An Afterword and a Beginning

Even though we didn’t have to write for our summer reading, I feel like I can’t let this blog continue without mentioning the Afterword of Sidewalk. It was very interesting to me to read a different version of the book in general terms (how the research was collected, how it all started, etc.), especially considering that this particular information was written out by the man who inspired the entire study in the first place: Hakim Hasan. Whilst reading it I came to the conclusion that this study was actually a successful merge of completely different people. According to Hasan, Duneier managed to connect with the magazine vendors and the panhandlers way faster than he had imagined he would. Duneier also took Hasan’s advice in mind whilst writing the book (i.e. it was Hasan’s idea to include other street people in the book rather than leaving him as the only subject). Surpassing even this consideration, Duneier invited Hasan to teach a seminary with him about the street life and how it works. After reading this I can say that this book is a story and not a mere study. A study would be based on facts and statistics only. A story has characters like Hakim and Ishmael and Ron and it focuses on their backround and their life like Duneier does. The human factor in the study makes it a story (a factual story, but a story nonetheless), which in turn makes it bearable to read (it is pretty long).

In other topics, I started reading yet another memoir. Naked by David Sedaris has proven to be funny, self-depreciating, dirty, blatantly honest, and even tender at times so far. This collection of humorous essays packs a reconstruction so absurd of Sedaris’s life, that sometimes the line between truth and hyperbole is erased completely.

Only four chapters into the book, I have already managed to identify every type of humor we have studied in class. In the spirit of semester exams that are coming up, I will dedicate this blog post to reviewing the types of humor and finding examples in Naked. Granted, this will probably not be even close to one of the important topics in the exam, but it’s the fun one. So there.

Type # 1: Urbane Humor (puns/wordplay)
“’Oh, you mean the touching,’ my mother said” (page 13).

Taken in context, this comment is about David’s OCD and the way he has expressed it in school (touching different objects or even licking them). The way it is set up however, can make it a very clear innuendo because the entire phrase plays on the connotation of the word “touching” and… need I say more?

Type #2: Wit: not ha-ha funny- witty comments that make the audience think.

“What I really hated, of course, was my mind” (page 9).
Although this comment may not seem exactly humorous, it follows the theme of self depreciation throughout the book and makes the reader think about the gravity of what was happening to Sedaris. Of course people treated it like a joke and thought he was crazy, but by stating that he didn’t hate the objects he touched and licked but rather his mind that made him do it, and making it such an obvious statement with the “of course” added to it, makes the reader think of what he might have gone through. Sure, the book is funny, the author writes it that way, but he must have felt like utter crap all the time.

Type #3: Facetious Humor: is supposed to make you laugh (by far the most prominent in the book and a type of humor that doesn’t need explaining so a list it is):
- “For a time I thought that if I accompanied my habits with an outlandish wardrobe, I might be viewed as eccentric rather than just plain retarded. I was wrong. Only a confirmed idiot would wander the halls of my high school dressed in a floor-length caftan…” (page 18).
- “He thought I was masturbating and while I wanted to set the record straight, something told me I wouldn’t score any points by telling him that I was simply rocking in bed…” (page 19).
- “She had somehow tricked him, sunk in her claws, and dragged him away from his people. It would have been all right for him to remain at home for the rest of his life, massaging worry beads and drinking bitter coffee, but to marry a woman with two distinct eyebrows was unpardonable” (page 26).

Type #4: Banter: form of attack and defense consisting of clever insults and snappy comments.

“’Why don’t you try the knob,’ my sister Lisa would say. ‘That’s what the rest of us do, and it seems to work for us” (page 10).
At this point in the book Lisa is attacking Sedaris for the urge to touch the door seven times with each elbow. The snappy comment and the sarcasm she uses makes the attack funny, but it offensive to Sedaris all the same.

Type #5: Concession: agreeing with a point only to use it against your opponent. First accept your adversary’s statement at face value, then follow its logic to a ridiculous conclusion; or simply throw it back with a twist.
Actually I haven’t found an example of this one in the book so far but here’s a gem to consider:
LADY ASTOR: Winston, if you were my husband I’d flavor your coffee with poison.
WINSTION CHURCHILL: Madam, if I were your husband, I should drink it.

All in all, these first few chapters of Naked are promising for some more morbid laughs in the future (honestly I didn’t even talk about the chapter called “next of kin” and if you have the dirty mind this book so appeals to I don’t even need to explain what it deals with). Perfectly touched with hyperbole, sarcasm, and self-hatred, Naked seems like a good read so far.