Is it a funny portrayal of religion?

The story is amusing and entertaining, and one does not
need to be especially religious to appreciate the humor. Thus, we may laugh at Jackie’s
embarrassment at his grandmother’s habits, his interest in Mrs. Ryan’s half-crown (the
equivalent of a large amount of money today), the priest’s prediction about how someone
will go after Nora with a knife and not miss, and Nora’s bewilderment after Jackie’s
"first confession." In discussing the causes of laughter, students should note the
relationship of situations such as these to principles of rigidity and incongruity as
described by Henri Bergson in his study of laughter. Thus Jackie in the communion class
should be considering the state of his soul, but instead he demonstrates a little boy’s
concern for Mrs. Ryan’s money (in this way fitting his rigidly childish perspective into
a situation requiring thought and fear). In addition, sober and proper behavior is
expected in a confessional, so that Jackie’s antics, so clearly out of place and
inappropriate, are funny.