Hey Squirrel: Gimme Your Lunch Money!

October brings a variety of changes at Yale: the colored leaves of Autumn, the first set of Mid-Term tests, and all sorts of freshman initiations. The most prevalent of these initiations, of course, is fraternity pledging. The rumors of different fraternities’ methods of pledging often run rampant due their secretive nature. However, some can catch a glimpse of these stunts late at night around campus—and yes, they are usually pretty absurd.

As with my Quinnipiac example, humor often depends on one’s perspective; the most common format of a joke frequently entails the “aggressor/victim” contrast. Pledging takes the aggressor/victim conundrum to an entirely new level; brothers take pride in bullying their pledges. This past Wednesday on my way back from Toad’s, I witnessed an initiation that caught me by total surprise.

Two shirtless pledges were standing at the base of a tree, one holding a jar of peanut butter and the other grasping a shoebox. At first I was puzzled by their shenanigans, but I soon realized their goal: to catch a squirrel. Although this pledge challenge was unique in several ways, one particular reason sticks out in my mind given its close connection to the theme of this blog. Catching the squirrel adds another component to the aggressor/victim contrast; “aggressor/victim(aggressor)/victim” represents the catching-the-squirrel task more appropriately. The fraternity brothers remain the aggressors—they will laugh regardless of the result. The pledges, on the other hand, are in a unique position. If they fail to catch the squirrel, they continue to be victims; however, if they actually catch the squirrel, they miraculously transform into an aggressor. The possibility of a potential role reversal for the pledges adds much incentive.

Given these unique circumstances, the humor behind this pledge challenge has the capability of changing dramatically. If the pledges fail, they will most likely become frustrated and find little humor in the game. (Remember, of course, this would mean that they are still the victim.) With a stroke of luck, however, the pledges could catch the squirrel and, in turn, find great humor in their pledge challenge due to their new position as the aggressor. In essence, humor can depend solely on one small twist in fate.