Week 3 - Humor

[Alex Gandy]

Harper Lee employs humor throughout her writing, especially through the use of her naive narrator. Cite an example or two of humor you found. Why is it funny and what purpose does it serve to the passage, chapter, or overall text?

[Caroline McCoy]

"'Ive got it. Double first cousin.'

'How can that be?'

'Two sisters married two brothers. That's all I'll tel you-you figure it out.'

I tortured myself and decided that if I married Jem and Dill had a sister whom he married our children would be double first cousins. 'Gee minetti, Jem,' I said, when Atticus had gone, 'they're funny folks. 'd you hear that, Aunty?'" (In ch. 23) This quote was from when Atticus was talking to Jem and Dill about the court and the jury, and they start to talk about the Cunninghams. Jem and Scout go off topic a bit and start to talk about the "complicated" relations in a family. Of course Scout thinks that if a brother and a sister marry each other than they are related to Dill and his sister. Instead it should of course be two sisters, one marrying one of two brothers in a completely different family, and the other sister marrying another brother in the same family as the first brother. If Jem and Scout could get married, and did, they still wouldn't be related to Dill.

On May 22, 2013, at 2:57 AM, Alex Gandy <alexga...@gmail.com> wrote:

Harper Lee employs humor throughout her writing, especially through the use of her naive narrator. Cite an example or two of humor you found. Why is it funny and what purpose does it serve to the passage, chapter, or overall text?

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[Alex Gandy]

One of my favorite moments of humor is in Ch. 9 at Christmas dinner when Scout asks Uncle Jack to "pass the damn ham, please."  I laugh out loud every time I read that!  Partially, because it reminds of a few pages earlier when Scout was willing to rub her head against someone else's to get ringworm and not go to school.  Such extremes!  It is just SUCH a little kid thing to do to cuss as logic for not going to school - "they don't want me to cuss; I don't want to go to school.  I will tell them I learned cussing at school and voila!"  It is moments like this that I LOVE Scout.  It is so profound to me how Lee is able to balance these moments of levity with such weight (like the Robinson trial).  This balance makes the book really reflect life - because isn't that life?  Moments of joy and moments of pain.  It's just so real.

[Meagan Kelly]

Spoiler alert, read book first 

I think one of the funniest things that happens is at the very end (on page 321 for the tall book) and Scout is thinking. She says "The street lights were fuzzy from the fine rain that was falling. As I made my way home, I felt very old, but when I looked at the top of my nose I could see fine misty beads, but looking cross-eyed made me dizzy so I quit. As I made my way home, I thought what a thing to tell Jem tomorrow. He'd be so mad he missed it he wouldn't speak to me for days. As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn't much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra." The reason why I included the whole paragraph is because there is so much to these few sentences that make them so important to the whole book. Though she had just gone through a traumatic experience, and had met someone she was excited by and scared of all of her life, she thinks that she cannot possibly learn anything else in life except for algebra, maybe. I think that's so funny because that's how teenagers feel sometimes and that's why they make stupid mistakes. Teenagers at times feel like they are invincible. Right now, Scout feels as though she could take on the world because she has just met Boo Radley. She doesn't realize the danger she was in, she doesn't realize that someone was trying to kill her. I think it's funny that she says the only thing she can learn is algebra, possibly, because she's so young. 

Sent from my iPhone

On May 22, 2013, at 2:57 AM, Alex Gandy <alexga...@gmail.com> wrote:

Harper Lee employs humor throughout her writing, especially through the use of her naive narrator. Cite an example or two of humor you found. Why is it funny and what purpose does it serve to the passage, chapter, or overall text?

[Sydney Kane]

TKAM is written in a way where if there is a very serious moment...it's always followed up by comic relief. Especially by Scout. Probably one of the funniest moments that I just love, is in the middle of the book (Chapter 15) when they are mobbed around Atticus when he is guarding Tom Robinson. And all of a sudden Scout appears in the middle of all this tension and says to Mr. Cunningham "Hey Mr. Cunningham, how's your entailment going?" and then she continues to "word vomit" (as they say in mean girls) so she can try and make conversation...I remember I was laughing out loud during this part of book. Just imagine a little girl in the middle of these grown men wanting to have a conversation with one of their group "leaders" she also continues to ask Mr Cunningham about her son...she just really lightens the mood in this part and in many other parts of the book. 

Sent from my iPhone

[Blake Grabsky]

     I really like the quote you chose, Meagan! But more than that, I really love your explanation. I never thought about it the first time I read, but now I see it. Scout really does feel invincible. She probably felt like she "survived" an encounter with Boo Radley, someone she thought was dangerous and that now she has nothing to fear in the world except for algebra. She also gets this feeling of power because she was able to meet Boo, but her older brother didn't. I also agree that Shout never realized the danger she was in. She didn't sound like she was so scared when she explained what happened to Atticus and Heck Tate. And, she asked Atticus if Jem was dead, but she didn't seem like she was so worried or really knew what death was, which I think added more to the humor.

[Caroline McCoy]

Meagan, I love that you said that! I agree, I think it's funny that she thinks that the only other thing she can learn is Algebra. There's so much more to life and that she can learn, she just doesn't realize it yet. I also love that she feels like she could conquer the world because she has now seen Boo/Arthur Radley. We have all probably felt like that at some point but I just love how the story is also told from her point of view. I feel like it's a bit different and unique, when compared to some other things but also I think the fact that she's younger than everyone also helps with the way the story comes across.

