Finish reading and complete a typed fiction outline for Thurber's "The Greatest Man in the World." Using complete sentences and paragraphs, post an answer to the following interpretive question: Pick something in the story that is funny and explain why.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2004

Answers

I believe that a funny thing in the story was the effort that the press was putting into changing Jack Smurch’s character and making him appear noble. Also the attitude of the entire Smurch family was very funny. Everything Jack Smurch said had a rough sound to it, and his mother was displayed as unloving and unconcerned for her son’s welfare. In fact, she was happy that he died.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2004

I think that it is more interesting than funny the way the government ”solved” their problem of “The World Greatest Man Alive”. The fact that the government had him pushed out of a window seemingly shows how the government treats their problems. This instance in the story is appalling, that the government would arrange to have someone killed, because he was to rowdy.

This segment in the story line gives off a since of insecurity in the U.S. government in 1950. As if a person is too raunchy for the government to manipulate, handle or change, that they simply get rid of them. That’s seems funny to me because its as if if you speak as you usually would, and the government doesn’t like it, the government will have you killed. Simple concept, yet deadly if the government’s problem with you is not realized.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2004

Something funny in this story is the fact that Pal flew around the world in a rickety plane without stopping for food, sleep, or gas in nine days. This is funny because the reality of this situation is zip, nada, zero. No one, and I mean no one, can stay awake for nine days and drive a plane without getting into the Guiness World Records. Today, maybe it would be possible to go around the world in five days but in the early 1900’s, it would have been impossible to do it in nine days with the little technology that was there. Also, to think that an illiterate man could one day decide to challenge the achievements of world-known heroes is also not as likely.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2004

Attempting to find a category for this story to snuggly fit into proved to be a much greater challenge than I had previously suspected. The leading three contenders for this coveted title were, prior to my writing of this article: a horror story, a comedy, or a biography. The answer, mis amigos, is all of the above. My explication is thus: a horror story because the short story illustrates just how much the capitalist, elitist media of today’s society (1961) and the aristocratic hierarchy of government can band together to wipe out anything deemed unsatisfactory in the eyes of the polite society of the Washington, D.C.; a comedy due to the fact of the sheer improbability of this predicament (i.e. it is highly unlikely that “Pal” could have received funding for an aircraft even of this stature or that he could have flown it around the world in less than 180 days :)); and the short story is somewhat of a biography in that it traces the major points of a man’s life (sorry, ladies, but the rules of grammar say “man’s life”, or at least, Mr. Waller says so) and the events leading to his demise.

I would like to take a moment now to burrow deeper into my previously stated comment of this short story being a comedy (please do not mistake this for a Greek comedy, but our modern rendition of comedy). Here are a few things that I found humorous: 1) The notion that Pal Smurch could have done this feat (see paragraph 1); 2) the language that Thurber uses was quite humorous at points (e.g. the way both momma and little Smurch talk, “ . . . orgies of glory . . .”, “ . . . a national hero of insufficient intelligence . . .”, “. . . the weird floating auxiliary gas tanks, invention of the mad New Hampshire professor of astronomy, Dr. Charles Lewis Gresham . . .”, “Thus he did not jeopardize the dignity of his first reception {by not being there}. . .” [see page 157, first complete paragraph], et cetera); 3) the way the reporters and politicians worked together to secretly carry away Smurch to secret undisclosed locations (har har har) even though they were violating his rights as a human being in the grand United States of America; and 4) the demeanor of Mr. Smurch and the way he talks and conducts himself in the meeting with the President of the United States (filing nails, eating, exposing himself [ahh, my eyes!!], opening the window, and so forth).

In conclusion, irony is comedy, and I suppose the most comical part of this whole story is that, well, it is even possible for this to happen. I suppose it would be bad enough for this man to be able to fly around the world before anyone else in a contraption that he had, but this is his right. I am smiling right now as I write that the polite society of the U.S. banded together to try to reform this hopeless man. When they failed, they simply threw him out the window, and with him their worries that the children of the United States would be corrupted by a fiend such as Jack Pal Smurch. I’m sure, although this is fictional, that the characters are giving themselves a pat on the back for such a great job of saving the United States.

I suppose the only fallacy in this concept is that Pal Smurch, our tragic hero, came from the U.S., so maybe there are more people out there like him. I hope everyone has fun making it to this sentence, watching all the others fall by the wayside in the margins of the second paragraph. For now, I’m out! I'm happy to be the fourth post for today's question. Have a great day, everyone!

