Money 2/29/12

Sorry about the crappy picture, but I didn't want to type the whole page! It's page 175.

This whole page is funny. It's a drunk funny, and also a sad funny. It is exaggerated, absurd, and farcical. The exaggerated-ness presumably comes from Self's drunkenness. The absurdity and farce is quite present - the things he does while drunk are absolutely ridiculous. The things he says are ridiculous. John Self is himself ridiculous.

I feel that Amis disagrees with the Roman view of humor (according to the article we read). His humor (as much modern humor is) is offensive, obscene, and arrogant. Self's drunkenness is funny but publicly inappropriate, and his behavior due to his drunkenness is funny but inappropriate as well. Much of his behavior is offensive to both specific characters and to particular groups of people outside the book. Much of it, due to the pornographic elements of the book, is obscene as well. But regardless, it's funny, and very much in keeping with the character Amis is portraying.

This scene is also humorous relief from the awkward previous scene in which Self and Lorne meet. It removes the tension and allows the reader a break from the seriousness of other parts of the books.