Narrative essay analyzing humor in See Spot Run characters

¶ … James (Angus T. Jones) wakes up on the sofa with a two-liter Coke bottle tucked under his arm, hundreds of empty junk food wrappers strewn around him. The room is a wreck and looks either like a tsunami hit or like they had a wild party the night before. Gordon tentatively approaches James, who is moaning in pain from a bad junk food hangover. With an empathetic look on his face, Gordon holds out a chocolate-covered donut and tells him it's a "hair of the dog that bit you." His maxim is in reference to having a drink the morning after a drinking binge. James washes down the stale donut with a swig of the flat Coke and declares, as if he really were a rock star, that he feels better already. The two boys then try to wash up. They go into the bathroom, where James stands on a chair in order to see himself in the mirror so he can brush his teeth. They are both wearing white T-shirts and shorts, looking in this scene very much like father and son.

While still in the bathroom, Gordon asks James where he goes to school so that he can take him there after they get dressed. James looks askance at Gordon, tilting his head and sneering. He sarcastically reminds James that it is the middle of summer and he doesn't have school. James does not understand why Gordon would not know. However, Gordon is single and so he would not be in tune with the school year. Gordon then remarks that because James does not have school to go to that he has to take the kid to work with him. After all, he cannot leave him home alone. The prospect of riding in the mail truck with Gordon excites James, who squeals and runs out of the bathroom to get ready.

As Gordon drives his mail truck down the road on his delivery route, he reminds James to never let anyone know that he rode in the truck. Carrying passengers in the mail truck is against regulations and would cause Gordon to lose his job. Gordon tells James to make himself useful by sorting the mail that is in the back of the truck into piles with odd and even numbers. James agrees but does not do any work. In the meantime, a white fan is careening down the road with a dog inside of it. The van is being chased by a black Cadillac. The two men in the Cadillac are chasing the white van with the dog and intend to sabotage it somehow. Before they can, though, the dog inside the white van breaks loose and at the next red light he leaps out of the white van and onto the hood of the black Cadillac.

Startling the two men in the black Cadillac, the dog runs off. The mail truck is now stopped in front of a house, and Gordon gets out to make his deliveries. He tells James to wait inside and guard the truck. When the dog realizes he is being chased, he spies the mail truck and leaps inside to a surprised but amused James. When Gordon returns from his deliveries, James asks him about the dog. Gordon assumes he is referring to the toy dog that James is holding in his hands, and tells James that the dog was his gift to James.