Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Marks, Susan

Keywords

Job, Elihu, Humor

Area of Concentration

Religion

Abstract

Can a reader find comedy in the tragic plot of the Book of Job? This thesis explores that question by focusing on one character who, I argue, provides comedy in the form of comic relief: Elihu. The character of Elihu is important because he provides some levity amidst Job's suffering. To demonstrate this, I explore Stanley Fish's theory on reader-based interpretive strategies and interpretive communities to show how a reader is the ultimate interpretive authority. Armed with this knowledge, I show what role Elihu cannot play. This is the role of an arbiter. Finally, after showing what role he cannot play, I show how the best reading of Elihu is as a comic figure who relieves tension in the Book of Job a few chapters before God enters out of the whirlwind.

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