Here are the guidelines:
- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
- From the "Comment As" drop-down menu, choose Anonymous, then click "Publish."
- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
Patricia Marx essay on "A Tale of a Tub" shows her going off the beaten path and taking a freighter to her destination. Throughout the entirety of her essay she makes light-hearted jabs towards some of the crew and her living accommodations. This includes the Filipino "chef" and his prized corn flakes and chile con carne, a "doctor" on board whose only qualifications is taking a one week course in first aid and The Captain who has the privilege of having internet. All of these characters and events may seem like something out of a comedy sitcom and I couldn't help but grin at some of the antics. This is stated by Moore in "Writing the Humorous Essay" which he states that the best way to do so is by writing honestly, not forcing the narrative to have jokes and over the top humor.
ReplyDeleteMarx does a great job in reminding us that the crew are still human, not cartoon characters. This counterpoint is expressed through her interaction with the Captain, who solemnly states that he is getting paid for being homesick, not working and even adds "You go away and your kid is a baby. Come home, and he's working."
Overall what I drew the most from these readings is reminding the reader that your characters, despite being written in a comedic fashion, are still human and thus the reader can relate to them and make the humor all the more genuine.
Eutimio Longoria
In this weeks reading, Moore takes us on this hilarious road trip called “Writing the Humorous Essay”. Although I found Moore’s story terrible, I understood what he was getting at. Humor is what makes the writer giggle to him/herself. I understand that, but at the same time I wanted to Kick Moore’s ass. Moore writes about a furniture salesman who is quite a character. I read it, as a salesman who was doing his job and Moore was sizing the salesman up as punk for doing his job. Humor for me is something that I like and love but I don’t enjoy it at somebody's expense, especially people who work for a living. At the end of day, the story wasn’t even that amusing.
ReplyDeleteNow Marx essay “A Tale of the Tub” had me laughing out loud. Marx presented a dreary and ugly cruise trip as this hilarious road trip. I enjoyed this essay a lot better than Moore. Marx keeps it light heart and I felt like I was on my toes waiting for a smartass remark. She gives all her characters a light side by finding easily finding the funny. She even throws a punch line at herself. I enjoyed this essay because it taught me that funny is every where, even in the middle of the ocean.
Mathew Betancourt
This week Moore is trying to teach us how to be funny but not over the top or mean about it. I like that one of Moore's suggestions was to not be afraid of making fun of yourself. It is important in life not to take yourself too seriously, but also in writing you don't want to be the person that criticizes everyone else but never yourself. I did find Moore's story about the salesman funny, only because Moore takes his own advice and makes fun of himself as well. In fact, I found Moore to be the funniest character of this story. I also found Marx essay funny. I especially liked that she found humor in something seemingly ordinary.
ReplyDeleteDawn Bustamante
When paired together, Moore’s “Writing the Humorous Essay” and Marx’s “A Tale of a Tub” express this answer to how to provide a humorous aspect to your story and thus get the reader to enjoy it more than if the subject stood alone. Moore begins his passage on explaining a recent trip to a furniture store, and his encounter with the sales clerk Howie. We are driven through his tale of looking for a chair, and at the end, we understand his relationship towards Howie. This subtleness to Howie’s character is what should make a story humorous. According to Moore, “Humor is like that. You can’t force a joke. You can’t pretend to be funny… You have to amuse yourself and take honest pleasure in your own amusement” (pg. 161). The humor in you story has to come naturally, and that was evident with Howie’s interactions with Moore and his wife. This is also present in “A Tale of a Tub”. Marx uses moments of awkwardness and moments of surprise to help the reader find humor. For example, she explains how her and the rest of her fellow passengers react to the food being given to them, but also realize that they are aboard a freighter and not a commercial cruise. She wrote, “’Bonne chance’ would have been more apt, especially when the dish was Hawaiian Breakfast (pineapple slices and cheese and ham on toast), chile con carne laced with cornflakes (which we surreptitiously flushed down the toilet), or Estofado de Lengua (hint: this long piece of flesh is found in a cow’s mouth)”. The action of flushing the food down drain adds a sense of humor due to their unmet expectations. Overall, Moore explains that what makes humor funny and what makes a essay humorous is the fact that it is subtle, and not obvious. This subtleness adds a real sense to the actions going, which in turn adds belief it did occur.
