Who Is The Laughing Man?

"The Laughing Man" is a short story written by J.D. Salinger published in 1949, in New York Magazine. It is unique in that it is structured as a story within a story. It takes place in Manhattan in 1928 and follows a summertime social club of young boys known as The Commanches. They are led by a 23 year old NYU Law Student they affectionately refer to as "The Chief". To the young boys, The Chief is a heroic figure. He drives them around on a bus to different activities; camping out on the palisades, visiting the Museum of Natural History and the Met and pickup baseball games. He has the respect of all the boys.

 In between destinations, The Chief entertains the group with his fairy-tale like story about the adventures of The Laughing Man. The story takes place in China and tells of a child born to a wealthy family of missionaries who was kidnapped by bandits one dark night. As the family refused to pay ransom to the bandits, they punished the baby by placing his head in a construction vise and tightening it. The baby was cursed with a lifelong deformity; a "pecan shaped head" where his damaged eyes, nose and mouth gave him the appearance of a never ending ghoulish grin. To mask the terror of his face, the bandits covered The Laughing Man with a  red, poppy-petal mask. The Laughing Man started out as a minion for the bandits, doing their criminal bidding. Overtime he transformed into a symbol of heroism, following the path of good. He developed a cabal of loyal friends, mystical creatures he met hidden in the forest. Of the most important in his group was his devoted, loving handmaiden - a gorgeous Eurasian who out of unrequited love for The Laughing Man held a deep concern for his safety...

 To the boys, The Laughing Man was inspiring. He was mysterious, rich, powerful, took on the forces of evil and wrong and always put the wellbeing of his friends before himself. Throughout his trials, he was always able to escape harm and always had a smile on his face. Just like The Chief, he was their hero...

One day the narrator noted something strange. A picture of a girl sitting on the dashboard of The Chief's bus. When asked about it, The Chief shrugged it off as "just some picture of a girl", as if it was planted on him. Days turned to weeks and the picture never budged. One day a young girl, named Mary Hudson joined The Commanches on the bus. The narrator at one point mentioned he had only seen 3 girls that struck him as having "unclassifying beauty at first sight". The Chief's girl was one of them.

 As the relationship between Mary Hudson and The Chief waxed and waned, so too did the adventures of The Laughing Man. One day before heading to the baseball diamond for a game of ball, The Chief left the fate of The Laughing Man at a cliffhanger - he was tied to a tree held at gun point by his archrival, The French-man Marcel Dufarge. At the game that day, the narrator notes what appeared to be a tense exchange between The Chief and Mary Hudson. After the game, rather than returning to the bus with the boys, Mary Hudson fled the field in tears. The Chief returned to the bus, alone, to resume the ongoing tale of The Laughing Man. This time it was different however. The Chief lacked the life and light in his story telling that young the boys were so drawn to. What was most unusual was what became of The Laughing Man. For this time he did not escape. Dufarge fired 4 shots into the chest of the bound laughing man and left him to die.

 "The Laughing Man's last act, before turning his face to the blood stained ground, was to pull off his mask." He died with a wide grin on his face. "The story ended there, of course. (Never to be revived) The Chief started up the bus. Across the aisle from me, Billy Walsh, who was the youngest of all of The Commanches burst into tears. None of us told him to shut up. As for me, I remember my knees were shaking." As our narrator exits The Chief's bus, he notices a piece of red tissue paper flapping in the wind. It looked like someone's poppy-petal mask.


The Laughing Man is that hero inside of us all. He represents an almost childish escape from reality. He's a role model of sorts, unique to our own dreams and desires. Each one of the characters in Salinger's short story wanted to see The Laughing Man as part of themselves, most importantly The Chief. We all have heroes and we all have dreams. It is up to us to make them come true.

So who IS The Laughing Man?

Read J.D. Salinger's short story "The Laughing Man" here:
  http://materlakes.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2013/2/25/50973306/Nine_Stories_by_J_D__Salinger.pdf