Polly's 'Trick' Essay

Choose a novel or a short story in which humour plays an important part. Explain how the humour is created and show how it made an important contribution to your enjoyment of the text as a whole.

“The Trick is to Keep Breathing” by Janice Galloway is a powerful, thought provoking novel told using a stream of consciousness narrative that traps the reader inside the head of the protagonist, Joy Stone, as she struggles with a bout depression after the death of her partner. Considering the novel’s dark subject matter, it is surprising that humour plays a hugely important part in this story. This essay will examine how this humour is created and its contribution to the reader’s enjoyment of the text as a whole.
Joy often jokes about her job as a teacher, denouncing the Scottish Education system in a very familiar way for Scottish readers to recognise. For example - “Scottish Education: apportion blame that ye have not blame apportioned unto you. It wisny me, it was you/him/her/a wee man and he ran away”. The use of colloquial Scottish language here, like “wisny”, is amusing, particularly to a Scottish reader as they can relate directly to this stereotype of Scots ‘passing the buck’, so to speak, and the comical excuse of “a wee man and he ran away” seems like just the sort of thing a teacher in Joy’s position is likely to hear working in an everyday Scottish secondary school. Also, the first sentence is very formal and proper, using words such as “apportion”, whereas the second is a complete contrast and blames “a wee man” rather than saying something more eloquent. This contrast creates a humorous effect and pokes fun at Scotland as a nation. As a result, the reader can see Joy finding fault within herself as a Scot, and despite the hints of humour that undoubtedly come across, it is clear that every inch of what makes Joy herself is tarred for her because of this depression, meaning she’s unable to stop criticising all aspects of her personality, whether she’s being comical or not. This allows the reader to really see just how much this depression has engulfed Joy, yet glimpses of her sense of humour determinedly still shine through.
Moreover, Joy continues to be comical, particularly in reference to her job as a teacher. She lists the disciplines that she teaches her pupils such as “routine”, “when to keep their mouths shut” and “how to put up with boredom and unfairness”. Finally, she teaches them the fifth item on her list - “not to go into teaching”, before quickly following this statement with “That isn’t true. And then again it is. I am never sure what it is I do.” This remark of teaching pupils not to follow her chosen career path is amusing, but is almost negated by her unnecessary comment that this isn’t actually the case. It also shows that she doubts herself, unsure of what it actually is that she does. Therefore we see that Joy almost doesn’t allow herself to be humorous, as if in light of her current tragic situation it wouldn’t be right and she would somehow be doing the wrong thing by cracking little jokes and lightening the tone. Consequently, it is clear that Joy’s partner Michael’s death has had a huge effect on her, causing her to doubt her true self - a beautiful, clever, and certainly funny woman. It’s as if she has to change because her situation has changed. However, it’s evident that, although suppressed, Joy’s sense of humour is still intact after Michael’s sudden death.
The novel’s climax can also be viewed in a humorous light. Joy’s has had to be anaesthetised after taking a turn and wanting to kill herself in an asylum. On a single page on it’s own there is just one word which sums up Joy’s reaction to what she has just tried to do - “oops.” Although dark humour, this is humorous nonetheless. If anything, it’s a comical reaction because the big climax of the novel is in fact a total anticlimax. The action speeds up before this point as Joy gets more and more frantic - “throwing off the sheets and searching, raking through a spill of make-up bag, magazines, paper and pens. Pills are missing… returns with a full needle the bitch the bitch… while the drug snakes a cold up the length of an arm.” Where you’d expect there to be a great explosion of action at the climax of a novel, the “oops” just slows things right down to a stop. Also, “oops” is a childish expression, a little exclamation after making a mistake, and is amusing because it’s as if Joy is just shrugging off this incredibly serious incident. It’s also a classic understatement that doesn’t quite illustrate the severity of the act. Even when it comes to matters as dark as suicide, Joy’s sense of humour is still there, darkened by depression, but certainly still there.
In conclusion, despite the novel’s serious subject matter, hints of humour still come across showing that despite all that Joy’s been through - her partner’s death, her being sectioned, a suicide attempt - she is still the same person she always was underneath, just slightly more fragile and saddened than before. Glimpses of her personality coming across show that although her depression has well and truly engulfed her, the real Joy underneath still remains. The comic interludes throughout the story are mildly uplifting, lightening the tone even if just for a moment, giving the reader hope that Joy could recover, feel better and regain a ‘normal’ way of life.