John Soucy
Christmas morning
“Christmas Morning” is comic because, although Larry, Sonny and Mick Delaney stuff themselves, Mrs. Delaney’s all-seeing eyes guide the main character, Larry, to be reborn as a loving Christian.
Blind to the hurt they cause others in the family, the Delaney males metaphorically elevate themselves. Larry Delaney is the older of the two children, being about ten years old. Larry elevates himself mostly over his little brother, Sonny. When Mrs. Delaney addresses the fact that Sonny can read better than him, Larry dismisses the statement because “reading struck [him] as an occupation better suited to a sissy kid like Sonny” (200). When Larry elevates himself by calling his brother a “sissy kid” (200), he does not realize that it hurts Sonny’s feelings. Although Sonny does provoke Larry to make fun of him when he spells things out to Mrs. Delaney like “t-e-a” (200) and “k-e-t-e-l” (200). Sonny stuffs himself by putting himself up even more by bragging, “Mummy. . . Aren’t I a good speller?” (200) when he gets the word right. Sonny not only puts himself above Larry intellectually, but socially as well. When Sonny “Stood at the front door leaning against the jamb with his hands in his trouser pockets trying to make himself look like [his] father and shouted. . . Larry isn’t left go out. . . and me mother isn’t talking to him” (201-202), he is making himself superior to Larry by first acting like Mick to appear manly and then embarrassing Larry in front of his friends. This also shows how Mick is hurting Sonny by elevating himself. When Mick leans against something “With his hands in his trouser pockets” (201), he does not realize that he is setting a bad example for Sonny. Mick is passing his lazy, carefree lifestyle on to Sonny because Sonny pictures his father as the ideal man and tries to be exactly like his father. Mick also hurts Mrs. Delaney by elevating himself. On Christmas Eve, instead of eating dinner with his...