[Jansen Rees]

Meagan, I really liked your quote! I liked your point when you said that teenagers tend to think of themselves as invincible because it's so true. Scout thinks that just because she went through all that stuff she knows everything now, which is in fact untrue. She still has so much to learn throughout her life. To me this is an example of where Scout's naive, innocent attitude comes forward. She’s too caught up in her own world to notice the one around her. Like Meagan said, she didn’t even realize someone was trying to kill her. I also liked the part about the only thing left for her to learn was algebra. 

[Caren Aguilar]

I think one of my favorite places in the book for humor is the time in the pagent where Scout misses her cue and goes up on stage a smidgen too late and everbody in the audience began to crack up and laugh, IT WAS AMAZING, BEST SCENE EVER

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From: Alex Gandy <alexga...@gmail.com>
To: fg...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 23, 2013 4:08:03 PM
Subject: Re: Week 3 - Humor

[Ashley Muchin]

I like that part too Caren. I think that part gives the book the type of humor that it needs. If there wasn't anything funny like that in the book, TKAM would be completely serious. Also, I remember that Scout had fallen asleep before her cue and that's what made her late. I think that this specific part shows that Scout is still a little girl. After all, not many people would fall asleep right before a performance and that early in the night.

On May 22, 2013 2:58 AM, "Alex Gandy" <alexga...@gmail.com> wrote:

Harper Lee employs humor throughout her writing, especially through the use of her naive narrator. Cite an example or two of humor you found. Why is it funny and what purpose does it serve to the passage, chapter, or overall text?

[Gissel Glez]

Subject: Re: Week 3 - Humor

From: meagank...@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 26 May 2013 15:39:31 -0500
To: fg...@googlegroups.com

[Gissel Glez]

Megan I agree with you this part in the book showed how they think that algebra is the only thing that they are going to live with their whole life but they are not actually informed that this is not the only thing. As you said "Though she had just gone through a traumatic experience, and had met someone she was excited by and scared of all of her life, she thinks that she cannot possibly learn anything else in life except for algebra, maybe." This shows how she still does not learn about life because she is young.

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Subject: Re: Week 3 - Humor
From: meagank...@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 26 May 2013 15:39:31 -0500
To: fg...@googlegroups.com

[Katharine Jovicich]

Meagan-
I also agree about being dizzy because I can remember when I was little and going cross eyed made me dizzy. I think this shows how kids minds wonder from being dizzy to algebra and to Book Radley. I love how her thaughts are "but looking cross eyed made me dizzy so I quit" because of course a normal person would quit. I also think she's over exaggerating Jem not speaking to her for days because kids make up so fast unlike us. Again one second they are thinking of being mad and then they forget or move on. All of the humor is from innocents or from a random thought Scout had.

[Siqi Huang]

Haha, I think we all have those moments when I just feel so accomplished that I could mentally conquer the world. I know exactly what she meant when she said algebra because although I felt great, I turn back and there's still trouble ahead. I couldn't stop chuckling because for a moment, I thought Scout was really maturing! But I find it good that she thinks this way because her mind is still thinking lightly and living life.  After all of these intense injustice and injuries, Harper Lee just had to add something funny and positive to the end the book to alleviate the tension.

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Subject: Re: Week 3 - Humor
From: meagank...@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 26 May 2013 15:39:31 -0500
To: fg...@googlegroups.com

[Weston Smith]

"Put some of the country where it belongs" This quote made me chortle a bit. After Dill was covered in dirt Atticus just tells him to take a bath, showing Atticus is pretty laid back even though Dill had ran away from his home to go to the Finch's house. "After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn't fight any more, her daddy wouldn't let her. This was not entirely correct: I wouldn't fight publicly for Atticus, but the family was private ground. I would fight anyone from a third cousin upwards tooth and nail." Sorry for this long quote but it shows how Scout would fight anyone in school having no fear. She is like Athena, Goddess of War! You go Glen Coco!

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From: alexga...@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 02:57:44 -0500
Subject: Week 3 - Humor
To: fg...@googlegroups.com

Harper Lee employs humor throughout her writing, especially through the use of her naive narrator. Cite an example or two of humor you found. Why is it funny and what purpose does it serve to the passage, chapter, or overall text?

[dali...@gmail.com]

"-Scout let's get us a baby." "Where?"
In pg 191, right before the trial, Scout and Dill talk about where babies come from. I think we all know different stories of that topic, but reading their stories really shows their innosence. I think its funny because their stories are so different, but its Dill's imagination and view of the world that really sticks to me because, sadly, later in the book he learns that the world is cruel and he will have to say goodbye to his innocense. Trough humor, Lee is trying to give us an idea of how innocent they are and how quick they have to change because of Maycomb's usual desease.

-----Original Message-----
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 2:58:06 am
To: fg...@googlegroups.com
From: "Alex Gandy" <alexga...@gmail.com>
Subject: Week 3 - Humor

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Harper Lee employs humor throughout her writing, especially through the use
of her naive narrator. Cite an example or two of humor you found. Why is it
funny and what purpose does it serve to the passage, chapter, or overall
text?

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