In Red Glass, Sophie encounters an extremely gross bathroom on her solo trip into Guatemala. She runs outside and ends up laughing hysterically. Why do you think she does this? What's the most shocking (or grossest!) place you've encountered? How did you react? Have you ever had a completely unexpected reaction to something?
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10 comments:
Heh heh, that happened to me in Hawaii we went in a bathroom that was THE most disgusting little shack thing ever! And right above the toilet was this HUGE spider...
I didn't have to go to the bathroom any more after that and my sister and I laughed for like hours over that.
I loved Sophie's reaction to that situation in RED GLASS, and your too Silence. Sometimes things are so scary or startling that laughter is a good reaction!
My reactions are always pretty bizarre - when I hurt myself, I usually laugh. Mostly because the only other option would be crying and laughing is just more fun... like this one time, I tripped and fell over a table (yes, I'm *that* clumsy) and cut my hands and legs (because I was wearing shorts and the table had sharp edges) and I couldn't stop laughing for the rest of the night (my legs were badly bruises and cut for weeks and I still have a scar from it).
In more serious situations, when my mum picked me up early from school one day to tell me my dad died, my first reaction was laughing and accusing her of lying. That was a pretty unexpected reaction, it was probably mostly shock.
I think the reason Sophie laughed was because laughing is like... it's a comfort, it's a way of reassuring ourselves and making ourself feel better - whether it's laughing in a scary situation (because it's like, if we're laughing then things have to be okay and it's not that bad). Laughter is a good substitute for negative emotions.
I'm not sure I'm explaining what I mean very well, it's hard to put into words. =/
I agree with Lanna that laughter is a huge release mechanism. Sometimes when I'm very stressed I laugh so hard I start to cry--makes you wonder doesn't it?
The grossest place I was ever in was a house filled with rat droppings. Yikes!
Oh, I have so many grossening encounters. But a bathroom shack in South Korea is up there.
Nothing quite like stepping on a 3 inch cockroach and having eggs squirt out the back.
Laughter can clue us in that we've survived; it's not all so serious after all.
Reminds me of a time when I was with Wafa, everything was just horrible--really. And you know what I did. I started to laugh, hysterically for like a minute--couldn't stop.
But I felt so relieved laughing hysterically like that. It was like the only thing I could control—I dunno. It just helped.
It's so fun to hear about your experiences-- especially the funny, gross bathroom ones. ;)
I agree that laughter and tears are closely linked-- and I like reading about everyone's ideas on why we sometimes laugh at painful or sad or scary times.
Like Sophie, I can be a bit of a germ freak. I've been in situations traveling before where I'm in germ wonderland and there's nothing I can do about it butlaugh. (One of these places was a public bathroom much like the one Sophie encountered.) On a sidenote, I've always noticed that novels tend to not mention bathrooms, so I kind of make a point to do it in my books...;)
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