Home alone
Ingrid from London tells us about a child home alone
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A door to door salesman knocks at the door, and an eight year old boy comes to the door dressed in a bra and suspenders with a fat cigar in one hand and a glass of red wine in the other. The salesman says 'Is your mum at home?' and the boy says 'What the - do you think?'
Marie says
This is a joke that plays with the border between innocence and experience. Here we have a series of absurd incongruities: a wine drinking, cigar smoking, transvestite 8 year old boy is interrupted in his 'play' by a door to door salesman.
When questioned he swears like a decadent adult.
Ingrid tells the joke well and also apologises for it. When we laugh at something that seems inappropriate or transgressive, we often fear causing offence or a hostile reaction– but it doesn't stop us telling the joke or laughing.
The comic imagination experiences few borders of the mind. It would be a mistake to see this as a sick joke, even if the image of the child-adult seems grotesque to some - it's a mock shock joke that turns the world upside down – a momentary escape from the serious.
Content last updated: 30/05/2007
