Despair and Hope: A Character Analysis in 'The Laughing Man'

On the other hand, the Chief, in “The Laughing Man”, experiences a situation in which his hopes slowly died and, in turn, changed into a never-ending path of despair, much like Seymour and Sergeant X. His hopes, in this case, are set within his girlfriend, Mary Hudson (95). Despite having a god-like effect on the children, the Chief is nothing more than a skinny law-student, and must create a fictional in order to compensate for his love-less life. This is exemplified when the narrator states, “his hair-line extremely low, his nose was large and fleshy, and his torso was just about as long as his legs were”, implying that he was less than fortunate when it came to girls (85). However, once Mary Hudson is introduced, she changes the Chief by

restoring his hope in finally finding true love as well as feeling accepted by others, not just the kids. Hudson, who is described as a college student from Wellesley College and a resident of Long Island, a wealthy area of New York City, has no reason to stay with the Chief, an unappealing law student at NYU. As such, she has high expectations and expects them to be completed on command, to which the Chief, nervously, obeys. This is shown when Hudson is first shown to the kids on the bus, “A trifle wildly, he looked at the Comanches near his seat and signaled the row to give way” (95). Furthermore, the Chief allows her to play baseball with the Comanches, a sport they believe is reserved only for men (96). However, regardless of her charismatic attitude and beautiful aspects, the Chief realizes that she is controlling his life in almost all aspects, swearing at the kids, changing the entire structure of the bus, who is described as a mens-only bus, and his personality. This is shown as part of an installment of the Laughing Man, when the Dufarges capture the Laughing Man, and force him to exchange his freedom for that of another (100). As such, the hope that once was, is now lost to the controlling behavior of Mary Hudson. Reality catches up with the Chief, and soon notices that the love that once existed between them was only one-sided. This is shown in the meeting that Mary Hudson and the Chief had at the field, for the last time, which results in Mary Hudson running away from the Chief (106). On a similar tangent, within the storyline of the Laughing Man, he eventually kills the Dufarges by regurgitating all the bullets (108). However, he is still tied up to the tree, far away from his comrades, and cut off from his supply of eagle blood. Eventually, he dies at his favorite companion, Omba’s, feet (110). The storyline reflects the ups and downs of the Chief’s life, and, more importantly, the cycle of hope. The death of the Laughing Man signifies the death of the Chief’s hopes within himself and to ever find love elsewhere. He, like Sergeant X acknowledges the despair that plagues their lives, and chooses to confront it. The Chief knows that he missed his one chance to find love, but still manages to continue on, signifying the release of old memories.
In a similar pattern, the hopes of Eloise, the protagonist in “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut”, is set on the love that once existed between her and Walt Glass. While reminiscing past events with her friend, Mary Jane, Eloise exhibits great care and respect for Walt, as if he still alive. She goes on to state, “He was the only boy I ever knew that could make me laugh. I mean really laugh” (41) and even states that “he didn’t even try to be funny – he just was funny” (42). It becomes evident that Walt was Eloise’s true love, not Lew, who she describes as humorless, inattentive, and unintelligent. Her anger towards Lew is reflected upon Ramona, her mentally instable daughter. Ramona is physical appearance is described as almost identical to that of her father, thus allowing Eloise to release part of her anger towards her daughter (35). However, despite having such high hopes that Walt will someday return, she only wants the charismatic and charming Walt that she met, not the incapable Walt that died. This is reflected as a secret Eloise kept, without revealing it to anyone, especially her husband. During her conversation with Mary Jane, she states, “it [the stove] was all full of gasoline and junk and it exploded in their faces. The other boy just lost an eye” (48). A soldier who is reported to have died in combat, one would assume, died a hero’s death; fighting until his last breath for his brothers-in-arms. Dying from an exploding stove is certainly not what Eloise was expecting nor what she had hoped for. Nevertheless, she finally addresses this problem during her encounter with Ramona, who “was sleeping far over on one side of the bed…” (54). While commanding Ramona to sleep in the center of her bed, Eloise realizes that she not so different than her daughter. Both are imaging boys who are never going to solve any of their problems. This is show when Ramona admits to having another imaginary boyfriend, Mickey Mickeranno to which her mother responds, “Eloise raised her voice to a shriek. ‘You get in the center of that bed. Go on.’ ” (54). By forcing Ramona to sleep in the center, Eloise acknowledges her destructive attributes as well as preserving hopes that do not exist. It becomes clear that she cannot face reality alone, since it is too harsh for her to bear, as well as confronting it at any point, but realizes that it is there. Essentially, Eloise knows her hopes of someday living a happy life died in the explosion, and is too afraid to deal with it.
Similarly, the protagonist in “De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period”, who is referred to as Jean de Daumier-Smith, has his many hopes destroyed by false assumptions and unrealistic hopes.

After sending a false resume to Les Amis des Vieux Maîtres, a Canadian art institute, to apply as a teacher, de Daumier-Smith realizes that the art institute that he had hoped for was in fact an institute run out of the headmaster’s apartment in the rundown section of Montreal (213). This revelation signals the first of many hopes that will soon be destroyed throughout the story. Along with staying in the Verdun section of Montreal, and enduring two loathsome hosts, de Daumier-Smith must also teach two students who he considers are artistically incompetent (225). Initially, de Daumier-Smith considered the art institute to be of prestige and highly selective, since the ad stated it was, “the newest, most progressive, correspondence art school in Canada” and the directeur formally attended “the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, Tokyo” (203,204). His hopes of instructing highly skilled artists blinded de Daumier-Smith to see beyond the attractive title of the advertisement. Once he realized that his students are novices to the subject, his hopes of instructing future prodigies and geniuses disappears. Nevertheless, the biggest loss of hope is not being able to speak with Sister Irma, indefinitely, and seeing true potential going to waste. After reading Sister Irma’s questionnaire and examining her works, de Daumier-Smith recognizes her true potential as an artist mentioning, “After thirteen years, I not only distinctly remember all six of Sister Irma’s samples, but four of them I sometimes think I remember a trifle too distinctly…” (227). However, regardless of how much de Daumier-Smith wanted to visit Sister Irma as well as perfect her talent, he is dumbstruck and driven with grief when he is notified that Sister Irma will not be studying at Les Amis Des Vieux Maîtres (242). This shown in

his rash decision to send his students letters stating that their artistic abilities were subpar and trying to perfect them is futile (243). Reality finally caught up with de Daumier-Smith and it plunges him into a state of mild depression, causing him to drink his sorrows away. Nevertheless, after having his mystical experience in the orthopedic shop, he realizes that his problem lies within his restriction of Sister Irma. He soon writes, “I am giving Sister Irma her freedom to follow her own destiny. Everybody is a nun” (251). Ultimately, this is de Daumier-Smith’s way of dealing with his destroyed hopes and reality. Essentially, he chooses to progress further with his life and let go of past hopes and despairs.