ReplyDeleteDavid Leal
I enjoyed reading Moore’s essay about his daughter because it reminded me of when I myself was a moody teenager. It didn’t make me laugh-out-loud or uncontrollably, but because it was so relatable it made me look back on times I gave my dad an attitude and took me back to those times. I don’t think that people who aren’t parents to teenage girls or people who at one point in their life weren’t a teenage girl would have the same reaction as I did solely because you really do have to experience it for yourself. The evolution references seemed to be what Moore thought would make it a bit more humorous but they really didn’t do much for me. What made it funny is the relatability and willingness to admit that being a dad to a teenage girl is tough. I also did enjoy reading “A Tale of a Tub” because of the genuinity. Marx also made her story relatable and somewhat humorous but it really did not feel as though she was trying to. I loved the way she noticed little details and described them to us. I myself am very observant when I first meet someone. I’ll try to figure out where exactly I know them from if they seem familiar or I’ll just think of people they remind me of physically or by the way they speak. She did that and it I chuckled my way through the story.
ReplyDelete-Starleen Rendon
In Moore’s chapter on “Writing the Humorous Essay,” he stated that in order to write something humorous it you must “amuse yourself” and delight in it. If it doesn’t make you smile or chuckle when you write it, odds are your audience won’t either. Moore also included three useful tips: we must write a story, being humorous doesn’t include slandering others, and ultimately play it cool. He goes on to give us helpful ideas to pull humorous writing from our own personal experiences. And ends his chapter with humor himself by stating that if we can't think of anything stupid we’ve done, to ask our older sister. I agree with Moore in that humor should come naturally from our story and that ultimately anyone can be funny. Lastly, in the article entitled “Tale of a Tub” was interesting and sort of boring to me. When I first started reading it, I thought it was humorous and even made me laugh in some moments where she’s referring to the things she can’t bring with her on the cargo ship but I didn’t care to read about all the facts. I would think that being on a cargo ship would be more exciting.
ReplyDelete-Joy Perez
The humorous essay consists of not the ha ha jokes in which have you jumping out of your seat, but those in which are true and all humans have gone through. "You have to amuse yourself and take honest pleasure in your own amusement" (Moore, 162). It has to be true and not something you force upon your readers. Moore suggests some topics to use in which we can stem from and they eventually become humorous in some way. I can say thinking of someone whom makes you laugh and describing them in great detail can be a great way to start. The hardest part would likely only be picking one person from the clowns you associate with regularly. In "A Tale of A Tub" by Marx we come on the vessel and experience the sea. The humor involved in this article is true to itself and does not try to be jokey in any way. "[...] a bathroom worth getting sick for (porcelain tub)" (Marx, "A Tale of A Tub). Which some could find sickening as a porcelain tub can be seen as a cauldron of filth. I found that piece of the article to be particularly humorous. Again, we can not push to be funny the reader will always know.
ReplyDeleteThe humorous essay consists of not the ha ha jokes in which have you jumping out of your seat, but those in which are true and all humans have gone through. "You have to amuse yourself and take honest pleasure in your own amusement" (Moore, 162). It has to be true and not something you force upon your readers. Moore suggests some topics to use in which we can stem from and they eventually become humorous in some way. I can say thinking of someone whom makes you laugh and describing them in great detail can be a great way to start. The hardest part would likely only be picking one person from the clowns you associate with regularly. In "A Tale of A Tub" by Marx we come on the vessel and experience the sea. The humor involved in this article is true to itself and does not try to be jokey in any way. "[...] a bathroom worth getting sick for (porcelain tub)" (Marx, "A Tale of A Tub). Which some could find sickening as a porcelain tub can be seen as a cauldron of filth. I found that piece of the article to be particularly humorous. Again, we can not push to be funny the reader will always know.
