Oldest Trick: Chapter 69 of And Yet
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The poem "Oldest Trick" presents a brief, self-contained domestic scene. An unnamed mother addresses her son as they prepare to leave, asking in a deadpan tone whether everyone remembered to bring along their butt. She maintains a straight face and locked eye contact, adding that if anyone forgot, they must turn around. The son is caught in a dilemma: laughing would mean admitting that he failed to keep a straight face (the "failure" of being tricked), yet holding in the laugh is nearly impossible. The poem ends by emphasizing the pure impossibility of suppressing the laugh when the absurdity of the question is paired with the mother's serious delivery.
Key Events
- The mother asks her son if everyone remembered to bring their butt.
- She delivers the question with a straight face and locked eyes.
- She threatens to turn the car around if anyone forgot.
- The son struggles not to laugh.
- The poem reflects on the conflict between admitting failure and holding in laughter.
Character Development
- The Mother: She is playful, patient, and skilled in deadpan humor. The joke reveals her intimate knowledge of her son's sense of humor and her desire to share a moment of lightheartedness, even through a small test of self-control.
- The Son: Although he does not speak, his internal reaction is the focus. He is a child old enough to understand the absurdity and to control his outward expression, yet still young enough to find the joke irresistibly funny. The experience reinforces his growing awareness of social games and emotional regulation.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Family Humor: The poem encapsulates a universal type of parent-child joke where the adult uses a straight-faced delivery of an absurd question to elicit laughter from the child. This dynamic strengthens the parent-child bond.
- The Power of Absurdity: The question is deliberately nonsensical (one cannot literally forget one's body part). The absurdity creates a cognitive dissonance that forces a laugh response, illustrating how humor can override rational control.
- Composure and Failure: The son's struggle is between two competing definitions of failure. One failure is to laugh (breaking composure), and the other is to betray the trick by laughing (admitting he was fooled). The poem suggests that the latter is indissoluble — holding in laughter when faced with the absurd is "pure impossibility."
- The "Oldest Trick": The title refers to a classic comedic trope: the feigned serious question designed to catch someone off guard. This trick relies on the listener's expectation of logical consistency and their desire to be polite, only to be undone by the preposterous premise.
Why This Chapter Matters
Despite its brevity, "Oldest Trick" captures an archetypal moment of childhood that many readers will recognize. It demonstrates Kate Baer's ability to find profound emotional resonance in ordinary interactions. The poem contributes to the collection's broader portrait of motherhood as a space for improvisation, play, and empathy. The chapter matters because it shows how a mother uses humor not only to entertain but also to teach her son about the boundaries of social performance and the shared joy of breaking them.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does the mother ask her son if everyone remembered to bring their butt?
The mother asks this absurd question as a deliberate joke, intending to see if her son can maintain a straight face or if he will break into laughter. The question has no practical purpose; it is a comedic device to create a moment of shared humor and to teach a light-hearted lesson about composure.
2. What does the "oldest trick" refer to in this poem?
The "oldest trick" is the use of a straight-faced, absurd statement or question to provoke a laugh from someone who expects a serious answer. It is a classic, timeless form of prank where the humor relies on the contrast between the speaker's serious tone and the preposterous content.
3. How does the poem use the concept of "failure" in two different ways?
The poem presents two interpretations of failure. First, the son would fail to keep a straight face if he laughs. Second, laughing would also "admit their failure" — that is, failure to resist the trick. The son is thus trapped: any response (laughing or not laughing) implies some form of failure. The only escape is the "impossibility" of holding in the laugh, which means he inevitably succumbs to the joke.