Much like a stand-up comedian reels in his audience with crude, sarcastic humor, Christopher Morley catches his audience’s attention using irony and sarcasm. Morley illustrates laziness as salutary to humanity. There is a common logic that if you do not like to do something, do not do it well. Many people will not have someone complete a certain task if they know they will do it poorly. In his article, “On Laziness,” Morley uses this idea to illustrate how laziness itself can make people happier and advance them in life while also benefitting the world as a whole.
Morley begins the text with a humorous paradox. He states, “Today we rather intended to write an essay on Laziness, but were too indolent to do so.” This introduces the humorous tone as he goes on to explain how the text would have been if they had written it how they wanted. Throughout the text, he uses sarcasm to illustrate his points. Morley ends with the statement, “Writing on this congenial topic has roused us up to quite a pitch of enthusiasm and energy.” This appeals to pathos and leaves the audience with an ironic humor and gives them the idea of laziness bringing joy.
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Germany, for example, was “not lazy enough” and because of that had much extra energy and inane conflicts in contrast to the rest of the overall European indolence. On the other hand, laziness can bring people great success. Morley uses Doctor Johnson, a British scholar who was famous for his humorous texts, as an example, explaining that “it was sheer laziness that led to the greatest triumph of [his] life.” Morley uses a variety of outcomes and levels of laziness to further explain his point that indolence is the best way to be successful and improve