Humor In Flora And Ulysses, By Kate Dicamillo

It is known that children’s literature provides a variety of genres, specifically, horror and fiction to allow adolescents to have a broad sense of knowledge and imagination. However, what sets the books Flora & Ulysses and The Graveyard Book apart from the rest is the utilization of humour. These novels have fictional journeys that bring a humorous approach toward discussing violent interactions and death. These topics as such are not the most uplifting, but the authors’ uses of humour provide educational and emotional experiences due to the distribution of juxtaposition, exaggeration, sarcasm and irony. The emphasis on humourous elements ranges from subtle to obvious. Authors Kate DiCamillo and Neil Gaiman use similar strategies of using

To begin, as previously stated, there are many examples of how humour is displayed which involve juxtaposition, inexplicability and exaggeration in Kate DiCamillo’s Flora & Ulysses. First of all, in reference to juxtaposition, this novel is based on a storyline with Flora, and Ulysses, a squirrel who has superpowers. Continuing on the topic of juxtaposition, some of Ulysses’ superpowers is the ability to fly and write poems. An example of these juxtapositional aspects can be found in the illustrations on page 177. A second example of juxtaposition is displayed through the comics on page 224 where Ulysses flies through the house to defend the family against a cat. Moving forward, DiCamillo purposely inserts components that lack logic. “‘We should try to think where your mother would have taken him. We should be logical, methodical, scientific.’ ‘Ulysses!’ shouted Tootie. ‘Ulysses!’ screamed Flora” (199). The addition of illogical is a comedic strategy used to symbolize a short attention span in the mind of a squirrel. To add on, there are some mature topics within the novel such as disabilities and injuries. To combat these sensitive topics, the utilization of humour is vital as it is used to cope. Regarding the subject of

This is where author, Neil Gaiman factors humour in to ease into these subjects. For example, Gaiman includes sarcasm and irony in darker situations. At the beginning of the book, there is the use of sarcasm to undermine the fact that the baby has left its home to explore and is unaware that he escaped death and his family was murdered. During the baby’s time in the graveyard, the Owens stumble across him, in which sarcasm is exhibited. “‘Strike me silly,’ said Mr. Owens, ‘if that isn’t a baby.’ ‘Of course it’s a baby,’ said his wife. ‘And the question is, what to be done with it?’ ‘I daresay that is the question, Mistress Owens,’ said her husband” (Gaiman 13). The use of sarcasm is illustrated by stating the obvious in this situation. Due to the many dark situations, the inclusion of irony contributes to the comical aspect of the novel. For instance, Gaiman takes a funny spin on the subject of death to lighten the mood. “You might think–and if you did, you would be right–that Mr. Owens should not have taken on so at seeing a ghost, given that Mr. and Mrs. Owens were themselves dead and had been for a few hundred years now, and given that the entirety of their social life, or very nearly, was spent with those who were also dead” (Gaiman 14-15). Another example of irony is presented through the explanation of the definition of death. “A graveyard is