‘The Laughing Man’ is a fictitious story told by Chief John Gedsudski to the Comanche Club members, a twenty-five-member group of baseball players, in between breaks from their regular sports. The Laughing Man was an only child to a rich missionary couple, abducted in childhood by Chinese bandits. His parents refused to pay ransom for his release out of religious belief. The angered bandits disfigured the Laughing Man’s head using a carpenter’s vice. He grew up into an unsightly person. The Laughing Man’s real nature was quite the opposite of his name.
The Laughing Man was ugly. He was so ugly that people literary fainted on seeing his face, “Strangers fainted dead away at the sight of the Laughing Man’s horrible face” (Salinger 87). The narrator describes his unsightly features, “… a hairless pecan-shaped head and a face that featured, instead of a mouth, an oval cavity below the nose” (87). The Chief demonstrates his queer breathing pattern during his narration. The Chinese abductors allowed the laughing Man to live with them if he wore a mask to cover his ugly face.
He was friendly to animals. His acquaintances turned away from him leaving him no choice but to befriend animals. He learned to communicate with animals and made friends with them. He was swift in movement “Every morning in his extreme loneliness, the Laughing Man stole off (he was as graceful on his feet like a cat) to the dense forest surrounding the bandits’ hideout. There he befriended any number and species of animals: dogs, white mice, eagles, boa constrictors, wolves” (88).
He was intelligent, “… and in no time at all he had picked up the bandits’ most valuable trade secrets… and briskly set up his own, more effective system” (88 and 89). At that point, The Laughing Man’s status changed from loneliness to fame, “Soon his ingenious criminal methods, coupled with his singular love of fair play, found him a warm place in the nation’s heart” (89). The Laughing Man’s fame traversed spatial borders “… was regularly crossing the Chinese border into Paris, France, where he enjoyed flaunting his high but modest genius in the face of Marcel Dufarge…“ (90). His fame changed his relationship with his foster parents. They became jealous of him to the extent of plotting to kill him, but unsuccessfully, “When they did, they were insanely jealous… thinking they had successfully doped him to deep sleep, and stabbed at the figure under the cover with their machetes” (89). An internationally famous and witty detective, Marcel Dufarge, also became his worst adversary (90).
The Laughing Man was compassionate. The narrator says “There was a compassionate side to the Laughing Man’s character that just about drove me crazy” (89). The Laughing Man declined to execute his murderous stepparents for attempting to slay him, and instead imprisoned them up in an unfathomable but nicely beautified tomb.
The Laughing Man’s main motivation was caring for dogs. He displayed his generosity and motivation by anonymously donating large quantities of his amassed wealth to monks. These monks were “humble ascetics who had dedicated their lives to raising German police dogs” (90). The Laughing Man was loyal. The Dufarges knew this and took advantage of it to trick him into captivity “The Dufarges aware of the Laughing Man’s high sense of loyalty offered him Black Wing’s freedom in exchange for his own” (100). He was also sentimental. The Laughing Man attached such immense value to his dog Black Wing, that he died of sorrow on realizing that the Dufarges killed his beloved dog (110). Understanding of the laughing Man’s motivation influences deeper appreciation towards his character.
The Laughing Man’s personality rubbed on to the Comanches so that each one of them felt related to him, and had confidence in him. In the end, we realize that the Laughing Man rarely laughed, contrary to what his name suggested.
Work Cited
Salinger, J.D. The Laughing Man. New York: Back Bay Books, 2001. Print.