As I sat down to prepare the final assignment for my Young Adult Novel English course, I was overwhelmed with ideas. There were so many exploratory topics touched on during the semester. Alas, I found myself in need of some comedic relief.
Yep, that's it. Comedic relief.
During the week of finals and as a college student in general, comedy has long been a tried and true remedy for the occasional Studywritetest, plague that culminates the week of finals. In an attempt to start a recurring habit, I have decided to blog about my findings of comedic relief, as portrayed through stereotypes in Laurie Halse Anderson's "Speak."
It is my hope that you will share in the laughter, if you have not already, that lies in the pages of a dark, otherwise depressing novel.
I raked the book for examples of comedic relief and have presented my findings, complete with images and commentary below:
Comedic Relief in Speak
It started with a HoHo.
Well actually it was a discarded HoHos wrapper.
Ok well technically, it started with an end of summer party, the events at which outcast Melinda Sordino from her classmates just as she was entering her freshman year of high school.
Ultimately Sp
eak, was a beautifully written story about rape and the struggle to regain self-identity amidst silence. While I grappled through reading it—literally thumbing through and marking my book until it fell apart, I was overcome with relief in the form of comedy as early as the first page, in which the aforementioned HoHos wrapper is shot into the back of her head.
To most, the comedic relief may simply be the suggestive nature of the snack’s title, a ‘HoHo.’ To me it serves as the first of many stereotypes that manifest in the form of comedic relief.
Well actually it was a discarded HoHos wrapper.
Ok well technically, it started with an end of summer party, the events at which outcast Melinda Sordino from her classmates just as she was entering her freshman year of high school.
Ultimately Sp
eak, was a beautifully written story about rape and the struggle to regain self-identity amidst silence. While I grappled through reading it—literally thumbing through and marking my book until it fell apart, I was overcome with relief in the form of comedy as early as the first page, in which the aforementioned HoHos wrapper is shot into the back of her head.
To most, the comedic relief may simply be the suggestive nature of the snack’s title, a ‘HoHo.’ To me it serves as the first of many stereotypes that manifest in the form of comedic relief.
Some stereotypes, such as a snack called a "HoHo" or a social clique referred to as ‘the Heathers’, are overtly funny. We are easily able to make the connection to the familiar Hostess snack and a popular film.
Heathers is a 1988 film, some might argue a ‘cult classic,’ in which a four girls form a trend-setting clique in a fictional Ohio
Examining the novel with a critical lens for what I will call: Stereotypical Comedic Relief applied, allows a reader to better understand and sort-through the emotions engulfing an otherwise dark, emotionally charged
At first, I thought it would be fun to make a Top Ten-esqe type list, identifying the best or funniest instances of comedic relief. That soon proved to be too cumbersome, as there were just too many examples to choose from after scouring the book with this SCR lens applied.
After filling five and a half notebook pages with ‘quotables,’ as I like to call them, I settled on a variation of that idea. In an attempt to shed light on an over-looked idea, comedic relief, as well assert the functionality of stereotypes as presented in the story, I have compiled a list of moments both elements were effectively used.
Through my search I was able to determine a large portion of the comedy to be related to stereotypes, making it much more functional in terms of plausibility and reader sensitivity. I was able to develop four sound stereotyped-categories based on my initial list of nearly 50 quotables.
I further examined each quotable to determine the sub-heading stereotype under which it should belong. I decided it would be most effective to present Four Stereotypical Themes/Categories (Identity, Authority, Events, Popular Culture) with a listing of all the notable instances of a particular form of comedic relief, grouped accordingly and further explained, complete with page numbers.
(While this is not an exhaustive list, it does feature several examples of identity-related instances of Stereotypical Comedic Relief)
COMEDIC RELIEF: STEREOTYPES: IDENTITY
“The school board has decided that “Merryweather High—Home of the Trojans” didn’t send a strong abstinence message, so they have transformed us into the Blue Devils. Better the Devil you know than the Trojan you don’t I guess.” (3-4)
Stereotype: Promiscuous Teenagers
This is funny because of the obvious suggestions that the school mascot is a moniker for a popular a condom brand, but also works as an identity stereotype because teens are often thought to be promiscuous, hormonal people. Melinda’s tone here is sarcastic, but the reader is still able to detect a certain level of tenderness with the comparison of the Devil, an infamous being, and a Trojan, a condom brand and mythological being.
“The gym teachers have a special place in their hearts for Nicole. She shows Potential. They look at her a see future State Championships. Pay raises.” (19)
“Since I’m not a total spaz with the racket, Ms. Connors pairs me off with Jock Goddess Nicole to demonstrate the rest of the game to the class.” (169)
Stereotype: Female Jock
The impression of the phenom that is Nicole, is funny and useful. It suggests Melinda’s feelings of inferiority. In acknowledging the immense hope the teachers have for Nicole, Melinda is minimizing her feelings and voice. Her dialogue offers a gleam of hope however as she acknowledges she is not a complete failure with a tennis racket.
