On page 157 Dennis wonders if Sir Ambrose is going to be his 'first penitent', even though in actuality Dennis is not even a real cleric as of yet, and does not really intend to be.
One of the funniest parts of the book comes at the very end. Earlier, Dennis had quoted a number of fine examples of the cards that were delivered on a yearly basis to the owners of the pets being interred, buried or burned at the Happier Hunting Grounds. It was as if little Fifi was returning from the dead on an annual pilgrimage of thankfulness for the care and love of former employers.
Upon discovering that Aimee in a fit of despair had taken her own life, and that neither he nor Mr. Joyboy would be able to have a further communications with her, Dennis accomplishes the ultimate in English irony which was to cremate her body before it was discovered by the authorities.
The humorous part of the situation was that Dennis was able to set in motion an annual card to be delivered to Mr. Joyboy that read "Your little Aimee is wagging her tail in heaven tonight, thinking of you." (page 163).
It was not that the tone of the book was totally humorous that made the book fun to read. Rather, it was that the reader was often surprised by how funny serious situations could be made if written about in a sardonic manner. This light side could be seen in the main character (Dennis) even when he was first being introduced to Aimee, who would later become the tragic figure of suicide.
On page 91, these two characters have their first meeting alone and Dennis is listening...
She tells him how she wrote her thesis on 'Hairstyling in the Orient' and how she had practiced permanents, facials and waxes throughout her schooling career. He in turn asks her, "And all this time between
psychology and art and Chinese, you had the mortuary in view?" In other words, she had studied more than just hairstyling and had ended up being a mortician. Questions such as these allowed Waugh to portray how irreverent Dennis' character was and gave the reader a sense that no matter what the subject, at least the main character would always find something funny in the silver lining.
This casting of characters was true to the very end. Dennis sat back and read a novel while waiting for Aimee to be reduce to cinders, while Mr. Joyboy was finding the event far too emotional to cope with.
Dennis looked at the circumstances and decided that now he could finally contribute to the world. "On this last evening in Los Angeles Dennis knew that he was singularly privileged. He was adding his bit." (page 163).
Waugh has the ability to take the serious, turn it into humour, and allow the reader a laugh or two along the way. Creating a tone such as this takes an innate sense of what is funny, though not necessarily so in different contexts. Emphasizing the serious with nonsensical phrases and questions is an art that seems to have been well accomplished by Waugh. The reader is able to bite into the sour fruit of
death and taste the sweet nectar of humor.
Humor as it is found in the Loved One is created as part of the overall picture and, while vastly understated at times, still was used to manipulate the tone of the book to make it a quick read with an interesting moral at the end (at least from the English point-of-view that is!).
