"---- the great war and the ugly little pest it had inspired." The ugly little pest being Hitler. It doesn't have to be 'laugh out loud' funny, but I want to show how much the character finds him and his ideals ridiculous and could not care less for them. It can't be too comical I think because it still has to acknowledge that he's not a cartoon character and has killed millions of people after all. (It don't like ugly little pest because it doesn't fit with the flow of the sentence which is a bit more thoughtfully written than this part. I thought about 'vile little man' but I feel like it sounds kinda 'funny without trying to be' lmao) Thank you!
"Bohemian corporal" Bohemia sounds pretty. Also that phrase was actually used to describe Hitler by one of his generals who hated him.
To me, describing Hitler as an "ugly little pest" or something similar would seem flippant in light of who he was and what he did. If that's your intention, then that's fine. But you need to make sure that's the impression you want to give of your character's viewpoint.
I think Hitler was a lot more than an "ugly little pest." Be careful making this too funny or cutesy. I was reading a short story in a literary journal that delt with the ugly past of this time and genocide. The author made subtle attempts to introduce some slight humor. But when I read it, I felt sick and the little attempts at humor or lightening things up felt very wrong to me. I actually cancelled my subscription to the journal and won't read them again. And it was all because of that story, which was obviously good enough to publish but just really bad and inappropriate in other ways. If the editors can't spot that or that's the kind of humor they're into, it's just not for me.
I understand that and it doesn't reflect my views but my character's views. By this point in the story he's a privileged teenager who doesn't know as much.
Personally think he was a beautiful embodiment of the Aryan Race. It's a dangerous line to tread, because it's a clear source of conflict and not an area for humour. That isn't to say someone couldn't glean humour from it, but that I don't know how worthwhile it would be to have a light-hearted account of the fella.
