Laughing No More

In Hemingway’s story, “The Laughing Man”, we can see the progression of how the image of the Chief deteriorates in front of the Comanches’ eyes. Initially, the Chief is revered. He is a magnificent chauffeur, storyteller, and leader in their eyes. As the narrator states, “the Chief always found us” (57), he was a dependable man whom the Comanche boys looked up to. Since this story is told a reminiscent style, we can sense that the narrator is looking back on the positive aspects of his childhood. In his grown up state, he knows that the Chief was just “John Gedsudski, of Staten Island. He was an extremely shy, gentle young man of twenty-two or three, a law student at N.Y.U, and all together a very memorable person” (57). Having grown up, the narrator realizes that the image of the Chief in his nine-year old self was vastly different from what John Gedsudski’s true character was like. No matter, the memories were good until they seemingly abruptly ended.

In the last scene, we see a drastic change in the Chief’s character. (It seems drastic because we are only given the perspective of a nine year old boy, so we aren’t really given the full story). His deterioration seems to correlate with the story he tells to the boys about the Laughing Man. In his story, he tells of a man who feels disgraced by the formation of his face. People would be disgusted at the sight of his face and so he wears a mask to cover his apparent distasteful features. While wearing his mask, he is both unrecognizable and seemingly an entirely different person. He a strong and powerful character that proves to be very inspiring to the Chief’s audience. In a way, the Laughing Man character correlates with the Chief’s life. While he’s with the Comanches, the Chief covers his shyness with his storytelling. He is a leader to the boys and he tells stories to show them.

But at the end of the story, the Chief says that the Laughing Man dies, having his last act being taking his mask off. In the Chief’s life, we can see that he is possibly done trying to hide behind these stories and lies. In reality, the Chief is this lonely character and so he hides behind the mask of the fictional characters in his stories. But now, it’s time to live his stories instead of cowering behind his words. Although, at the time, this upsets the narrator and his fellow Comanches, having grown up, he understands the choices the Chief made. Also, with the addition of death in his story, there is a loss of innocence among the Comanches because, not only have they lost their fictional hero, the Laughing Man, but also their real life hero, the Chief. 

It’s interesting that the Chief used the platform of a fictional character to show his apparent true character. I suppose this sort of application sort of maintains a sense of innocence that appeals to the Comanches. But, by doing this, it may not get the full message across. But, judging by the narrator's nostalgic attitudes towards the memory, I’m guessing they all got the message at some point in time. Still, even though the image of the Chief has been possibly ruined, his legacy lives on through the imagination of the Comanche boys. As the narrator looks back on it, it was seemingly obvious that the Chief wasn’t as big as he imagined he was, but he still represents that leader figure in his childhood, a figure that he, and the rest of the Comanches, will never forget.