Caroline’s Christmas or, the Inexplicable Infant by Stephen Leacock – Ep. 6

This story comes from Leacock’s “Nonsense Novels”. It’s typical of his humour in many ways. He created parodies of typical stories of the era.

This story is like a typical Christmas theme turned upside down. The elements in the story are confusing until you realize the reverse symbols. The buttermilk would be egg nog, Euclid’s Elements would be the Bible. Caroline’s knock at the door in a typical Christmas story would bring the miracle that would save the day. The child has newborn Christ vibe.

The second knock ties the upside down part together, to deliver the unexpected ending. Or would that be the expected ending without a miracle intervention?

Thank you for listening to the sixth of the Christmas podcasts — the next episode will be L.M. Montgomery’s Christmas at Red Butte

See you soon.