Keywords
Eunice De Souza, Learn from the Almond Leaf, Humour, Comic realism, Satire, Poetry.
Abstract
This paper examines Learn from the Almond Leaf by Eunice de Souza through the critical lens of comic realism, focusing on how humour becomes a tool to represent the textures of everyday Indian life. De Souza’s comic realism emerges from her sharp observation of ordinary experiences-—family relations, religious practices, gender norms, and middle-class anxieties-rendered with irony, wit, and understated satire. Rather than offering escapist humour, her poems expose social hypocrisies and emotional contradictions embedded in quotidian life. Drawing on theories of comic realism and satire, the study argues that de Souza employs humour to negotiate serious concerns such as patriarchy, urban alienation, and cultural conformity. The laughter generated by her poetry is thus ambivalent, functioning both as critique and resistance. By blending realism with comedy, Learn from the Almond Leaf situates personal experience within broader social realities, affirming humour as a powerful mode of socio-cultural commentary in contemporary Indian English poetry.
