We all have those crazy family vacation stories, but John Hughes' is one for the record. So many ludicrous things happen in this story that they undoubtedly spark humor in the readers.
The family starts off leaving late for their vacation (I can relate), and then end up having to bring along an old, smelly aunt for the long drive to California. The whole family falls asleep in the car..."[their] new station wagon racing down U.S. 55 like a bedroom on wheels." Once the family picks up Aunt Edythe, they figure out that they're taking her dog, Dinkie, along too, who "watches 'Ed Sullivan." A dog watching a TV show is a funny idea that exhibits personification.
As they're driving through the central plains of the US, the narrator claims that everything "looked the same as Kansas." I've never been up to that part of the country, but I can imagine how boring of a drive it is. I laughed at this paragraph in the story in part because of the Superiority Theory. I'm glad I'm not the one making that drive...
Then things start to get interesting, leading to a definite sort of shift in the story, characteristic of the Incongruity Theory.
A cop pulls them over and tells them that Aunt Edythe's poor dog had been dragged behind the family's car for quite a while. Upon finding it dead, the father left it on the side of the road without telling anyone, including Aunt Edythe.
Then the dad drives off a cliff that's "only about four feet high," but a cliff nonetheless for their '58 Plymouth Sport Suburban Six station wagon. Everyone gets all banged-up and naturally it is quite an ordeal...with false teeth flying, broken glasses, and spilled Kool-Aid. I think this is humorous because it exhibits the Superiority Theory. Had we been in that situation (particularly as the father or Aunt Edythe), it probably wouldn't have been quite as funny.
They have to get their car towed, and the tower happens to be the sheriff of the town, who claims that $588 dollars for a tow isn't robbery. But because the family gave the tow company all the money they had, even all the dollars they could find in Aunt Edythe's shoe, the father decides to rob the motel the family stayed at. I can just picture the father trying to be subtle as he reached over the counter, took the money from the register, and made a run for it. It would be a funny thing to watch on a security camera.
Of course the cops come after them and a cop chase quickly ensues, but with skill, the family escapes thanks to the dad's commands to the narrator to push the ice chest at the cop cars. In Bisbee, the dad switches license plates (I think this would be funny to watch as a fly on the wall too).
Then the family figures out that Aunt Edythe died...and has been dead for at least 10 hours...naturally, their solution is to put her on the roof covered with the father's raincoat. This is terrible, but funny because it is so absurd. Once they get to Tucson they leave Auntie Edythe outside in a patio chair with an umbrella in her hand. Kinda sounds like a sketchy murder cover-up to me.
Once the family gets into Arizona, they are shooted at by missiles that were being tested. Then they are attacked by drunk, rifle-carrying Indians, who force the dad to give them the remainder of his stolen money and who end up taking everything.
The family starts to cry all together as it's raining....This image is just pitiful in my head, but at the same time it's funny in a superiority-kind of way. Once they reach Disney Land and find that it is closed for repairs and cleaning, the dad buys a revolver, shows up at Walt Disney's house, and shoots him in the thigh.
The family leaves dad behind and takes a plane home, realizing that maybe it IS the smart way to travel.
Most of this story is related to the superiority theory, but it is also comical because everyone at some point has experienced a vacation or trip that goes completely wrong. By weaving many unimaginable events together in this short story, John Hughes sets up a hilarious plot.
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