New Directions

Volume 4 | Issue 2 Article 13

1-1-1977

Laughter: A Model of Communication andSurvivalValarie Parks Brown

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Recommended CitationBrown, Valarie Parks (1977) "Laughter: A Model of Communication and Survival," New Directions: Vol. 4: Iss. 2, Article 13.Available at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol4/iss2/13

A Model ofCommunicationAnd SurvivalBy Valerie Parks Brown

When one speaks of laughter, one must besure that its meaning is clear; for it isusually thought of or defined as an explo-sive sound, triggered by something highlyamusing or comical. Although this is truein most instances, laughter can be indica-tive of many emotions having nothing at

38 all to do with merriment.More than any other group, Black peo-

ple in America have managed to manipu-late laughter to communicate profoundemotion and to survive. Laughter, with itsboundless limits of meaning, can containmalice, hatred, scorn, derision, fear, satire.Which one of these it represents-at anygiven time-depends upon the situationto which the individual is reacting.

As Black people in America struggledto survive the agony of slavery- in thefields on the plantations in the South, inthe slave cabins, in the "big house"-they learned to conceal their true feelingsand their keen intelligence with the shieldof broad grins, tinkling giggles, andboisterous laughter, all rneant to lull"rnassa" into believing that they werecontented and happy with their lot. Theyknew that they would be treated well aslong as they played the role of plantation"jesters" - making fools of themselves inorder to keep their hopes alive-thatsome day all this would end and theirkith and kin would be together again.

Slavery, however, was not the only ex-perience through which Black Americansdeveloped their expertise with laughter;it was the first and the strongest ofinfluences.

I recall stories recounted by my paternalgrandrnother on her use of God-inspiredlaughter when, as a slave, she was beingbeaten by her rnaster. The harder hestruck her, the more she laughed, infuri-ating and shaming him at the same tirne.At the height of the brutal lashing, he sud-denly stopped, looked at her strangely, hisexpression a mixture of disbelief, fear,andawe, then walked away with her derisivelaughter ringing in his ears. I used to askgrandmother to tell me this story over andover again; it filled my childish heart witha fierce hatred of and scorn for the whiteman and with inexpressible admiration,pride and love for this amazing womanwho refused to cry.

Black people's involvment in wars,where sornehow Black soldiers alwaysseemed to be in the front lines where the 1

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- _ ting was fiercest and the casualtieshighest, contributed to their laughter

-= ° e ironic essence. With emancipation,-=- ks were forced to laugh to conceal-.:>ir desperation at having no place to go,

ing no source of income, of being~ without real FREEDOM.

o one knows better than Black people---0 heart-breaking laughter of frustration.

to their involvement in wars, the- .JQgles after emancipation, the more re-

social upheaval, boycotts, demon-=>:mions, sit-ins (where they were often

upon, kicked, shot and jai led), fami Iytions and political ideologies, and

- can read i Iy see that the laughter ofe situations was laced with aggres-, tension, hatred, fear, and other un-

-~irable emotions which human beings-e;. inspire in one another. Thinly veiled,

bolic communication, with equallyumorous significance were, and still

- • very common in the laughter of Blackpie where racial matters areemed.e frequency of disguised laughter in

- - ks goes back to the fundamentalre of slavery, where communication

--= een slaves was scrutinized bothrefully and constantly-after all, therere attempts by desperate and lonelyes to find freedom and family. It is

- efore log ical for the descendants of- eves today to find in laughter an outlet

eir protests and reactions to seriousjects.

30m of necessity and under the stimu-of adversity, Blacks' laughter has had

~ marvelous survival value. Due to- ges over the years, the laughter of

~- k people (who defied the Southern-oles with veiled barbs, whose cynicism

stark fear of whites were disguised inIs of "darky-happy" sounds, and

e frustration and desperation foundome release in jokes about the ridic-sness of Jim Crow or the variegatedces of racial prejudice) has gonegh qualitative changes, indicative ofresponsive to social climate. Some of

- laughter is, and has always been, of- amused variety-a reaction to jokes,

ially those in which Blacks could- h at the absurdity of certain aspects- -ace relations. Those stories in which-=. hite man, always the adversary, ap-- s Iud icrous or suffers the inferior

al status to which Blacks are usuallyated, really entertain Black peoplearouse a type of derisive laughter

- h communicates their awareness of=cO, own intelligence and of the white

's stupidity, which, when recognized,ins why Blacks have survived. Evenlaughter-provoking jokes often con-

tain a certain element of the ever-presentracial confl ict wh ich, after the guffawshave died down, make the Black personsay: "That's the white man for you allright!!! The -----s!!" Were not some of thelaughter of Blacks the kind which givesthem a feeling of superiority, they couldnot survive in the white world's "boorish-ness" and retain their mental equilibrium.

