Overall, I found Amphigorey to be one of the most interesting and humorous works we’ve looked at all semester. I really like his intricate drawing style, the setup of the little illustrations with short bits of text, and the space between each scene.
I also like the dark sense of humor… to a point. Gorey’s distaste for children is made abundantly clear in a lot of the stories, particularly “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” and “The Bug Book”. “The Bug Book” is relatively harmless and inoffensive, but “Gashlycrumb Tinies”, which is about children dying in many different, gruesome ways, has probably upset a lot of people. I still find these humorous, because they are so over the top.
The story that really bothered me was “The Curious Sofa”. While reading the story, I found it odd and a little disconcerting that the story was so blatantly about sex while the illustration and presentation were so similar to children’s books. I know that it was supposed to be weird and unsettling, but the end was so creepy that it put me over the edge, and I found that there was no pay-off to the creepiness. I can’t stop thinking about the last line: “When Alice saw what was about to happen, she began to scream uncontrollably…” I think this is probably exactly the reaction Gorey wanted from his readers. I feel as though I’m missing the joke! Does anyone else feel the same about this story/care to explain the humor to me?
I feel the same way about “The Curious Sofa.” There was really no payoff for the creepiness. It’d be one thing if it was just a fun story full of innuendo, but the final scene made me incredibly uncomfortable, as it suggests a lack of consent by Alice to some sexual act or even murder. I can’t justify framing that type of violence with no explanation or critique! I may be wrong and there may be some hidden meaning/justification, but I definitely can’t figure it out.
You are not the only one, I also had difficulty understanding the meaning of the last sentence. I have been looking for the answer. I think it might be her reacting to an innuendo. But if we look into it, I think Edward Gorey wanted us to question why she screamed and come to our own conclusions.