The writer's use of humor

Your exam question asks you to focus on Rhik Samadder’s use of humor in his article “I’ve lost my conversational mojo – can I relearn the art of small talk?”.

Samadder uses humor in several ways. First of all, he uses personal stories, either about himself or a friend. The stories revolve around struggling to be sociable again after months spent in lockdown. An example would be Samadder’s monologue about pineapples:

The last time someone initiated a conversation with me, I babbled for eight minutes about how I’d been growing pineapples from other pineapples. I rambled on about water rooting, suckers and slips, the available research on crown splitting as observed in the Niger delta. My friend was not in...