ReplyDelete-Christina Velasquez
I liked how the authors gave us different prospectives about how certain situations in life can be looked at in another way by using comedy and humor. Moore give us different examples of how to express ourselves by using comedy without being too harsh or taking it too far, as well as not critizing others and inputting life experiences that some readers can relate too. Moore explains to us that humor must come naturally, because if it is forced, you can be overdoing it or not being “funny” enough. Marx’s essay was funny as well and I liked how she found humor in things we can easily notice. I also like the awkwardness she uses to help us see the humor she is interpreting. My favorite was when she explained the passengers’ reactions to the food that was being provided to them. The details she would notice and point out and describe to the reader was what caught my attention, because I myself am very observant and I tend to find the humor in anything I see, and then end up having a laugh attack over the smallest thing. Even though I enjoyed Marx’s story more, I like both readings because I love to laugh and enjoy comedy overall.
ReplyDelete- Claudia Anzaldua
I thought that this week’s readings were fun, light, and at the same time cringe worthy. The story in Moore's “writing the humorous essay” was short, funny (somewhat) and as I stated before, cringe worthy. The description of their furniture consultant, Howie, was pretty spot on as in when he says “chipmunk of a man” and “he was barely five feet tall, his dark hair thinning in patches, and his robin’s egg, blue blazer as unstylish and…”. When I first read this I pictured a man like wolf man from back in the day where the costume seemed very unfunded but with more chipmunk features. Something like Peter Pettigrew from Harry Potter. Moore got his point across though it was pretty bad and I was always cringing as I read it. I guess that was the reason behind the quote at the very beginning: “it took fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.” -Robert Benchley
ReplyDeleteDinty Moore is a famous writer yes, but he is not good at being funny. But he can’t give up because he is famous. But hey at least he tries. A for effort. Marx’s essay “The Tale of the Tub” was a lot more hilarious than Moore’s story. The essay was light hearted as she makes do with a vacation she had and made it a comedy. Her comedic side is by far more advanced than Moore’s is.
-Marco Garza
I could relate to Moore’s story on humor. I mean who hasn’t gone to a furniture store and have had the employee want you to leave the store with something, anything! Even if it’s something you don’t need. I’ve never tried to write a humor story and I’ve done plenty of stupid stuff in my life that I could write about. I just don’t think it’s my thing but yet again I’ve never tried. I wouldn’t now how to convey it through writing and my worry would be if it actually sounds funny or not. The article, “A Tale of a Tub” to me wasn’t funny or amusing. Maybe I just didn’t get it. I understood what she was writing about but if this was supposed to humor me, it didn’t. It was a neat idea to travel on a merchant vessel and it was nice to see how she gets to meet the people she traveled with who all had different personalities. There’s something about it. I could relate to certain things, like her having to take two kindles and a U.S.B full of movies. I’ve been on road trips before where I make sure to pack everything I might need so that I don’t get bored a long the way. I don’t know maybe I just didn’t get her humor.
