The Use of Humour in The Opposite Sex by Laurie Lee

Examine fully the writers use of humour in The Opposite Sex by

Laurie Lee

This essay aims to examine the use of humour in Laurie Lee's short

story 'The Opposite Sex'. It tells the story of a teenage boy who is

led to his first sexual experience. As much of Laurie Lee's writing

was autobiographical or loosely based upon his own life we may assume

that this is the tale of Lee's first sexual encounter, yet there is no

definite proof to support this argument.

Lee was born in 1914 and raised in his birth-town of Slad,

Gloucestershire where he later went on to set many of his novels,

including 'The Opposite Sex'. His other works were set in countries in

which he had spent a lot of time whilst travelling as a young man

during and after the Second World War.

This essay title has asked to examine humour throughout 'The Opposite

Sex' which proved to be difficult task as humour can be difficult to

define. This is because different people have completely different

senses of humour. Some people laugh hysterically at a particular joke

while others would be offended or just simply, would not find it

funny. Different jokes and styles of humour would then appeal to

different audiences and this is why I think Laurie Lee proved to be

comical within 'The Opposite Sex'. Lee used a mild, suggestive use of

humour as well as some sexual innuendo instead of 'slapstick', comical

jokes. Humour is therefore a personal and individual thing and I think

Laurie Lee could be taking a wry look at his own awkwardness as a

teenage boy.

The opening paragraph of 'The Opposite Sex' describes the attitude

towards sex which is and was held by people in the country. He

describes the subject of sex as being a very open topic which no-one

was embarrassed or afraid to talk about. He describes how 'free'

people felt when discussing the subject of sex:

"Sex on the country was like grain in the wood, self-renewing

as the daily paper, never obsessive, nor crowding the attention,

but always going on if you cared to look for it."

He sets the scene by describing the country attitude towards sex (as

in the opening paragraph) and goes on to use a long and complicated

metaphor to describe his level of success when it came to sex:

"My moment, after years of lazily inspecting the pitch,

came when I was suddenly called on to play."

Laurie Lee then gives us some description of the main character, whom

we cannot automatically assume is Laurie Lee himself, and the physical

setting of the scene and village boys.