Research Paper on:
Richard Russo's Straight Man

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
straight man. This term does not refer to his sexual preference, but to the subject of comedy. In comedy teams there may often be a straight man who is not  intentionally funny, or at least not intentionally funny so that people would notice. He keeps a straight face and is often quiet sarcastic. This is clearly what Russo presents us  with in his novel, with the straight men being William Henry Devereaux, Jr., or Hank. In the following paper we examine the use of sarcasm within Russos novel.  Sarcasm in "Straight Man" Sarcasm tends to be one of those elements of attitude and speech that is often very difficult to convey in the written word. We clearly understand  sarcasm when someone speaks with a sarcastic tone, but reading sarcasm or writing sarcasm is a much more intricate condition. In Russos book he pulls off the presentation of sarcasm  very well, with Hank perhaps not even truly aware of the satire he creates. In first examining Russos use of sarcasm, and his satiric targets, we look at the  opening paragraph of the novel: "When my nose finally stops bleeding and Ive disposed of the bloody paper towels, Teddy Barnes insists on driving me home in his ancient Honda  Civic, a car that refuses to die and that Teddy, cheap as he is, refuses to trade in. June, his wife, whose sense of self-worth is not so easily tilted,  drives a new Saab" (3). As we can note, the satirical wit used is very subtle, yet immerses us immediately into the character of Hank who seems to be somewhat  put out, in a satirical way, by his friend. We immediately gain an understanding of the character of Teddy as well as his wife in only two sentences. And, what