ReplyDeleteAlejandra Rodriguez
Moore gives us a story of the man who convinced him to buy $700+ worth of furniture when he only meant to buy a chair. That in itself is pretty funny to me because I can relate to it so much. I can’t even go to HEB for a gallon of milk without walking out with at least 3 other things that I didn’t need in the first place. It’s a talent, it really is. I’m one of those people that gets way too carried away when shopping and I have the feeling Moore is too. Marx’s story wasn’t as relatable to me, but I did appreciate it. I haven’t been on a freighter, but I’ve done my fair share of traveling and I know that it can bring about its own type of humor. One time, my uncle decided to empty out a bottle of baby milk out the window as we were driving behind him at 60 mph. We spent around 2 hours with a gross white film on our windshield before we stopped to clean it off. Marx does a great job of paying attention to the small details of her trip and really brings them out with witty sarcasm. Despite the fact that I didn’t like the ending too much, it was a well-written essay and I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDelete-Angie Acuña
What I gathered from reading Moore’s, “Writing a Humorous Essay”, is that you have to lead your way into the joke and not just make it a joke. A good Humorous essay should still be a story since it’s an essay, but it needs for you to put yourself into it. Moore mentions that you can’t fake it, you have to believe that your funny to be funny. It’s like if when you take a picture and you can see when someone fakes a smile or has a real smile. It’s apparent and it sticks out to the person viewing the image. That would also apply to the person who is viewing the essay. Moore advises not to attack others because others that read your content may not agree with you and that makes you look like a bad guy. It would best to instead make fun of yourself rather than target someone. I enjoyed his pointers and I do agree with them considering you don’t want you audience to be against you. A Tale of a Tub by Patricia Marx is an essay about her experience on a cargo ship. I did not find the reading to be funny, but that’s a good thing since the author is not forcing themselves to be funny. The story was enjoyable though. She was extremely descriptive where as a reader, I could visualize what she wrote. One example would be when mean when she is very detailed talking about the captain’s appearance when say says hi to him from the stairway.
ReplyDelete-Benito Reyes
Being funny isn’t always easy not everyone has that gift and putting it on paper is even harder. What Moore tells us within this chapter is that, it’s okay to add humor to your essay. Even more that it’s okay to throw a joke here in there, but to not rub it in people’s faces and to just let it flow. For there not be a reason for you to explain your joke. I really enjoyed Moore’s essay because I could relate what the sales person was doing. Trying to sale something even though the person doesn’t initially know they want it. I know that because I do that at work all the time and it works out all the time but most of the time people end up buying things they didn’t initially want in the first place.
ReplyDelete“Tale of a Tub” I didn’t enjoy it as much, because I think that it was too much for my taste. The story flowed nicely and it was funny, but maybe because I’m not used to reading stuff with that taste that I couldn’t catch on to the reading. It was very detailed and it was a good story I just didn’t enjoy it as much as Moore’s essay because more didn’t try too much.
- Abigail Vasquez
One thing Moore discusses in "Writing the Humorous Essay" is that writing humor is not necessarily something you can plan. You can plan that you want your essay to have a comedy focus, but you can never say "I'm going to include all these jokes." To make a comedy work, the story and characters must come first. The jokes should come to you once you began writing the story and characters. I feel bad comedies often turn out bad because too much focus was on telling jokes rather than on telling an interesting story. And when the jokes themselves are pre-planned often times they feel clunky and out of place. When you're having a hard time trying to put jokes in the right place, you're not doing comedy correctly. If you feel you are forcing a joke, then the joke will become a forced joke that the reader will spot. And if your story is not funny, than it has pretty much failed to serve it's purpose.
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about "Tale Of A Tub" is the fact that the jokes clearly were written around the story itself rather than just shoved in. The jokes are written very subtly and not with the "In your face" style of humor that I despise. Like Moore says, the humor should not be obvious. You shouldn't be holding up a sign that says "This part is funny! Laugh at it!" The humor should be subtle. This is something that Patricia Marx succeeds in.
Michael McCormick
After reading Moore’s essay on humor, I honestly didn’t think it was humorous at all, then again I don’t think I really have a sense of humor myself. Which is probably why It didn’t really amuse me. I did think that the instructional part of the essay was very informative though. As always in these essays, after reading them I feel like the information given and the tips and guidance through out them will be very beneficial for future writings. In Moore’s essay he states that humor must come naturally that it must not be forced. In (pg 161) “You can’t force a joke. You can’t pretend to be funny” I thought that was a great tip to give his readers because most times I feel like as writers we might try too hard to amuse our readers, and in the long run it might just end up boring them instead. As for “ A Tale of a Tub” that reading really wasn’t one of my favorites. I didn’t really like it. I didn’t think it was amusing either. In all honestly I thought it was kind of boring for me. I really tried to get into the reading but it was just a bit too hard to understand all that was going on.
ReplyDeleteLeslie Luna