I've decided I like the stories of Juha where he is perceived as witty and smart. I'm not a fan of the stories of him being stupid, selfish, or cowardly. I think it could be because finding stupid people funny is very common so I find it a little boring, especially when the culture is a little different. However, laughing at someone's ability to outwit someone is pretty funny to me because I don't see it a lot. The circumstances found in the stories also are humorous to me because a lot of times they involve things that are uncommon in our current time and place. For example, there seems to be a mule or a king of some sort mentioned in the majority of the stories, and obviously this is not something we can relate to, so I guess it is a nice change to read about situations that I am not as familiar with.
Also, although I have been enjoying these stories because each one is different and they are easy to follow, I kind of don't like the range of personalities Juha has. It bothers me that he can be a very smart and witty man but at the same time can be seen as a stupid and oblivious man. I feel like in more Western literature, there is a partnership between two people, one who is smart and one who is stupid. So reading that this single character has this huge range of personalities is a very unfamiliar and maybe even bothersome thing for me.
Lastly, the very first story of chapter 8 (page 121) was this:
"Juha married a woman who was very fat, and he was afraid she'd be too strong for him and do him harm. One day, when she was chasing after him with a cane in her hand, he hid under the bed, where she was too fat to follow him.
'Come here after me,' he yelled, feeling safe at last. 'If you're man enough!'"
This story bothered me a lot. Coming from family with Middle Eastern mindsets, I understand that a marriage can be a very unbalanced bond in terms of who is more dominant. However, I think this story is ridiculous in the way he scrutinizes her at the end of the story. Even though this is supposed to be a funny story, it just came off as sad to me and nothing else. I usually don't mind jokes making fun of women mildly but for some reason this one just seemed very cruel to me, even though the wife was supposedly trying to cane him.
I agree that something more unusual tends to humor people. It reminds me of the whole incongruity concept. But in response to your post, I wanted to say that I was a little bothered by some of the anecdotes and jokes pertaining to women as well. However, I thought that I didn't have the full appreciation as I should have because of my different culture but after reading your post, I find it interesting that you were also bothered even though you grew up in a Middle Eastern household. I feel that this shows how traditions and attitudes are not only affected by differing cultures but are also affected within individual cultures over time.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand how you found the hiding under the bed story offensive. And I agree that some of the stories about women in Tales of Juha have been a little too much. However, I viewed this particular story completely different. Since the section was about cowardice, I was focusing on the cowardly acts of Juha and the fact that he was hiding from his wife underneath a bed and told her to come get him if she was “man enough.” All of the stories about marriage in Tales of Juha seemed to display the male as superior. However, in this story he was hiding under a bed in fear. Not only that but the male was telling the female to come get him if she was “man enough.” It was the incongruity of this quote that made the story funny to me because it was completely unexpected and reminded me of something you would hear on the elementary school playground. The mental image that I got of Juha curled up in a ball under a bed in fear was hilarious. I honestly didn’t give the wife much consideration as I was focusing on Juha’s cowardice. But as I reread the story, I completely understood how if I would have focused more on the beginning of the story instead of just the final quote, it could have been quite offensive.
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