The woman calls the narrator ‘a humorist’. Who do you think actually contributes to the humour in the story? How?
Answers
The woman behaves strangely at the end of the story, calling the narrator ' a humorist' before sitting in the cab.
The woman herself is the main joker of the story who tries to act as a well mannered lady but ends up showing her low class.
She says that it is her habit to eat only one food item in lunch.
But when the narrator orders tasty expensive food items, she eats all of them in lunch.
Thus she is the main humorist instead of narrator.
Happy Independence Day.
Answer :
Cambridge English Dictionary defines 'humorist' as 'a person who writes or tells funny stories .'
In the short story 'The Luncheon' by William Somerset Maugham , the lady contributes to the humour in the story by remarking that she never eats more than one thing for luncheon and strictly keeps her diet balanced. However, all the expensive dishes like salmon ,caviar and champagne ordered by the narrator for her were quickly polished off by her. The narrator was shocked to see the bill of fare that was much higher than he had expected.