Potpourri 4 - You're Ugly, Too

"What is your perfume? a student asked. Room freshener, she said." pg. 353

I feel really bad for Zoe. I know that she brings her troubles upon herself, but she doesn't know how to act around people. She is so unsure of herself that she makes jokes in inappropriate situation. She lacks self-esteem even though she acts like she is very confident. She uses humor as a defense mechanism so that she never has to be sincere with people. Because of this, she lacks connection with people. She is very lonely, but it is her own doing. She began using humor to mask herself at a young age. As a kid, she had a speech impediment and was embarrassed to speak. She began telling jokes because people knew the answers to the jokes. This made it okay if people didn't understand her.

Potpourri 2 - The Drunkard

"You were his guardian angel." pg. 351

This story was full of irony and humor. The humorous part was the drunk 12 year old. He found beer to be completely disgusting, but wanted to experiment. The irony of the story is that the mom refers to her son as a guardian angel sent from God. This isn't the typical reaction of a mother when finding out her 12 year old got drunk at a bar. The mother was angry with her husband for letting the 12 year old drink, but was so glad that that prevented the father from drinking. When dragging his drunk and obnoxious son home through the streets, the father was embarrassed. That is ironic because he is usually the one being dragged home because he's so plastered. The father doesn't realize the error of his ways, so he probably continued to go on drinking binges.