• Mr Sam Surya S
• Dr M Manimozhi

Dickens’s humour differs in his novels Oliver Twist and David Copperfield. Dickens used humour as a way of satire and criticism of society in both novels; however, he was more aggressive in the novel Oliver Twist. In this work Dickens criticizes the social system and the judiciary through his comments. He was allowed to do that this way because Oliver Twist is written in the third person narrative. Through this way of narrating Dickens was able to express his opinion better than in David Copperfield, which was written in the first narrative form and Dickens tried to depict his child’s feelings realistically when he wrote about his childhood. Although he had only a limited scope of activity, Dickens satirically depicted his opinion on the judiciary in connection with the problem of financial debtors and the treatment with these debtors. On the other hand, Dickens used a sort of kind humour which sourced from naive view of the world. This humour is used in both his novels and is typical of children – Oliver and David. This humour occurs in situations which are interpreted by these boys and it is caused by misapprehension of that given situation. The sense of humour is essential for the work of Twain. His humour in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is rather sincere but not cruel. It is closer to childlike humour and due to this type of humour Twain observes and depicts his memories of his childhood. He characterizes the society and its hypocrisy but subtly through the eye of an innocent child. Twain’s humorous tone is getting sharpen in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain still shows that his sense of humour is very good and has class however he turns his humour into irony and sarcasm. Through these acts of inexplicit negation Twain comments on historical events and depicts the then society in full detail. Due to his humour and satire readers recognize his attitude towards American Civil War and his feelings for it. The most significant it is in the episode with two feuding families which is typical allegory of the Civil War. Thanks to the satire Twain shows his opinion on black people and he tells readers that although there are black and they are slaves, they are still human beings and the white society, which has Christianity that says that all people are equal, this white society denies the fact about black and this is the root of their hypocrisy. Despite the fact that humour of Twain in both novels is different, it still tries to point out what was wrong with the then society and shows the problems which are actual even nowadays.

Humour, Satire, Black humour, Comparative study, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist

"SATIRE AND HUMOUR IN SELECT CHARACTERS OF DICKENS AND TWAIN – A COMPARATIVE STUDY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 9, page no.163-173, September-2021, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRFC06033.pdf

"SATIRE AND HUMOUR IN SELECT CHARACTERS OF DICKENS AND TWAIN – A COMPARATIVE STUDY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 9, page no. pp163-173, September-2021, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRFC06033.pdf