Kelan Martinez
Ms. Gunter
2/17/2015
ELA 8
Comic Relief in Literature
In many works of literature, there are characters who are present to provide comic relief in serious or dark situations. An example of two well-done comic relief characters can be found in “Harry Potter”. Fred and George Weasley are often getting in trouble for pulling pranks, disobeying rules, and just being all-around troublemakers. However, the characters are not two-dimensional. Throughout the story, you can see the Weasley twins grow and develop, becoming more than just the comic relief. This is an example of well-done comic relief because the characters have depth. They serve a purpose aside from getting cheap laughs out of the audience.
Many literary works do not understand how to develop a comic relief character. The characters provided by the author for comic relief are, in many cases, only there to serve one purpose: comic relief. While this might make sense, (a comic relief character serves for comic relief, that makes sense), an argument can be made that having a cheap, one-dimensional, cardboard cutout of a character can take away from a piece of literature. What does this character add to the story? Nothing? Well then, why even have them? You could just as easily put a snarky brick that follows the main characters around into your story, but just because it makes a couple of lame jokes doesn’t make it relevant or important, the brick needs something more. There is no reason to include a pointless character in your story.
Writing Reflection:
Writing this wasn't very difficult, as I have a very strong opinion on how characters should be implemented into stories. One part that WAS difficult for me, however, was having to figure out a good analogy for what to compare a useless character to. I ended up with the snarky brick, which I'm actually pretty proud of. Overall, I like the way this piece turned out.
Ms. Gunter
2/17/2015
ELA 8
Comic Relief in Literature
In many works of literature, there are characters who are present to provide comic relief in serious or dark situations. An example of two well-done comic relief characters can be found in “Harry Potter”. Fred and George Weasley are often getting in trouble for pulling pranks, disobeying rules, and just being all-around troublemakers. However, the characters are not two-dimensional. Throughout the story, you can see the Weasley twins grow and develop, becoming more than just the comic relief. This is an example of well-done comic relief because the characters have depth. They serve a purpose aside from getting cheap laughs out of the audience.
Many literary works do not understand how to develop a comic relief character. The characters provided by the author for comic relief are, in many cases, only there to serve one purpose: comic relief. While this might make sense, (a comic relief character serves for comic relief, that makes sense), an argument can be made that having a cheap, one-dimensional, cardboard cutout of a character can take away from a piece of literature. What does this character add to the story? Nothing? Well then, why even have them? You could just as easily put a snarky brick that follows the main characters around into your story, but just because it makes a couple of lame jokes doesn’t make it relevant or important, the brick needs something more. There is no reason to include a pointless character in your story.
Writing Reflection:
Writing this wasn't very difficult, as I have a very strong opinion on how characters should be implemented into stories. One part that WAS difficult for me, however, was having to figure out a good analogy for what to compare a useless character to. I ended up with the snarky brick, which I'm actually pretty proud of. Overall, I like the way this piece turned out.