“Rachelle is reclaiming her European heritage by hanging
out with the foreign-exchange students. After five weeks of school, she can swear in French.” (20)
“My journal entry for the day: Exchange students are ruining our country.” (152)
Stereotype: Foreign Exchange Students / Cliques / Trends
This is funny on two levels. First, it functions as comedic relief becau
se of the cultural stigma surrounding foreign exchange students. We are able relate and identify with trying to fit in by learning a language or particular skill. Secondly, it is serves as comedic relief on the subject of high school cliques and the social ramifications of their existence. More often than not, young adults feel like their world is ending if they are outcast from their social clique.
“But she’s like a dog that keeps jumping into your lap. She always walks with me down the halls chattering a million miles a minute. My goal is to go home and take a nap.” (24)
“She is bursting with Merryweather Pride, all perk and pep and purple. And assumes I am just as happy and excited as she is. We troop down for the brainwashing and she can’t stop talking.” (26)
Stereotype: School Pride and Friendships
Melinda comically refers to a dog’s behavior while describing Heather’s energetic nature. For obvious reasons this is funny because of the imagery and because she is not actually a dog. It is also funny because in spite of all of Heather’s chatting, Melinda just wants to go home and take a nap. In the second passage Melinda mocks Heather, speaking on her school pride. Underlying all of this rhetoric is the comedy that lies in the so-called friendship between Melinda and Heather, who really do not like each other, but who each though their association with the other would gain social acceptance from their peers.
se of the cultural stigma surrounding foreign exchange students. We are able relate and identify with trying to fit in by learning a language or particular skill. Secondly, it is serves as comedic relief on the subject of high school cliques and the social ramifications of their existence. More often than not, young adults feel like their world is ending if they are outcast from their social clique.
“But she’s like a dog that keeps jumping into your lap. She always walks with me down the halls chattering a million miles a minute. My goal is to go home and take a nap.” (24)
“She is bursting with Merryweather Pride, all perk and pep and purple. And assumes I am just as happy and excited as she is. We troop down for the brainwashing and she can’t stop talking.” (26)
Stereotype: School Pride and Friendships
Melinda comically refers to a dog’s behavior while describing Heather’s energetic nature. For obvious reasons this is funny because of the imagery and because she is not actually a dog. It is also funny because in spite of all of Heather’s chatting, Melinda just wants to go home and take a nap. In the second passage Melinda mocks Heather, speaking on her school pride. Underlying all of this rhetoric is the comedy that lies in the so-called friendship between Melinda and Heather, who really do not like each other, but who each though their association with the other would gain social acceptance from their peers.
“I think the Merryweather cheerleaders confuse me because I missed out on Sunday School. It has to be a miracle. There is no other explanation. How else could they sleep with the football team on Saturday night and be reincarnated as virginal goddesses on Monday? "(29)
“If I ever form my own clan, we’ll be the Anti-Cheerleaders. We will not sit in the bleachers. We will wander underneath them and commit mild acts of mayhem.”
Stereotype: Virginity until marraige; Cheerleaders are promiscuous goody-two-shoes who are favored by teachers.
“Virginal Goddesses” and “mild acts of mayhem” = enough said.
“When I was a little kid, I used to pretend I was a princess who had been adopted when my kingdom was overrun by bad guys. Any day my real parents, Mr. King and
Mrs. Queen, would send the royal limo to pick me up. I just about had a seven-year-old heart attack when my dad took a limo to the airport for the first time.”
Stereotype: Outcasts and Escapism
There is comedic relief in this passage because there is a common fantasy in young adult’s minds about escaping (escapism) or living in an alternate universe. In Melinda’s case,
she is able to escape her reality by reminiscing on a story she imagined as a kid. It becomes funnier as she asserts she had actually placed reverence into her fantasy as a mistake.
“If I ever form my own clan, we’ll be the Anti-Cheerleaders. We will not sit in the bleachers. We will wander underneath them and commit mild acts of mayhem.”
Stereotype: Virginity until marraige; Cheerleaders are promiscuous goody-two-shoes who are favored by teachers.
“Virginal Goddesses” and “mild acts of mayhem” = enough said.
“When I was a little kid, I used to pretend I was a princess who had been adopted when my kingdom was overrun by bad guys. Any day my real parents, Mr. King and
Mrs. Queen, would send the royal limo to pick me up. I just about had a seven-year-old heart attack when my dad took a limo to the airport for the first time.”
Stereotype: Outcasts and Escapism
There is comedic relief in this passage because there is a common fantasy in young adult’s minds about escaping (escapism) or living in an alternate universe. In Melinda’s case,
she is able to escape her reality by reminiscing on a story she imagined as a kid. It becomes funnier as she asserts she had actually placed reverence into her fantasy as a mistake. 
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