拉尔夫·艾里森的小说《看不见的人》是美国黑人小说史上里程碑式的著作。小说中不仅穿插着具有非洲民间特色的传统幽默,给人忍俊不禁的幽默效果,更多是带有美国“黑色幽默”特征的现代幽默变式,给人一种苦笑后的沉重感。本文将分述两种幽默在文中的表现途径,分析幽默所具有的审美功能,最后探究作者采用幽默作为表现手法的原因及其对后世的影响。 Ralph Ellison’s novel “Invisible Man” is a monumental work in the history of African-American novels. In the novel, not only the traditional humor with African folk characteristics is interspersed, but also the humorous effect which can not but be lifted. More modern humorous variants with the characteristics of “black humor” in the United States give a heavy sense of wry smile. This article will be divided into two kinds of humor in the expression of the way to analyze the aesthetic function of humor, and finally explore the author of humor as a manifestation of the reasons and their impact on future generations.