Skinnybones

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying.

“I had to think fast. Basically, there were two ways of handling this situation. First, I could try to get her to laugh the whole thing off. If that failed, I would move on to Plan B: Blame It on Fluffy.”

In this quote, Alex contemplates his options when his mom comes home and scolds him for spilling Kitty Fritters all over the floor. By wavering between solutions based on comedy or dishonesty, Alex paints a picture of how he always approaches conflicts, and it is notable that he never considers simply telling the truth and apologizing. Instead, his first impulse is to deflect blame or make his accuser laugh in order to lessen his punishment.

“Anyway, as it turned out, she was laughing so hard, she forgot to punish me for lying.

I knew getting her to laugh would work.”

Alex’s smug statement in this passage reflects his constant reliance on humor to evade responsibility. By Using Humor to Cope With Conflict in this particular scenario, Alex successfully maneuvers his mom into overlooking his outright lies, and while the scene is largely intended to be humorous and harmless, Park also uses the moment to foreshadow Alex’s imminent troubles with The Consequences of Lying.

“I had to admit, making people laugh was a lot more fun than sitting quietly at my desk.

From then on, I began to use Show and Tell to tell the class funny things that had happened to me. When I ran out of true things to tell, I started making them up.”

Throughout the novel, Park incorporates an array of strategic flashbacks from Alex’s first-person perspective, using these interludes as crucial exposition to relate the protagonist’s reasons for indulging in zany humor at inappropriate moments. In this quote, Alex recalls the first time he reveled in making people laugh, and his memories of past antics during kindergarten show and tell demonstrate that he has always had a natural comedic talent.