Leacock's "Sunshine Sketches Of A Little Town": Ironic Sketches Of A Little Town

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style was that of "a talker rather than a
writer". Another said..."He talked to the world. And the talk was good."
(Curry. p.242-243)
Satire is defined as a genre in which the author attacks some object,
using his means of wit or humour that is either fantastic or absurd. In the
case of Sunshine Sketches, Leacock's target is a fictitious small town in
southern Ontario, which could be, and often is, compared to all other small
towns across the country. Leacock immerses the reader amidst a collection
of ordinary characters who become extraordinary due to Leacock's grasp of
the comedy within human nature and the scope of small-town culture and
tradition.
By utilizing elements of both comic and tragic irony, which by
definition suggest varying divisions between words or events and their
contexts, Leacock not only creates a humorous environment for his
characters, but also one in which the reader may laugh at situations and
idiosyncrasies which are strikingly similar to their ...

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representations of these twists.
The context of all irony lies in the knowledge of comparison. Leacock
himself said:

Comparison is the very soul of humor...It is the discovery of
resemblance and the lack of it that builds up the contrasts,
discrepancies, and incongruities on which...humor depends.
(Curry. p.244)

If something that is well understood to suggest one thing, is suddenly
used to suggest something completely different, the result can often be
hilarious; such is the case with Sunshine Sketches. The first story
introduces the reader to Josh Smith, but more important, this story creates
the framework within which the ridiculous happenings of ...

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