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2004

I think the funniest part of the story was when Smurch was thrown out the window. I thought it very ironic that the President of the United States would allow for a common Iowan to be killed right there in front of him. It was very funny, I just hope no actual US President would ever do that...

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2004

The funniest part in the story is when Smurch begins his record-making trip with 6 pounds of saliami and no other food. How could anyone live off of salami and nothing else for 9 days? Jack must have been sick for weeks after that trip. Just the thought of all that salami makes me lose my appetite. Then, after a few days the salami must have started to become musty. I bet that must have smelled really nice. The best part about this part is that it's not just for little kids. It's funny to kids because it's a whole lot of salami, but it's also funny to older people because of just wondering what it would be like to spend 9 days with no other food.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2004

I think it is almost funny how the high government officials decide to take out anything that imposes upon looking good for the public, but this is actually frighteningly realistic, it scared me with it's reality.

But the actual funny part was when the press was barraged with a grammatically incorect storm of accents and slang, and how the reporters were wincing at every horrible syllable, and I laughed at them.

I just want to add: How would you feel if the last thing you ever felt was another guy's hand on your butt? Just some food for your thoughts.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2004

I think one thing that was funny was that he took off with only a gallon of bootleg gin and six pounds of salami. It actually sounds pretty good, but that salami would start to get nasty after the first few pounds. Anyway, that and the whole fact that he, in his little piece of crap plane, was able to fly around the world is laughable.

Another thing that was funny was when he was pushed out of the window. He was just wandering around this conference room being a jerk surrounded by some exasperated poloticians when all of a sudden the president of the United States tells some guy to kill him. What a way to take care of someone you dont know how to deal with, just kill him. sounds like something our current president would do (kinda scary, but true; hes not exactly a rational-desicion- maker, ...)

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2004

I think it was funny what he lived off of for nine straight days. Gin and salami. That and no sleep cannot be good for you. And the story says that was all he took. He didn’t bother to bring toothpaste or mouthwash or gum or tic tacs. I mean really, he must of had an awful taste in his mouth. No wonder nobody liked him.

I thought it was hilarious how horrible Pal Smurch’s mother was. She smiled when he died! I mean even Mommie Dearest had her good points, but this woman was just rude, disgusting, and cruel.

The funniest thing of course was the way the Government “took care” of its problem. It was very well thought out. It’s the best way to deal with people you don’t like, just push them out of a window. But what if there was a balcony. Would you roll them off? I guess you would have to or they’d sue you for attempted murder. One last thing that wasn’t really funny but interesting was that he was nicknamed ‘Pal’.

Yeah that’s all.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2004

I believe that Jack Smurch acting, in a way, careless about flying around the world and just kind of like I am ready, let’s go was a bit amusing. Flying around the world is not like tying your shoe or riding a bicycle, it is a bit more complex and difficult than that. Jack Smurch was a very brave and crazy man for doing something like this in the first place, but to even be so carefree about it also is beyond my imagination. I see this character trait in a few of my own friends, which adds on to the humor in this story. I would definitely have to think twice before I would fly around the world in some plane that I could only be able to half way trust it’s ability. Jack Smurch’s attitude about flying around the world was very relaxed and it made this story humorous.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2004

This story has many memorable and funny moments in it, however in my opinion, the funniest part is when Jack Smurch takes off on his journey, he takes a gallon of gin. First of all, it seems to me that bootleg gin is pretty potent stuff, so why, if you were planning on flying around the globe, would you bring gin and not water. This makes the story even funnier because the only thing it makes me picture is Jackie Smurch doing figure eights in the sky because he's so drunk he doesn't know what's happening.

Secondly, the gin is bootleg, if I were in Jack's place and there was a large chance that I was never coming back from my flight, I would get the real deal. If you’re going to die after drinking only alcohol and eating salami for a week, it should at least be good!