If one wonders about the abi Iity ofBlacks to laugh, even in the face of greatadversity, one must become aware also oftheir flexible and spiritual nature, theirconcept of group ar family identity whichtruly sets them apart from other races.Their religious fervor, the special reso-nance and tones oftheirvoice, the relaxedfluidity of their graceful gait, the unique-ness of their nutritional specialties andpreferences-all seem to contribute to thevigor of their communication and to thecertainty of their survival.

It is not easy at all to explain laughter.As I dwell more and more on the meaningand power of laughter as a means of com-munication and survival of Blacks, I findmyself becoming increasingly more in-trigued by the word laughter and by itsphilosophical definition. Many years ago,I read Critique of Judgment, by ImmanuelKant, in which he gave a very interestingdiscussion and definition of laughter:

"In everything that is to excite a livelyconvulsive laugh there must be some-thing absurd (in which the understand-ing, therefore, can find no satisfaction).Laughter is an affectation arising fromthe sudden transformation of a strainedexpectation into nothing. This transfor-mation, which is certainly not enjoyableto the understanding, yet indirectlygives it very active enjoyment for a mo-ment. Therefore, its cause must consistin the influence of the representationupon the body and the reflex effect ofthis upon the mind; not, indeed, throughthe representation being objectively anobject of gratification, as in the case ofa man who gets the news of a greatcommercial success (for how could adelusive expectation gratify?), but sim-ply through it as a mere play of repre-sentations bringing about an equilib-rium of the vital powers in the body."

Kant quoted Voltaire as having said thatheaven had given us two things to coun-ter-balance the many miseries of life-hope and sleep. He stated that Voltaire"could have added laughter, if the meansof exciting it in reasonable men were onlyas easily attainable and the requisite witor originality of humorwere not so rare, asthe talent is common of imagining thingswhich break one's head, as mystic dream-

ers do, or which break one's neck, as yourgenius does, or which break one's heart,as sentimental writers (and even moralistsof the same kidney) do."

One joke of the type that made Blackslaugh with relish, because they gainedtemporary advantage over "the enemy" isthe one below which represents the re-versal of master-slave roles. The sup-posed Iy "dumb darky" makes a fool of the"smart wh ite master!"

Pompey, how do I look?0, massa, mighty.What do you mean "mighty," Pompey?Why, massa, you look noble.What do you mean by "noble"?Why, sar, you just look like one lion.Why, Pompey, where have you ever

seen a lion?I see one down in yonder field the

other day, massa.Pompey, you foolish fellow, that was a

jackass.Was it, massa? Well, you look just like

him.

Zara Neal Hurston, in Mules and Men,brings to the lips of today's young Blacksand yesterday's Negroes the same quiet,soft, almost inaudible, but completelyunderstanding and appreciative, heart-warming laughter which has been, andalways will be, a Model of Black Com-munication and Survival:

"Under-privileged people are shy, re-luctant at times to reveal that whichthe soul lives by. And the Negro, inspite of his open-faced laughter, hisseeming acquiescence, is particularlyevasive. You see, we are a polite peo-ple and we do not say to our ques-tioner, 'Get out of here'. We smile andtell him or her something that satisfiesthe white person because, knowing solittle about us, he doesn't know whathe is missing. The Indian resists curi-osity by a stony silence. The Negrooffers a feather-bed resistance. Thatis, we let the probe enter, but it nevercomes out. It gets smothered under alot of laughter and pleasantries. Thetheory behind our tactics:

The white man is always trying toknow into somebody else's busi-ness. All right, I'll set somethingoutside the door of my mind for himto play with and handle. He canread my writing, but he sho' can'tread my mind. /'1/ put this play toyin his hand, and he will seize it andgo away. Then /'II say my mind andsing my song." 0

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The writer is a former professor of French,Department of Romance Languages,Howard University.

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