To start off with, I can only hope this is a fictional story. This was one of the funniest stories I've read in this class. This short story is filled to the brim with the misfortunes of a family on their way to Disneyland from Michigan. From the very beginning description of the six hour car ride in a station wagon, it didn't sound appealing. As the story unfolded, everything continued to get worse and worse! They had a late start due to everyone oversleeping, had to take their Aunt Edythe-described as a "Mummy with a wig on"-to her son's house, they fell off a cliff, had to sleep on the side of the road, stole money from a motel, were hit by missiles, and attacked by Indians, to name just a few problems they encountered. At first, I felt sorry for the troubled family but as I kept reading, I just had to laugh at the ridiculous situations they found themselves in. They decided to take the car trip because of their mother's insistence, but the end has an ironic twist. When they finally made it to Disneyland, they thought they were golden because there was no one in the parking lot and they had the whole park "to themselves." Unfortunately, there was a sign that said, "Closed for repairs and cleaning," at which the father became furious. They raced over to Hollywood and the dad jumped over the fence where a few men were sitting around a pool, chatting. He had bought a revolver at a convenience store, and now used it to threaten one of the men who happened to be Walt Disney! In his rage, he chased Disney and shot him in the leg, which earned him a spot in jail. Since he couldn't leave before his many charges were dissolved, the rest of the family took an airplane home. Ironically, the mom said, "Maybe this is the way to see the country" and it was she who was being stubborn in the first place.
My family went to Disneyland and it was really fun, although I'm sure my dad wouldn't shoot Walt Disney if the park was closed! I thoroughly enjoyed this story and found myself groaning along to the ridiculous situations that this poor family kept running into.
I agree that this is one of the funniest stories we have read in this class so far. The absurdity of everything that kept occurring was insane! While humorous, the entire time I was reading I just had this uncomfortable gut-type feeling. My stomach was tense and I just kept hoping that it wasn’t going to get any worse; but of course, it continually did. This relates back to the idea we have continually discussed in class, Schadenfreude. Everything that is occurring was making me uncomfortable because I don’t know what I would do if it was happening to me, but at the same time found all these poor fortunes of the Griswold family as humorous. As you did Rebecca, I was thinking about my family and if this situation was us. But I just kept thinking that my dad wouldn’t do anything like this, or so I would sure hope not!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca, I agree that this is one of the most humorous pieces we read, and so relatable. Thanks for the good post. dw
ReplyDelete