Unfortunately, my enjoyment of Comic Relief ended shortly after the first assigned reading. This second chunk of reading (Chapters 3 and
4) has been a bit more of a struggle to be entertained by, and therefore to
have a desire to read. Particularly in
regards to Chapter 3, many things irritated me.
Not only was some of the language choices hard to understand and follow,
many ideas were repetitive.
First, the repetitive nature of the text irked me. I felt like a dog that was attempting to
chase his tail. All the information
presented seemed to combine and overlap with one another. Instead of multiple new and enlightening
ideas being presented, it was the same sort of ideas just slightly tweaked over
28 pages. Also, the text within a
section was repeated multiple times, almost over-stating an idea. This leads me to my next point of Morreall
expanding self-explanatory ideas unnecessarily into two or three pages. For example, the 4 aspects of amusement were
initially simply explained, but then expanded.
The expansions of these, for the most part, just drug on as he almost
over-explained his thoughts, which causes repetition in his explanations. And lastly, Morreall reuses exmples from
chapter to chapter, because the ideas overlap accordingly so. Morreall uses an example about “Oedipus the King,” which he also used
in Chapter 1 (59). This just shows how
the ideas he presents from chapter to chapter are similar and overlap,
therefore repeating his views. In short,
I guess what bothers me is feeling like I’m reading the same thing, but getting
confused in the process because of the wording, length and wordiness of the
text, and trying to overthink the point he presents.
Thank goodness, though, for the summary at the end of
chapter 3, one thing that was brief, to the point, and logical. Maybe I should have saved myself confusion
and just read that to begin with…
On the bright side, and to end on a positive note, there was
at least one thing that I absolutely loved in chapter 3: “I love to sleep. It
really is the best of both worlds. You
get to be alive and
unconscious” (57).
I agree with your opinion of the Morreall's writing style. I believe part of the mark of a good writer is that people remember what you have to say, maybe not years down the road, but at least for a few days or weeks. I finished reading chapter 3 and the only thing I could remember from the 28 pages is that he ultimately defines humor and laughter as undefinable. Looking back as we did in class yesterday, I realize that some good points were made in chapter 3; I had highlighted and annotated those parts while reading, but because of his roundabout explanations and flowery language, everything failed to stick. I am not saying he is a bad writer, but in my opinion, his writing style could use some work.
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