Juha

Blog 6: Tales of Juha 1-41

The beginning of this book with the description and historical recollections of Juha I really enjoyed. I especially like how Salma Khadra Jayyusi wrote about the logic behind why Juha is so humorous. He writes “everything becomes inverted, taking on a meaning that runs counter to the norms of common sense and conventional pattern. This is why Juha’s actions and sayings stimulate us and make us laugh. His world becomes a living paradox. A lot of times it is difficult to explain why we laugh or why we find something funny, but the author lays it out for us we have no doubt about why we are laughing at these stories of Juha.

The first tale that I read which stuck with me was the one where two thieves come across Juha and demand he give them his bag. They struggle over who will get it and eventually Juha tricks them into fighting each other until they are both dead. I like this story it shows he is using wisdom to solve the situation. I think this sort of fable could be used to show kids how to solve problems-not killing people actually, but instead talking to them until they overcome the situation. The figurative message not the literal one is the message that is supposed to be meaningful. I can see how this could be used as a moral to talk things through and use wit and wisdom, just as the section title suggests.

Another story that I came across which I really liked was the tale of the friends who blame Juha for a thief stealing his donkey. I don’t really find this a funny story, but it does have a take away message-why blame someone for something outside of their control. This could be good for some child to read and study if they are one of the friends who blames others all the time. I’m just not sure where all the humor comes in. I get the moral, but not the humor. It’s not funny that his friends blame him for a thieves action. What do you think? Am I missing some humor element or technique?

The first tale that I actually found funny was the one where Juha is on a trip with a man who constantly asks him to help prepare the meal and Juha keeps turning his down. In the end the man asks Juha to come and eat and Juha responds “by God I feel so ashamed now, that I turned down all of your requests before”. Juha is being lazy and selfish by not helping the man but then says he feels bad he has denied the man all his previous times, so now he will do as the man wishes and eat with him. He is in a sense helping the man and being kind by him for doing as he requests and eating. It’s the classic excuse and Juha pulls it off and makes the reader laugh. With this story I can see how kids and adults alike would enjoy him.

One tale I just did not get at all was the one about Juha marrying an ugly woman and then when he sees a pretty woman he suggests that he and his wife marry her. I really just don’t get it at all. I know that men can have multiple wives but I don’t see why the wife would be involved or why it would be a joke. My only guess is it is a play on the social attitude toward marriage, but I could also be way off base. I just don’t know. What do y’all think?

My group did our presentation on Arab humor so I thought that the research we did in preparation for describing their humor would be beneficial when it came time to read this book. Unfortunately, it has not. Most of the stories are either way off base that I have no idea what it means, or my research is not applicable. Most of our research had to do with present day humor and satirical jokes about repressive regimes, but these tales seem to be in reference to older times.