SARGASSO


 II

 In riddling, then, we see a structural process
 operating on the level of systematic meaning and
 sentiment that is closely related to the joking
 seizure of power, for the moment, by performers.
 (Roger Abrahams 1983: 168)

 Humor, Sigmund Freud tells us, is not resigned; it
is rebellious, signifying the triumph not only of the
ego, but also of the pleasure principle. Freud, of
course, is not referring to "harmless" or "innocent"
humor here but rather to what he calls "tendentious"
humor, jokes which "are especially favoured in order to
make aggressiveness or criticism possible against persons
in exalted positions who claim to exercise authority."
(Freud 1960: 105). In short, there is a difference,
according to Freud, between harmless or innocent jokes--
these serve no particular aim and are an end in them-
selves--and jokes which have a facade of some kind, that
is, which have an ulterior motive (of aggressiveness,
satire, defense, or, in the case of obscene jokes,
exposure). The latter always have something forbidden
to say, a hidden message, as it were. Such messages
are prevalent in Haitian blag which, generally speaking,
seem to fall into two of the four classes of tendentious
jokes that Freud names: specifically those which are in
the service of aggressive (hostile) purposes and those
which have cynical (critical, blasphemous) purposes.

 To illustrate this hypothesis more clearly, it will
be helpful to review the mechanics of the joking process
itself. In the beginning section of Jokes and Their
Relation to the Unconscious Freud tells us that the
witty character of a remark lies not in its thoughtful
content but in its formulation. It is the form and
technique of a joke, not its subject matter, which
causes laughter. In later parts of the book Freud
turns to the unconscious, hostile tendencies of wit.
He sees joking as a way of admitting dangerous aggression
to our consciousness, but in a form that has been
cleverly disguised from outright assault into wit.
A wish to insure is momentarily repressed and pushed down
into the unconscious where it is transformed by the
jokework. If the disguise succeeds, the aggressive idea
passes the censor, escapes further repression, and may