Generra Johnson
5 November 2012
ENG 3029-01
Professor Chandler
Blog
17: Short Analysis Essay
The
Shaggy Dog Stories Draft
Introduction and
Question:
Everyone
knows about jokes. For every joke there is a punch line, and for every fable
there is a moral. Well the Shaggy Dog Stories have both jokes and morals that
have things in common with the college aged readers. What are features the
Shaggy Dog Stories have that connect to the college aged reader, you might ask?
Well the Shaggy Dog Stories have a connection and relationship with the college
aged readers through the morals and jokes. The connection can be shown through
the reader’s interests and lives.
Codes and Categories:
The
things the Shaggy Dog Stories have in common with the college aged readers are:
morals, jokes, political knowledge, twists in the stories, the emotions that
the readers felt while reading the stories, authority, having your own
authority, a play on words, violence, action, a plot twist, a punch line,
information, knowing the quote, the meaning of the story, and that there is
truth to the stories.
Patterns:
Now the stories were funny, and they were ranked by class
ENG 3029 section 01 of Kean University. The ranks are in the order of which is
the funniest. The funniest stories are ranked five, and the least funny is
ranked one. The ranks are a five out of five, five being the highest and one
being the lowest.
Nate, the Snake
|
1
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
1
|
Friars
|
1
|
1
|
6
|
2
|
4
|
Chess Players
|
|
2
|
4
|
5
|
3
|
Friday and Robinson
Crusoe
|
5
|
3
|
|
2
|
4
|
The Panda Bear
|
7
|
4
|
|
1
|
2
|
The pattern that follows in the Shaggy Dog Stories
according to the college aged readers: The story of Nate the snake received the
lowest ratings. The story of the friars received the second lowest ratings. The
story of the chess players was in third place. The story of Friday and Robinson
Crusoe was in second place, and in first place was the story of the panda bear
at the restaurant. This survey explains that everyone liked the story of the
panda bear the most, and the story of Nate the snake was liked the least among
the college aged readers.
There is more to the pattern of why the stories were
liked and disliked. It has to do with the connection the college aged readers
have with the Shaggy Dog Stories. From what was observed the connection the
college aged reader has with the Shaggy Dog Stories are: the jokes, the play on
words, and the punch line. It repeated this specific pattern, when observed in
the classroom, going from the jokes to the words to the punch line, and then
back again.
There were also reasons why the college aged students of
Kean University liked the funny Shaggy Dog Stories. Some people in the class
related to the stories. One example might be that some of the people in the
class remembered if they were ever bullied by someone like the friars were, in
the friar story. They also probably really connect to the friars if they were
not able to stop the bully and had to run away from them. Some people in the
class liked how funny the punch line was. One example of a punch line is in
panda bear story, “[A] ‘Giant panda, lives in China, eats shoots and leaves.’ ”
As for me as a person one punch line I can relate to every week is in the
Friday and Robinson Crusoe story, “His helper answered, ‘Thank Friday! It’s
God!’ ” If a person reverses the order of those words in the story, they really
say in real life, “Thank God It’s Friday!” Furthermore what it means is a
person is happy that the day Friday is here.
Another
theme that made the Shaggy Dog Stories funny was the violence in the stories.
The college aged readers as observed were more attracted to the most violent
stories. This will also explain why Nate, the snake was the least funniest
story, and why the panda bear story was the most funniest, even though they are
both violent stories. Both stories have main characters- Nate, the snake and
the panda bear. But Nate the snake was killed while the panda bear killed the
people in the restaurant. Then another difference is the panda bear had
dialogue in his story, but Nate the snake did not have any discourse. What is
more interesting is in both stories the brutality is explained by the punch
line. For example, when Nate the snake was squashed, when he was protecting the
lever, which could destroy the world, the punch line said, “The boulder ran
over Nate, but it was, in fact, deflected, leaving history to conclude that is
was better Nate than lever.” In other words Nate was better off being
sacrificed than the whole world. But again if a person rearranges the words in
this story, they will get, “Better Late than Never.” As stated, the punch line
has to be strong and it known by the reader to have a connection with the
college aged reader.
Hypotheses and Theory:
My hypotheses for the Shaggy Dog Stories are: What
features do the Shaggy Dog Stories have in common with the college aged
readers? What morals and jokes do the college aged readers have a connection to
when reading the Shaggy Dog Stories? Another hypothesis of mine is: The
stronger the connection to the audience the funnier the punch line. My theory
is: the Shaggy Dog Stories have punch lines and jokes that are significant to
the college aged reader. It explains what jokes and punch lines do college aged
readers relate to the most.
Conclusion:
So now it is known
that every punch line has a connection to the reader, when it has a good joke placed
before it. How does the punch line relate to the college aged reader? The
college aged reader relates to the punch lines by personal experience, and if
they have ever heard of the punch line before. Also the punch lines are strong
and liked the most among the college aged reader because of the joke that is
added. That is how a punch line becomes significant to the college aged reader.
