Steph asks:
"How does one so successfully mix pathos and humor?"

Looking pathos up in the dictionary ....

pathos

noun
1. a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow); "the film captured all the pathos of their situation"
2. a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others; "the blind are too often objects of pity" [syn: commiseration]
3. a style that has the power to evoke feelings

I would say when you know when you have gone to far.

Haha...I really want to participate in this discussion!!! But I just learned what "pathos" meant, (thanks for the definition, Kathy!) so I don't want to sound like a boob!!! So here it goes...I hope I'm reading the question right!

I think one of the reasons that the book so successfully mixed humor and pathos, is because you could find the humor in his misery. Like when his sister died, it was devastating...you feel so bad for him. But you can't help but laugh that he has a woody when the guidance counselor hugs him. (this part was so funny to me! I just find it hilarious!) It's something that would totally happen in real life...but people don't talk about that kind of stuff, so when they do it's extra funny. And Junior was so good about seeing the humor in some of his tragedy...his little drawings were often very sad, but still hilarious.

ditto to what Cali said. I think that it is actually VERY important to mix humor in your own sorrows. Often, for me anyway, that means you are in the process of healing. Most of the time, I have a hard time finding humor in OTHER people's sorrow which may have been why this book was so hard for me.

Humor is a HUGE part of my life. WIthout humor, the world would be soooo boring to me.

Diddo to what Calicat and JaevenStar said. I couldn't have said it better!
Humor is what gets most people through life. If you don't have humor, then you have a very sad life.

I don't know how he did it but he did! It's been a long time since I laughed and cryed at the same, but I did it the whole time I was reading this book.

some times it is hard to mix humor and sorrow and i thought he did a fantastic job of it. it takes a good book to make you laugh and cry at the same time.

I believe in mixing laughter with sorrow or one could lose one's mind otherwise! I think the author did an excellent job of mixing the two. A very good read!

I agree with you Cali. This is one of the things I adored about this book. He just has a way of hitting you with this devastating news and somehow making it seem almost funny in a really sad way of course. The cartoons that were scattered throughout the book were genius. I loved them.

I loved his whole approach to life. Here you had a kid, that basically was given a pretty raw deal with so many facets of his life and compensates for it through the use of humor. People deal with tragedy, loss, ridicule, stress etc. in different ways. Most of these, unfortunately, wind up choosing a coping mechanism that is detrimental in its outcome.(ie turning to drugs, alcohol, mental breakdown etc.) He turns his misfortunes around and puts a positive spin on them by bringing humor into it. It's like the old saying, when life tosses you lemons, make lemonade. Well, he certainly accomplished that and then some. Brilliantly written!

I love this question.

I find it pretty hard to let anything get me down. I joke alot, and am sarcastic so when bad things happen I just laugh them off and move along. I probably say that more than anything to my kids. OK now, let's move it along. I don't believe in wallowing.

I think the mixture of pathos and humor is what kept him so optimistic about getting off of the rez. Why not find humor in most things. I think the cartoons and his view on it all really was encouraging. It was really funny and pretty true to life. He said the things we think about but most are afraid to admit.

you can't have humor without emotion. So emotion is a big part of the story.
both the humor part and the intense sadness that he goes thru.

Look at how many times he cried - and how many times he was busting up laughing about something. He found humor in emotional stressful times just as much as he cried his eyes out at times.

There was a lot of emotion in this story. Its what drove him. He missed laughing with Rowdy so much, it made him sad.
Its what makes the story so compelling and human and real. The author really shares all of it and takes us thru both ends of emotion - and does an amazing job of weaving it together... So I'd say this is a successful mix of it!

As living Beings, if we couldn't mix Pathos and Humor, we would either be totally depressed by or absolutly unfeeling to the world and others in it. I believe that Sherman Alexie used his life experiences to show his audience how suffering spirits need to be mixed with joyous spirits in order to survive and move on. As a writer, which I am not, I don't know technically how he achieved this so wonderfully but he has.

As a side note: In New Moon, if it wasn't for Jacobs Humor, Bella's Pathos would have totally consumed her, it was the combination that helped her to survive.

I think it's a great gift to be able to view your own life with both pathos and humor. How do you move past the heavy things if you can't find a lighter side to them?
Perhaps that's part of why he became so successful--he had the right attitude towards life.
Of course, it's probably easier to laugh at things in retrospect than it is when they're actually happening......