When I was reading this, the parallels between the laughing man story and the Chief’s relationship to Mary Hudson really stood out to me. When we first are introduced to the Laughing Man story, everything is running smoothly on a day to day basis from the narrator’s perspective. The Laughing Man story is mainly optimistic. However, as Mary Hudson starts coming into the Chief’s life, the story keeps getting more and more dark as time passes. When the Comanche boys encorporated Mary Hudson into their lives, Chief seemed so happy. However, we don’t get an installment of the Laughing Man during that time. The next time we get an installment of the Laughing man is when the drama starts and the story gets darker. The villains (the Dufarges) capture the Laughing Man’s best friend (Black Wing) when Mary Hudson never shows up to get on the bus. We can see the Chief’s anger in, “Let’s have a little quiet in this damn bus” as he begins to drive the boys to their field to play baseball (Salinger, 68). He undoubtedly takes out his anger on the Laughing Man, leaving this installment with cliff hanger of whether or not the Laughing Man would die. Between this installment of the Laughing Man and the next, a lot happens in the relationship between Mary Hudson and the Chief. Mary Hudson shows up to a baseball outing between two maids with baby carriages, the Chief goes to talk to her and brings her to the field, and Mary Hudson starts crying and run away from the Chief. I guessed that the baby carriages were symbolic for Mary Hudson being pregnant, which could be a troubling thing for the Chief. After that but before the bus ride home, the Chief gives the final installment of the Laughing Man. He takes out his emotions from the encounter on the Laughing Man and he is killed by the villain. Having looked at all of that, I have a few questions.
Do you think Chief killing off the Laughing Man was symbolic of Chief ending his relationship with Mary Hudson or the Chief about to “end” his relationship with the group of boys?
It is mentioned that this story is very much a part of the club’s lives. Why do you think the Chief would choose to end it so suddenly? Do you think that the Chief went on telling more stories after the Laughing Man, or used it as a conclusion to the time he had with the Comanche club?
Do you think the Chief sees himself as the Laughing Man in the end (his feelings influencing how well the Laughing Man does in the story) and eventually makes Mary Hudson into the villain?
I’m curious to see what you all think.
Lizzy, I think you made a great observation! The story of the Laughing Man was very much tied with the chief's relationship with Mary Hudson, as you pointed out. As for the questions, I have these thoughts (though they may be wrong):
ReplyDelete1. I think that the Chief killing off the Laughing Man was symbolic of him ending his relationship with Mary, as the same day he killed the Laughing Man Mary ran away from the baseball field. Though it was stated early in the story that the ending of the Comanches was near, I don't think it was that much tied in with them... though it is very possible that it is. I feel like if nothing bad happened between him and Mary he would make a happier ending, but that's just me and my fairy-tail ideology that "everything will work out in the end yay".
2. Hmm this is a much trickier question for me...there are many possibilities. One may be that he's in a really bad mood and decided to mess around with the Comanches because he's just mad, the other may be that he doesn't have much time left and had to end it. Then again, we don't know for sure that when he killed the laughing man the boys were all disbanding at the same time, It is possible that he still had time with the Comanches, but given his mood I doubt he'll decide to come up with a new story, because another reason why he ended it (what I think at least) is because he doesn't want/like to talk when he's not doing well.
3. I never thought of this before, but now that you mention it I do! I think he did, and I know that many (but not all) relationships that have a sudden/pretty bad ending gives the people previously in the relationship a nasty attitude to the other (especially when people ask "what happened?" - they would always be like "ew he/she was crazy and crappy and did blahblahblah (blah = nasty stuff) and yea he's poopy"), ultimately making themselves the victim and seemingly innocent in the relationship (which is almost never true).
I think that we can all agree that there were obvious similarities between The Laughing Man's and the Chief's stories. I happened to think that the Chief killed off the Laughing Man as a way to symbolize the death of a part of him. You made the connection that the Mary is like Black Wing. I thought of the death of Black Wing as the end of the relationship between the Chief and Mary. Both Black Wing and Mary meant a lot to the Laughing Man and the Chief respectfully. To me it was as if killing off the Laughing Man was the Chief's way of giving himself closure.
ReplyDeleteI think that killing off the Laughing Man was signifying the end of his relationship with Mary Hudson, since most of the parallels are between the chief's relation ship with her, not the comanche boys. However, this abrupt end to the story may also foreshadow his leaving the the comanche boys in the future. I think it would be hard to make this conclusion since I did not see much evidence for this in the story.
ReplyDeleteAnthony, your comment made me think that maybe Chief had to end the story just because he connected it to how he was feeling about Mary Hudson. Because of that, he decided to end it so he didn't have to revisit those emotions every time he told a new installment. I also agree with Keisha that he probably killed off the laughing man to give himself closure.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I didn't think about The Chief making Mary Hudson into a villain, but now that you mention it I could definitely see it. While reading "The Laughing Man" I definitely assumed that the Laughing Man himself had parallels to The Chief. The Chief seems very happy and content with the group of boys he (presumably) works with, and perhaps he overcame a greater issue, like the Laughing Man. I definitely don't think that his killing of the Laughing Man right after his break up was a coincidence. I agree with Keisha, that it was an easy way for him to give himself closure on two things that had been a major part of his life, Mary Hudson and the story of the Laughing Man.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your questions: somehow, I feel like it was less of a symbol than the Chief simply lashing out at the boys emotionally with the Laughing Man's death. The Laughing Man is a character the boys have come to grow fond of, and I think the Chief wants them to feel the same sort of loss that he felt when he broke up with Mary Hudson. Mary Hudson, being not really developed past being pretty and good and baseball, doesn't quite seem to become the villain in any recognizable way for me.
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