In order to understand this story, I had to really understand the connections to the two main motifs in the story - jokes and costumes. This story really seemed to play on awkward situations and being uncomfortable with oneself. After compiling the above information (yeah, all two of them) I realized that both of these two motifs were ways of covering up oneself and making oneself feel more comfortable in a situation. When someone wears a costume (say, Cleopatra?) then they take on this alter-ego that they can play off, just like how when someone tells a joke, they can use the words of someone else to make themselves look better. When Zoe lies to Earl, it only confirmed my hypothesis that she was a very awkward person who is really self-conscious about her minor flaws (like that little black hair that was so small she struggled to even get). The last scene helped me to finalize what I believe to be the theme of this story."'I told a lot of jokes. Jokes you know the lines to already- you can just say them. I love jokes. Jokes and songs'" (123).
When people let jokes get out of hand, people sometimes begin to be turned off by the fake persona of the person.
This was certainly the case when Zoe gave Earl a shove and almost pushed him off the balcony.
#Thatawkwardmoment when the joke is not funny.
I told myself I would get this song into one of my blogs, but never did I think it would actually think that it would work! This probably sums up Zoe's feelings towards that cab driver.