My other favorite funny part of this story is that Emma Smurch has a son who is a "hero" and she just wishes he would just drop right off of the face of the earth or drown on his epic journey.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2004

The funniest part of the story was when you hear from his mother. This is the part when she says I hope he drowns. This is funny or several reasons. One it shows how thoughtful and kind his mother wasn’t him. And personally my mother has never wished I had drowned. She has wished that I haven’t been born or that the ca had hit me instead of miss but never drown. This was very funny.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2004

The most amusing part of the story is beginning. Smurch’s choice of plane and food are very funny. Also what he must have been doing to stay awake, go to the bathroom and not die caused me to laugh. Really how can a man not sleep for nine days? He must have been going crazy from lack of sleep, rotten salami and lack of oxygen. Probably by day 7 he was having hallucinations. The images of a crazy man flying for 9 days straight hallucinating all the way just makes me crack up.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2004

“Smurch… climbed nonchalantly into his ridiculous plane at dawn of the memorable seventh of July, 1937, spit a curve of tobacco juice into the still air, and took off, carrying with him only a gallon of bootleg gin and six pounds of salami.”

This particular tidbit of information stuck out to me as the funniest part of an already extremely humorous, admittedly bizarre story. The idea of a man attempting to fly around the world in a single-engine plane using previously untested technology is in and of itself highly strange. Add this to the fact that the pilot is a rather crude, somewhat violent garage worker from Iowa. Finally, the surly little man is going to fly his contraption around the globe without stopping accompanied solely by a gallon of cheap gin and six pounds of salami. The idea is so entirely preposterous that it becomes hilarious.

The rational person would immediately label this act suicide: the pilot is probably far from professional, his craft is hardly up to the challenge of 25,000 miles of flight, and the average person would die if forced to live off of his provisions for more than three to four days. After all, alcohol does nothing to hydrate the body, and judging by the man piloting the plane the salami would last a maximum of two days. One might expect such a situation to occur in a “Bugs Bunny” cartoon.

Lastly and most briefly, this statement stirs up a rather insignificant but rather niggling curiosity: Jack Smurch is piloting a single-engine, rickety airplane nonstop for ten days. Disregarding the fact that the normal human body could not function for that long without sleep, water, or adequate food, we are left with the burning question:

What on earth did he do when he had to go to the bathroom?

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2004

I think that the funniest thing in this story is that Pal seems to have no respect for any big shot polictician. I think that we need more of that in society today. I love how he treats the president the same way that he would treat some guy name Skip coming into a gas station where he was. He showed absolutely no intimidation to people who most americans would be trembling and nervous to meet.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2004

Ummm I wasn't here on Friday, so I didn't get to hear the story. Posting was part of the homework though. So even though I wasn't there should I post on here anyways? Just wondering...

-- Anonymous, December 14, 2004

I think that the funniest part of this story is when Smurch gets shoved out the window. I think this is funny because he gets pushed out the window by the Secretary of new York, who is “a proper gentle man” and is trying to get Mr. Smurch to clean himself up, but then, when Smurch doesn’t want to, he shoves him out the window! Very, very gentleman-like. I also think that this part was funny , because the secretary grabbed Smurch by the seat of his pants! Tee,hee,hee!I wonder if Smurch's last thought was "Why did that guy grab my butt?"

-- Anonymous, December 14, 2004

Arguably the funniest part of this story had to be where Smurch only brought 6 pounds of salami and a bottle of bootleg gin with him on his flight. A person dies without water in about a day’s time. I must clarify that gin is not water! Gin is no substitue for water. This entire story seems farfetched when you look at this fact. Also, 6 pounds of salami is really disgusting after 9 days of eating it, believe me!

-- Anonymous, December 14, 2004

Something in this story that was funny was the way Pal Smirch conducted himself to the media. Although he was a jerk and disrespectful, I thought it was hilarious when he put himself in front of Lindbergh. He had been disgraced by the media before and now he’s letting them have it. I always like to see it when someone gives the media a taste of their own medicine. Everybody gets tired of the same old respectful figure in life, and this person, Smirch, is the exact opposite. A person like Smirch is not someone to admire and extol, but he is different and that is what I love.

-- Anonymous, December 14, 2004

“…he took off, carrying with him only a gallon of bootleg gin and six pounds of salami.” I find this fairly amusing because this man was setting out in a plane with another person to fly around the world, and planned to live on a gallon of alcohol and salami. This, added to the fact that the trip was a success, shows his personality in a nutshell.

Now, as I copy and paste my answer onto the board I realize everyone ELSE seemed to think that was funny as well, so I’m going to be an anti-conformist and pick something else too. So, here we go: “It had been thought that the presence of the Chief Executive might have a chastening effect upon the young hero…” This is funny in a sarcastic sort of way. Usually the presences of the Chief Executive, or the President of the United States, does have an effect on most people, but not Jack Smurch.

-- Anonymous, December 16, 2004