.” His wife is startled because they are the only ones around. The husband responds, “It used to be just me and the pot.”

I thought this was a very direct, funny story that could be compared to a simple “punchline” joke one might use here in the United States. This is perhaps the reason it is so effective, because it is presented in a format many people here would be able to understand. I believe this type of humor would go over very easily with other Americans. This theme of a husband being annoyed by his wife’s presence is something that is repeatedly used on sitcoms throughout the U.S., and I wouldn’t doubt it if there were many English versions of this joke already in existence.

Overall, the social satire was a very enjoyable section of this book, and it was very relatable. Perhaps this is because it touches on parts of human nature, which could be present in any culture, not just from this particular region.