ETHNIC STEREOTYPES MOCKERY IN JEROME’S HUMOUR

THE CASE OF THREE MEN IN A BOAT AND THREE MEN ON THE BUMMEL

Abstract

The broad humour area often extends its boundaries over topics which are usually thought as forbidden because of breaking some ethnic norms or risks of offending the representatives of certain ethnic or social groups. Yet, humour remains one of the safest areas where prohibited issues are risen since it brings some relief to the joke teller when he takes the liberty of revealing them, as well as to the audience who acknowledge the issue as existent. Ethnic stereotypes frequently served an object of mockery that is why this section is of great interest in contemporary studies of humour. Taking the Ethnic Theory of Humour as a starting point, this paper seeks to explore the ethnic stereotypes which build the script oppositions in J. K. Jerome’s ethnic jokes and to check the applicability of Davies’s premises to Jerome’s subtle manner of mockery of British and non-British ethnicities.