Abstract: Black humor which attacks the absurdity of modern America plays an important role in American postmodernism literature and often appears in novels related to wars. The End of the Road, one of John Barth’s earliest works, though completely different from other war theme works, also makes use of techniques like irony, digression and playfulness to reveal the morbidity and absurdity of the society for the dark comic purpose. This paper attempts to analyze the black humor reflected in this novel and proves that black humor can also appear in the literary works concerning the ordinary subjects such as family, love, and marriage.

Key words: black humor; absurdity; comic purpose; techniques; ordinary subjects

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. The Previous Studies on The End of the Road-2

3. Black Humor-4

4. Black Humor in The End of the Road-6

4.1 Comic Characterization in The End of the Road-6

4.2 Themes of Black Humor in The End of the Road-12

4.3  Techniques of Black Humor in The End of the Road-15

5.Conclusion-20

References-22