Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

the humour comes not only from the topic of witchery, since there are other such
stories, such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, or Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. They may actually
contain some jokes, but they are part of the fantasy genre, not comedy. So the hilarity of
Hermelinda Linda comes from other elements, not witchery per se. Sometimes the
stories are violent, the drawings gory, and the ending is fatidic (or fateful). Thus,
Hermelinda will add some humorous comment at the very end to remind us of the
comedy genre. Such is the case of the episode in which two swindlers deal with
chinchillas and Hermelinda bewitches the animals so that they grow into giants and kill
the confidence tricksters. The images are macabre, but on the last page Hermelinda says
that she kept one hundred chinchilla furs with no plans to sell them because she does
not want to cause a ‘rupture’ in the stock market. 46 After the violent images and the
seriousness of being swindled, Hermelinda turns the situation back to a humorous one
by saying something unexpected, and reminding us that this is a comedy.
In La Familia Burrón, although the story takes place in a neighbourhood in
downtown Mexico City, and the settings are well-known urban locations, the main
incongruity comes from the lead character, Borola Burrón. Borola is exaggerated not
only in the way she looks but also in the actions she carries out. Her ideas and
behaviour go beyond what we would consider ‘normal’. Her behaviour is unrealistic
and absurd, such as constantly intimidating people with her musket, building a cannon
to protect her adopted child, Foforito, from his abusive father, 47 and becoming a kind of
masked superhero to protect her female neighbours from their partners’ maltreatment. 48
Also, the activities that Borola carries out can be illogical, such as building a pool on
46 Hermelinda Linda, 367, 32.
47 La Familia Burrón, 17187, p. 23.
48 La Familia Burrón, 17186.
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