Humour
Despite the darkness of the play, there is a lot of humour in the dialogue and situations that take place. These mainly involve the characters of Jack Boyle and his sidekickSomeone who is an assistant to another person or in close association, particularly if the other person in question is of higher authority or of more importance. Joxer.
O鈥機asey uses humour to provide moments of relief in the play, but also to emphasise the darkness of the themes and the unpleasant aspects of characters鈥 personalities.
Joxer and the Captain鈥檚 mock-intellectual discussions about books and the nature of the stars and the moon are ridiculous when we see how lazy and feckless they are - especially when juxtaposeTo place two or more ideas/images close together to create further meaning for an audience. with Juno鈥檚 hard work to support the family.
We see this too with their use of high-browIntellectual or involving serious artistic ideas. references. For example when Joxer philosophises that "man鈥檚 inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn" after Boyle notices his bottle of stout has been stolen.
This reference to Robert Burns seems like hyperboleOver-the-top exaggeration for effect. for such a trivial incident, and it is all the funnier because we know that Joxer has stolen the stout himself.