Qualitative_data_analysis

224 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Figure 13.21 Representing concurrence between categories
have presented two possible outcomes. In one, not much over half the examples of
cathartic humour we have noted in the text concur with those of incongruity. In the
other, every example of cathartic humour concurs with an example of incongruous
humour. But there are elements of incongruity which don’t concur with cathartic
humour. From this kind of mapping we can learn something about the relationship
between the two types of humour. Suppose we find that in fact all the examples of
cathartic humour also involve elements of incongruity. This suggests that an
element of incongruity may be an essential condition of cathartic humour. Looking
back at our data, we can explore this possibility and see whether this proposition is
borne out by the way the two types of humour interact.
For example, take Mr Kaufman’s unfortunate accident with the high speed drill.
The humour in this scene is certainly cathartic—it releases emotions connected with
fear of the suffering we associate with the dentist’s drill. What role does incongruity
play? Well, the patient doesn’t suffer in any ordinary way, and perhaps if he had—
perhaps if he had sat in the dentist’s chair, and suffered pain from the drill while
having a filling— we would have not found the scene amusing. But Mr Kaufman’s
dental work is being done out of doors, and while the drill inflicts suffering it does
not do so in the usual orifice. These elements of incongruity are reassuring —
#8212;this is a fantasy, not the real thing. We can laugh at another’s suffering,
precisely because we know that he is not really suffering. In short, without the
incongruity, there might be no cathartic release.
On the other hand, we can look at the data where we have observed incongruity
without catharsis. For instance, Vincent says he couldn’t bring himself to sign his
root-canal work he did for Mrs Zardos. Unlike his absence for several days due to
depression, this does not involve any cathartic element. The humour lies only in the
incongruous image of a dentist signing his work as though he were an artist. This is
amusing in its own right without reliance on the release of any emotional