Hamsters and Hurricanes

We all know the saying "dogs are a man's best friend," and to an extent this statement is accurate. For centuries animals have been companions to humans. The memories of childhood pets are still very present in the brains of the adult. My memory of my favorite childhood pet will too stay in my brain, though, I had a slightly more traumatic experience. 

Growing up in South Florida, I was engulfed by what I like to call Hurricane Culture. Every year without fail I would go to the store with my mother for water and food, additionally, we would go through the painstaking process of putting up our shutters.  But I honestly didn't understand that not everyone did this I thought it was the norm. Now, amongst all the preparation for the hurricanes my mom, one year, decided to clean out my beloved hamster's cage. Midnight was a black dwarf hamster that was adorable, granted she did bite me every time I touched her but that never changed my adoration for my pet. That year we had a massive category five hurricane on the way and we were going to lose power any second. So my mother, being the smart and efficient woman she is, decided it was a good idea to vacuum out the hamster cage before we lost power. As my hamster was sleeping in the lower portion of the cage my mom decided to vacuum the upper portion... before she could stop the vacuum she saw a little scurry up the hamster tube closely followed by a distinct sucking noise. The hamster was no longer in the cage but instead in the vacuum cleaner. In utter panic my mom calls for my father, "David! David! I think I sucked the hamster up in the vacuum!" "What do you mean you think? Is it in the cage?" After checking again we confirmed the hamster was not in the cage. So we opened the vacuum bag and after sifting around for Midnight we found her, not moving. Then my dad proceeds to do CPR on my prized pet. I kid you not he did actual CPR. At this point, I had heard the commotion and was completely shocked and wailing over the limp body of my hamster. All of a sudden after pressing on she little chest Midnight woke up! She lived! And from that point on she never bit me again and slowly turned gray and developed a white streak down her back.

So this memory of mine was very traumatic with a happy ending I still laugh about it. When relaying the story to peers they too laugh. But why? Why does the near death experience of my hamster make people chuckle? It certainly wasn't funny for small Sarah. There are a few theory's as to why people might laugh. If we look at the superiority theory maybe we laughed about the mistake my mother/almost hamster executioner made. Ultimately we would feel that we would never make such a mistake and we are better than her. Looking through the lens of the Incongruity theory maybe laughter was brought about by the contrast of the hamster and the vacuum cleaner. The two separate subjects are put together in such a way that would not be normal. I mean I don't think it's a normal thing to vacuum hamsters... but maybe that's just me. Lastly, when we look at the relief theory maybe we actually wanted the hamster to die and laughed because she didn't actually meet her demise. Maybe the laugh was the weight of the societal accepted way of thinking being lifted.

All in all the story of Midnight will forever live in my memory and now hopefully you can take away something humorous and decipher why it was actually funny.