Comedy Quote by Stephen King
““At moments like this he suspected that Hitler had been nothing but a harried bureaucrat and Satan himself a mental defective with a rudimentary sense of humor—the kind that finds feeding firecrackers wrapped in bread to seagulls unutterably funny.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, 2005
Uses absurd humor to depict Hitler as a bureaucratic, flawed figure, highlighting the grotesque nature of evil
In simple terms: Even tyrants can be absurdly human
Key Takeaway
Recognize the absurdity within horror
Themes
evil
absurdity
humanity
Mood
dark
ironic
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- political analysis
- historical study
- creative writing
Key Concepts
psychology of evil
satire
Questions to Reflect On
- How does satire affect our perception of historical villains?
- When is humor appropriate in discussing evil?
A Different Perspective
Humor may downplay real atrocities
![“[Hitler thought] that Mussolini was no figure of world history, like der Fuehrer or Stalin.” quote by Joseph Goebbels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fa3/joseph-goebbels-4054_figures_hitler-thought-that-mussolini-was-no-fig_5180.jpg)
![“For instance, [Adolf Hitler] would never have spent the night at the Widenmayerstraße apartment. He visited it before we moved the furniture in, he visited maybe 4 times afterwards and he never spent the entire night.” quote by Gretl Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3c6/gretl-braun-9500_apartment_for-instance-adolf-hitler-would-never-ha_54634.jpg)
![“My father would never have come to visit, he detested Eva's [Braun] choice in a man and the fact [Adolf] Hitler had set her up in an apartment. To him it was deeply humiliating that she was living with a man at his own whim at an apartment he was paying for.” quote by Gretl Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/2a7/gretl-braun-9500_apartment_my-father-would-never-have-come-to-visit_40016.jpg)
![“[Wilhelm] Bruckner was one of [Adolf] Hitler's adjutants, very close to him and he'd been in the party probably since day one. Personally neither of us could stand him.” quote by Gretl Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/402/gretl-braun-9500_hitler_wilhelm-bruckner-was-one-of-adolf-hitler_30529.jpg)
![“Eva [Braun] loved [Adolf] Hitler and he was the only man in her life. She flirted and danced with other men but never would she have done more than that.” quote by Gretl Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/242/gretl-braun-9500_done_eva-braun-loved-adolf-hitler-and-he-was_22780.jpg)
