Re: The Laughing Man
Peggy F. Jean-Louis (pfj6868@is.nyu.edu)
Fri, 16 Jan 1998 21:06:13 -0500 (EST)
A while back, I admitted that I didn't totally understand "The Laughing
Man" and invited fellow Bananafish to kindly give their thoughts on the
story. I did get a couple of responses but I'm still not really satisfied
so I thought I'd raise the issue again, and also refine my statement so
that it's more goal-directed.
I did get the story-within-a-story concept, and saw how the demise of the
Chief's relationship affected The Laughing Man's fate. What I didn't
really understand was the story of the Laughing Man itself. It seemed
fraught with meaning and ripe for interpretation but I couldn't make heads
or tails of it. So when I said that I didn't really "get" the story, I was
referring to the internal one, not the interplay between the internal and
metanarrative lines of the story.
Hope that clarifies it and look forward to reading your responses.
Peggy